Skjult

Skjult is an above average horror movie. The cinematography is just excellent especially for a horror movie. There are enough scares throughout to keep you firmly in your seat.

But is does follow the standard plot of a horror movie. A mystery, a lot of scares and then a big reveal in the end. But the pacing is quite good throughout. And the big reveal doesn't feels anticlimactic like it does in so many horror movies.

Technically the movie is very slick. Everybody has done a good job in acting but nothing really special. Overall a very satisfying horror movie.

Those looking for a typical slasher film need look elsewhere. This is a horror/thriller that takes it time to catch you off guard.

Kai (Kristoffer Joner) inherits a house after his mother's death. It is pretty decrepit. Perfect for a horror film. In it he finds a lot more than he bargained for. Me? I would have been outta there in 5 minutes! KK (Joner) is dealing with memories and replays from a past that holds secrets. Secrets about the abuse he suffered as a child, and secrets about things he did.

It takes place not only in the house, but also in the woods, which really adds atmosphere.

It is nice to see horror films that pace themselves and use startling effects and heavy atmosphere to thrill you instead of over-the-top Hollywood effects. Horror is becoming the domain of the Europeans, while Hollywood engages in torture porn.

Guess that in the end this movie is an OK watch but it's also one that had some far more potential, if it had only tried to tell a better story with its movie.

I just don't like a mystery-thriller, in which we as the viewers know even less about the mystery of the whole story than the main character. It really should be a movie rule that the viewers always must know just as much about what is going on, as the main character. It makes things a whole lot more involving as well to watch and follow.

This movie just loves to mess with your mind. It's one of those movies in which you are never sure what is real and what is going on in the main characters mind. And the movie just never seems to get enough of this. It doesn't just make the movie complicated but it also makes it a bit of a mess. I honestly started loosing interest in this movie real fast. I just couldn't care anymore about the story or its characters, or were it was all heading toward. It's because you never really know whats real or not and what is the 'secret' the main character is carrying around with him. You could say that it's a movie that tries too hard to be clever and over-complicated with its story, while in fact the story just isn't powerful enough to fully achieve any of this. It also means that the movie trows in just too much stuff, which makes it all a bit of a mess in the long run. Was most of the stuff and mystery really necessary for the movie its plot? No, as it turns out in the end.

But it nevertheless remains still a well made and great looking Norwegian movie. There is basically just very little wrong with any of its acting, cinematography or visual directing. Its look is the foremost reason why the movie still somewhat works out because it manages to create a great, moody, almost horror-like atmosphere. The movie is also being listed as an horror, though honesty I would still call it more of a thriller than anything else really. There are scare moments in it and all and the atmosphere is kind of creepy but its story is just purely being a typical mystery-thriller one.

So despite all of the negativity and complaints I have toward this movie, I still consider it as a watchable enough one.

6/10

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*Story and characters* The character in this particular movie is very silent. Read the plot, then it gets clear why. This Norwegian movie surprised me big time! The main actor plays his part very well. As well as the supporting roles are well worked out with exception of one. I do blame the actor for that (who plays Roy) he is a very obvious misfit actor to play his role.

Offcourse remind you, is subjective but still worth mentioning. The movie storyline is not to obvious until halfway the movie then you get the "clue" very easy. I like that, most really B-flick from the 1st min to the end is to predictable. This one is not, and if the clue is out the movie progresses as such. Meaning that the do not try to enhance the mystic around it no more.

So i would say the characters (mainly the main character) and the storyline are pretty good! *Hack and slash! or....* Thats what i love about this movie! It is not a obvious hack and slash movie. In the entire movie FEW ppl get killed and still managed to keep me at my seat. It is a real suspense horror/thriller movie, and thank god not a Jason Voorhees kind of ripoff! Excellent, and very enjoyable to watch. The langue Norwegian do not worry there is very low on dialog to begin with. But even then it is not a pest true out the movie.

*Overall* Great suspense thriller/horror. The did a excellent job and this movie is well worth a watch! It has the feel of seven good camera-work nothing cheesy i could detect about this movie. This is one of those, yeah indeed with a low budget you can make a kick-ass movie.

Pal Oie's second long-feature film is largely reminiscent to his 2003 effort "Dark Woods"; which regrettably also means that he makes the same mistakes and trips over the exact same obstacles. The filming locations and scenery are truly breathtaking and the thematic influences of ancient Norwegian folklore tales are very intriguing, but the story never really appears to develop itself and eventually drowns in its own atmosphere of mystery and complexity. Oie serves an attractive potpourri wholesome of dark family secrets, alleged schizophrenia and spiritual connection with nature, but everything remains rather vague and incoherent. The somewhat unworldly and introvert Kai Koss returns to his remote backwoods hometown because his old mother passed away and he's the sole heir to inherit the ramshackle parental mansion. Kai Koss isn't too keen to return because his mother abused him and regularly locked up him up in the basement, and the people he grew up with always considered him to be a social outcast. His homecoming coincides with the disappearance of a two young campers that were last seen in the woods surrounding Kai's house. The local vigilante squad naturally suspects him, but he himself is convinced that Peter is behind the strange occurrences. Peter was a young boy who witnessed his parents dying in a car crash and then fled into the woods. Kai senses that Peter still prowls around the area even though the police holds strong evidence that he fell into the waterfall and died. "Hidden" is the type of film that keeps you staring at the screen with interest simply because it's beautifully shot and masterfully stylish. So beautiful and so stylish, even, that you don't immediately notice the lack of development. Kristoffer Joner – also the lead in the aforementioned "Dark Woods" – is a terrific actor and Hordaland is most definitely a county in Norway that I will visit sooner or later, but "Hidden" is sadly little more than just another pseudo psychological horror portrait