Director: Kåre Bergstrøm
Year: 1958
Country: Norway
Alternate Titles: De dødes tjern
Genre: Folk-Horror
Plot:
Taking a special trip together, a group of friends heads out to the Norwegian countryside to visit a friend staying at their cabin in the woods and catch up with each other, but the longer they stay the more they come to believe the legends about the area being haunted and try to keep it from continuing.
Review:
This was a fantastically chilling and enjoyable effort. Among the films’ bright spots is the engaging and fantastic atmosphere that manages to run throughout here. Given that the majority of the film is based on the cabin, with the picturesque lake shimmering in the reflected sunlight that’s surrounded by lush trees creates an effectively eerie sense of isolation that takes the films’ actions into fine context. It all comes off far more ominously than what it should with the setup employed. As we’re also given an effectively eerie and chilling backstory about the origins of the haunted lake and why there are so many tragic accidents that have been present at the lake, the constant conversations about whether there’s a supernatural or rational explanation for everything, and a fantastic revelation that puts everything quite nicely into perspective, the atmosphere of the film comes off incredibly well.
That this setup gives the film a chance to play with some unsettling and creepy ideas to further those aspects also comes across rather nicely. With the main venture at first are the group seeing strange reflections in the lake and their strange desire to be near it while in a trance-like state, this one starts off quite nicely with its action scenes helping to enhance the supernatural themes within the story. As it progresses and the supernatural antics are more overt, this one has a lot to like with the recreation of the legend around the lake intercut with the story about what happened to the brother which creates a rather fine sense of menace to go along with the storyline features on display. These features make the film incredibly fun and hold it up overall.
There isn’t much that brings this down but it does have some minor drawbacks. The main flaw here is the sudden abrupt ending that just comes out of nowhere with the wholly underwhelming way it finishes. When the plan is put into motion to trap the guilty party and it plays out as they expected, the fact that we’re just as in the dark about these factors as the participant makes the whole scene just feel quite chaotic and confusing. The whole thing is taken up even further with the guilty party seeming to get away with everything by disappearing into the forest without incident and taking the route of escaping the incident without getting any true comeuppance for what’s going on. That also causes the secondary issue where the reveal at the end manages to make the earlier incidents and disappearances around the lake seem that much more curious about what’s going on which all manage to bring this down slightly.
Overview: ****/5
An overall highly enjoyable supernatural thriller that doesn’t have too many flaws on display here, there’s plenty to get out of this one and the few flaws on display aren’t that bad which gives this one its positive features. Give this one a look if you’re a fan of low-key supernatural thrillers or appreciate the style and approach presented while most others who don’t enjoy any of those factors should heed caution.
This review ran as part of our coverage of the 2021 edition of the virtual Nightstream Film Festival. Click the banner below to check out the other reviews for our coverage:
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