The Unknown

What's the worst thing that could happen to a director? I imagine it would be getting accused of shamelessly ripping off an original movie idea, even though it never was the intention and everything's just a matter of bad timing. When "The Unknown" came out, not too many people were interested in seeing it because most press reviews stated it wasn't much more than a lame imitation of "The Blair Witch Project". But in reality, this modest Swedish low-budget film was as good as finished when "BWP" played in the theaters and, even if it did influence Michael Hjorth in some way, it must have only been during the post-production phase. In all honesty, "The Unknown" is also a much better film than the annoying and way overrated "Blair Witch Project", which – by the way – is nothing more than a hypocrite imitation of "Cannibal Holocaust". That being said, the script for "The Unknown" obviously found most of its inspiration in the classic Sci-Fi concept of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". The use of hand-held cameras, with shaky movements and extreme close-ups of the inside of people's nostrils, might be reminiscent of "Blair Witch", but the premise of something unearthly and evil prowling a remote area and gradually taking humans is purely old-fashioned horror greatness. The plot centers on five friends and amateur environmentalists driving up north to research the effects on the fauna & flora after an immensely destructive forest fire. On the first day already, the quintet stumbles upon some type of unidentifiable and rotting carcass and decide to perform a pathological examination. Meanwhile, one of the girls falls ill and inexplicably runs into the woods at night. Ingar behaves increasingly freakish, as if she's no longer herself and taken over by someone – or something – different. Hjorth clearly couldn't rely on a large budget, so don't expect any gory Alien-esquire situations or even detailed glimpses at the "thing", for that matter. "The Unknown" purely thrives on an atmosphere that is constant and sheer ominous from start to finish. For some reason I cannot quite formulate, the Swedish woods appear to be far more menacing than the American ones and the characters are at least amiable and "normal". Sadly enough, the story and style characteristics are far from perfect. The unstable camera gives the impression there's a sixth group member tagging along and the sets are underexposed. But the giant holes and severe elements of indistinctness in the script are what truly bothered me. The actual link between the forest fire and the alien substance is never made clear. Did he cause the fire or did he specifically select the dead region because it's the best biotope? The finale is predictable and clichéd, but endings like this will always remain at least a bit unsettling nevertheless, so no harsh complaints there. Interesting and worthwhile film, as long as you're not too demanding and/or expecting something groundbreaking and new.

It's bad enough to see a film that's so totally derivative of a film like "The Blair Witch Project" (which I found a yawn, anyway), but to then add insult to injury by adding the key premise of "Alien", to the plot, is not only absolutely ludicrous, but an insult to viewers. Through directors like Ingmar Bergman, Sweden has produced world-class cinema. This film, "The Unknown", has set the Swedish Film Industry back decades.

Dogma-esque horror flick. Five biologists camped out to examine the site of burned down forest discover early an odd, unidentifiable but immediately and mysteriously disgusting "thing." Though the ending's too pat, as if somebody's seen too many b/w "Outer Limits," color video, real actors, lots of daylight, and just enough relationship horror expertly mixed with the horror film horror make this much scarier than "Blair Witch." Note also that, though all the action takes place in the open, in the somewhat desert-like burned out forest, the story's claustrophobic. No journeys, no premature attempts to trek out. It's all pretty much right there where it starts. You end up knowing the place, and dreading it, nearly as well as the characters do. Didn't hit me until just now, but Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Distance" has a structure similar to both this film and the much inferior "Blair Witch." "The Unknown" and "Distance" both resemble the surreally claustrophobic "The Exterminating Angel.

Stop me if you heard this before- A small group of people in a remote isolated place, encounters a strange alien being who begins to take over their bodies and... oh you have heard it- okay- how but this- A small group of people goes in to a deep forest to investigate a strange phenomena. They gets lost in the woods and are soon being chased by some unknown... okay- you have heard that too. Okay- this is simply "The Blair witch project" and "The thing" mixed together with the help of some "dogma-we-shakes-the-camera-until-it-falls-apart-because-we-are-not-American " type of film making who makes it look like the camera sometimes are hanging from the neck of a psychotic kangaroo with a severe drinking problem. The movie is a very good example on what happens when a couple of people with no original ideas makes a movie. A tip- buy a tripod.

The comments above sums it up quite good, but there is one thing that is worth to point out. For some reason, most horror movies from Sweden tend to keep an ironic distance towards them self (Evil Ed and Frostbite for instance). This is an exception. It feels serious and it would be a shame if it will be forgotten.

The actors are great. Better than a lot of bigger productions.

The comparing with Blair which project are totally uncalled for. A lot of movies where filmed with hand held DV-cameras those days. The equipment triggered a lot of new low budget films, thats all.

(sorry for the crappy language, but I seldom write in English)