Whether it be Midsommar, a good Scandy drama, or Let the Right One In, Nordic films are maybe as good as anyone at getting under your skin.
The mixture of beautiful scenic views and gruesome plots clearly just hit differently, because many of the creepiest things I’ve watched have been Nordic films.
This is further proven by a hidden gem from 2021 with a near perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, which has been described as ‘deeply uncomfortable viewing’ by one reviewer.
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The film was brought up in the comments under a post in the subreddit r/horror by the account u/RuinedTimes.
They said: “What are some of the most disturbing horror movies/films you’ve ever see”, but asked to leave out suggestions of more well known freaky films such as A Serbian Film and Salo.
Here is the trailer for the Nordic horror:
The film is called The Innocents, and follows a group of children who reveal dark supernatural powers during a ‘bright Nordic summer’.
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It has a whopping 97% on Rotten Tomatoes amongst critics, with a similarly high 73% with audiences.
One review from Outtake Magazine said: “Deeply uncomfortable viewing and as such is bound to elicit some strong opinions.
A fan posted about The Innocents on Twitter, saying:
“Caught up with Eskil Vogt's The Innocents and it's predictably disturbing, stately and uncompromising as one would expect from Joachim Trier's creative partner.
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“TW for extreme animal violence, cat lovers in particular take heed.”
Without spoiling the moment, that is undoubtably a warning worth taking – as the film features an unsettlingly brutal scene involving a cat.
Another review on Twitter said: “Tense. Brilliant. Disturbing. Hit me like Haneka's The White Ribbon.
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“Flavour of old Brit' Central Office of Information films. Housing estate, trees, lonely, disabled & disturbed children, enigma = chilling. Not for cat lovers.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Leslie Felperin added to the creepy reviews, saying the film was likely to ‘haunt your imagination’.
They said: “The lonely, uncanny and sometimes unthinkingly violent world of childhood is explored with chilling candor and exceptional skill in writer-director Eskil Vogt’s arthouse horror feature The Innocents.
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“As the tension escalates and the stakes get higher, with gruesome consequences for several of the principles, Vogt keeps the focus tight on the children throughout, which somehow punches up the sense of dread.
“To paraphrase an old horror movie phrase, the danger is coming from inside the house, right from the start.”
Cat lovers beware, but The Innocents seems like the perfect watch for any horror sickos looking for a film to stick on this weekend.
Topics: Film, Rotten Tomatoes, TV and Film
Michael Slavin