Vilsen

I got tired of watching terrible American and British (and Irish) horror flicks and thought I'd try some Scandinavian entries; surely countries that gave us writers like Ibsen and Strindberg, and masters of form like Bergman would have something wonderful (or at least good) to offer. Boy was I mistaken. The principle actor has all the charm of a motel room, the story is both boring and even incoherent, and the length of this non-masterpiece makes watching it drudgery. If you value your time, do not waste it on this flick..

This Swedish film is set in the city of Gothenburg and opens with the discovery of a woman's body. She is found lying face-down with a symbol carved in her back; hers isn't the first body to be found in such a way. The police, led by Göran Lidman, have no real leads to go on. Former pastor Gabriella offers to help... she tells them the killings are the work of a cult called 'The Sons of God'. There are more deaths and Göran, Gabriella and those around them will face severe dangers before the cult attempts to carry out its awaited ritual on the day of a solar eclipse.

For the most part I rather enjoyed this film. It started off as a normal, if somewhat gory, murder mystery. For most of the film it was unclear whether the cult was a group of religiously deluded individuals or whether their evil, supernatural activities could ultimately succeed. This meant that until the denouement we have the usual sight of investigators following clues, meeting potential witnesses and comparing the events to a possibly linked crime spree in Finland. The ending is fairly shocking but ultimately a little disappointing. The acting is pretty solid and the effects are decent enough. Overall a decent enough mystery/horror; not really a must see but neither is it something to be avoided.

These comments are based on watching the film in Swedish with English subtitles.

Self isolating with COVID19 means I've got a lot of time on my hands, hence watching this nonsense. I knew after 10 minutes that it wasn't very good and it got progressively worse. The fight scenes in particular were laughable, and as for the final climax, well I laughed out loud even harder.

A Swedish policeaction-movie with supernatural elements. Does that sound like a good mix? Do you think twice about watching it? Don't miss this one, because this movie really delivers!

This is Rasmus Tirzitis directorial debut. His earlier work is a Star Wars fan-movie called "Threads of Destiny" Check it out on YouTube.

Vilsen (international title: "Ave Mater") contains what you'd expect... really scary scenes, action and we get to learn more about detective Lidmans personal life and the collaboration with his policepartner Nordström.

The pastor Gabriella (played superbly by Alexandra Zetterberg) does a really good job in her role.

The script is very well written and covers the story excitingly from start to the explosive finale.

You'd better not miss this one. And keep a look out for the upcoming works from Rasmus Tirzitis in the future.

And I'm not talking about the characters in the movie - I'm referring to the people who made this monstrosity. That can be the only explanation for why this movie even exists. This film is SO bad, you'll feel like you need to seek forgiveness from the almighty for wasting two hours of your precious life on it.

This film leaves my immortal soul aching for the answers to eternal questions. Questions like:

• Is this the best that Sweden's film industry can do in the 21st century? If so, condolences to the Bergmans.

• What poor suckers bankrolled this disaster, can they get their money back?

• Why does every actor in this film look like a slovenly mess who got hit with the Ugly Stick?

• Who at Netflix thought this film was worth putting on the site? And why is Netflix raising my prices to show me cr@p like this?

Forgive them Father for they have sinned. But, dear reader, you can save yourself and skip this movie now and forevermore.