Folk horror is so much featured in today’s horror movie scene but this Norwegian jewel has been almost forgotten until recent documentary about folk horror called Woodlands Dark…where I saw this one and immediately got interested. Norwegian horror scene is little but they have solid horror movies like Skjult or Rovdyr falling to my mind almost instantly, but this one has in fact been only Norwegian horror movie for a long time.
The story evolves around eerie haunted lake in the middle of the woods where there is supposedly no bottom and it draws souls to its depths. There is also a story about a crazy man Tore Gravik who killed her sister’s lover and then she and he drowned in this lake, also his screams can be heard every year upon the date of his death. Fast forward to nowadays, group of friends travel to the remote cabin on that lake where Liljan’s brother Werner is about to meet them but he disappeared and his dog was shot in the head. Group shares the story that Tore’s ghost enters people, makes them kill and drown in the lake so the plot thickens and strange things start to happen, Liljan’s boyfriend Braten is killed and they start to wonder has Tore returned from the dead or is it something more sinister but not otherworldly here?
Well, I enjoyed this one very much, although it is black and white, it has that Scandinavian mystery feel and atmosphere with some plot twists that would make modern movies hide in shame. Characters are well written and acting is awesome, so it is a pleasure to watch this one. It also contains a movie scene which was for a long time most famous in Norwegian movie industry, where Liljan throws herself in the lake to drown(not a spoiler). There is also parts of Nordic humor which just fits perfectly in that parts of the movie. I recommend this one as history of folk horror mystery.
I just love war horror! This little subgenre of horror is related to movies happening in WWII, WWI or other wars, or are related to those wars. This little movie is so great that I watched it already three times since it is out ten years ago. Well, a group of mercenaries discovers abandoned mine in which Japanese general Yamashita supposedly hid gold. But, as things go in such movies, there is no gold and the mercenaries and scientists deal with infamous Japanese Unit 731 instead, For those who don´t know, Unit 731 was a sinister Japanese division which did experiments on humans and killed a lot of prisoners of war, especially in the town of Harbin in Manchuria. Well, action here is superb, especially when those Japanese Imperial Guard soldiers step into story. There are couple of great gore scenes, ending leaves place for a sequel which fortunately or less fortunately never came. My heartily recommendation for this one. Directed by Steven Sheil(Mum & Dad).
This Mexican found footage horror is done in an old school retro style with grainy camera, retro sound settings and great atmosphere. It all starts with mockumentary black and white collage of people talking about Manuel and Altair, young couple who disappeared and how they saw them scared to death of something running through the woods and their house burned. Well, then the movie takes us back to newly wed couple who move into a lovely house near woods but at night strange things start to happen. First their dog disappears, then returns grown up from being a puppy in a day, Altair starts to act strangely and Manuel seeks help of her sister and their mutual friend. Well, all the settings for good found footage are here. Running, night scare jumps, some expected scenes and this would not take this movie away from being a decent but not great found footage horror. But, the story led me to totally another way thinking how it would end, but the ending surprised me, being one of the already used endings in some movies, but still done greatly. That makes this one a great found footage. Directed and written by Victor Dryere.
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