Viking - Dark Ages

Draug has a very small budget, probably even a microbudget, and it shows. Most of the critical reviews I've read of this movie on here really just read like people couldn't quite get over the fact that this movie didn't really have the budget to be doing a whole lot differently than it did. Really, if Draug had a hundred times the budget and had the special effects to match, some of these people would probably be head over heels about this movie.

If you get over the budget, this movie is fine. The pacing is good, the atmosphere is dark and brooding, and the colour palette fits the tone. The special effects are about as good as you're really ever going to get with a movie on a total shoelace budget like this. Overall, this is a very creepy movie and I think it's a good example of how to do a horror movie on a microbudget.

None of this is to say that this is a perfect movie. There are times when the pacing isn't quite perfect. Like, most of the comic relief moments are very heavily weighted towards the start of the movie, while I think it would have been better to have them spread out across the entire thing.

But is it terrible? God no. It does the horror elements very well, and that's basically what you want from a movie like this.

It is the story of an area in 11th century Sweden which had been converted to christianity and where some local folks had been too hard on some of the pagan remnants. When a missionary disappears in this forested area, a village deputy gets a "posse" together to go onto the forest to retrieve him and his companions. The searchers are attacked by bandits at the edge of the forest and then, as they get further in, they are attacked by something else. These are the Draug.

As a historical movie it is very accurate; nothing anachronistic to distract in the dialogue, costuming, or sets. The acting was very good and the scenery was exceptional. Both used to advantage in telling a spooky story based on Norse mythical creatures. We loved it

I LOVE Nordic films that deal with actual lore. Doesn't matter whether it's Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic...I enjoy them all. Especially when they're in the native language. I won't offer a synopsis, as the summary tells you what you need to know.

The positive:

• some really beautiful scenery, as nearly the entire film takes place in some pretty remote, wooded areas
• interesting story. Certainly nothing prophetic, but falls in line with historical dealings
• some interesting sound fx and scoring (see negatives)
• film quality and sound were pretty darn good considering

The negatives:

• the acting is only "okay." There are several parts when it is questionable at best, which affects believability, flow of the film, and overall character personae.
• the special effects are not good. While there is not a ton of blood, CGI is used for the majority of larger wounds or battle pieces, and it's just not good.
• one of the believability issues I overlooked the least was the costuming. Every single person wore clothes that not only had NO DIRT or stains, but appeared brand new. Even the travelers. It goes without saying that living the 11th century, especially in areas that were not yet developed in to cities, was extremely dirty. These people walked around with brand new looking colorful clothes & leather, brushed hair, visible makeup, and perfectly white teeth. This problem is not unique to the film, but really stuck out, and for some reason really bothered me.
• overall production of the film. As mentioned, there is some stunning scenery, but the direction and acting was inconsistent and lacked a cohesive flow. Use of filters was actually a bit overused for my taste. It's standard fare for many Nordic or Scandanavian films to be shot using dark or bleak filters, and often times really adds to the ambience of the project. This is also true with the Draug, but at times it felt overused and saturated.
• the music and sound Fx were not consistent. At times it was not bad, but at other times it was flat-out annoying. It's actually difficult to refer to the accompaniment as a "score," as there is no thematic music, but only a series of sounds assembled in a way that has musical qualities. Otherwise, it's just a mishmash of orchestrated sounds in order to provide tension. It's not until the very end that actual melody is heard. I'm fine with no musical score, but sometimes it got plain annoying.
• there is very little violence, no real gore of any kind, and limited intense scenes. If it wasn't one thematic element being present (that of "zombies") I wouldn't call this a horror movie at all.
• the ending

I dunno...I wanted to like this sooooooo bad, but it just didn't happen. Like I said initially, it's not a terrible film, but it lacks significantly in nearly every aspect. I probably would NOT recommend watching it unless you are a) Swedish & in to dark movies (both in color and thematic material), and b) dying to watch a Swedish movie.

The set design and the locations are very good but the acting and the story is absolutely terrible. It's rare I dont finish the film and i had only 10 mins left

The Good: The plot is fairly straightforward and makes for good horror/mystery.

Sets and surroundings are very good. The use of Swedish summer wilderness saves a lot of money and provides a suitable mood.

FX are servicable, but only barely so.

The Bad: Suffers from a lot of problems with pacing The use of filters to simulate night time/darkness is a bit overdone.

The actors tend to overact, as is often the case with Swedish actors in my experience.

A little bit more exposition would have made things easier to follow.

Summary: All in all it is, as is so often the case with low-budget productions, a film of unused potential.

Still, the effort was valiant and the choice of topics was comparatively inventive.

Expect no masterpiece because this is not it. Nonetheless, if you're into (late) viking era stuff and horror and norse mythlogy, it can provide you with some entertainment.