Nattevagten

I follow Nordic Movies ever since I lived and studied in Sweden. I do follow Nordiskfilm releases and I saw that there is a movie called Nattevagten then I discovered that it is a sequal and there was in fact a movie which was very popular in Scandinavian countries back in 1994. I have found the movie and this movie ended up a great one. The movie is eerie and the atmosphere is horrifiyng. The most important thing about this movie is that it is almost like The Youth Setup in Football of the Danish Movie Industry. We have Sofia Grabol a Danish legend actress who became worldwide famous with The Killing and we have Kim Bodnia a Danish legend actor who became worldwide famous with The Bridge. In addition to them, we have another Danish legend actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who is worldwide famous with Game of Thrones. And finally we have Ulrich Thomsen another Danish legend actor who is worldwide famous with James Bond The World is not Enough, Forhøret, Trom and Department Q Franchise. On the other hand, a Danish veteran legend actor Gyrd Løfquist is also in this movie (He passed away back in 2012, RIP). Great movie and I give 8 over 10 to this Danish classic ! I watched it after 30 years but it is an absolute thriller !

I haven't watched any other film by Bornedal(including the American remake, which I understand is inferior to this), but he certainly nailed this one. From start to finish, this establishes and maintains an atmosphere and crafts a tension so thick, you *can't* cut it with a knife, you'd need a razor-blade. The editing and cinematography, with only a handful of exceptions, are inspired, using light and darkness immensely well, and utterly terrifying the audience. This is marvelously well-shot. The plot is excellent, and the twist is unexpected and has a relatively subtle, yet nicely effective reveal. Granted, when you think it all through, you do have to accept one or two details that strain credulity. Still, this is exciting and creepy whenever it attempts to be, and the relatable story and credible, well-developed, human characters are the driving force of the movie. Inbetween the sequences of suspense - to keep it from overstimulating the audience - there is humor, and every joke and gag are funny, none fall flat or try too hard. The acting is impeccable, every performance is spot-on. While there are jump-scares, most of the build-up pays off, big time. The music is excellent, and contains a good bit of rock, as well as a cue that they must have composed with Psycho in mind. There is a lot of disturbing content, some sexuality(including in dialog), brief nudity and a little bloody violence in this. The DVD comes with a well-done half-hour long behind-the-scenes featurette that covers the majority of the areas of production, and the theatrical trailer. I recommend this to every fan of horror. 8/10

Martin, a law student, works as a night watchman in the morgue of a hospital. The morgue is a scary setting. When gruesome incidents occur there again and again, Martin gets involved in a bloody criminal case about a brutally murdering serial killer who has it in for pretty young women. Horror, crime, thriller and, not to be guessed from the description so far, humour as well. With his debut film, Danish director Ole Bornedal succeeded in creating a gripping, atmospherically dense thriller with many shocker elements. The viewer can place himself exactly in the eerie world around the protogonist and is constantly led on false trails. Besides holding your breath a few times, the work impresses with a strong pinch of black humour. There is also nothing to complain about in terms of acting, especially Kim Bodnia can put herself in the limelight brilliantly, as always. Perhaps the visuals of the film are not quite "glossy", but you can see from the remake 3 years later that this is not the decisive essence of a good scary thriller. Definitely a small genre pearl.

You know how you often get extremely disappointed when you re-watch movies that petrified you as a kid and almost single-handedly were responsible for the development of your future phobias? Well, the Danish horror/suspense masterpiece "Nattevagten" is the symbolic exception that confirms the rule. More than a decade after its initially shocking & nightmarish impact, the film still is as unsettling as when it first came out. I saw this film shortly after its release in 1994, but most of the time my eyes & ears were covered by the sheets of my bed. In my defense, I was only 12 years old and the film is truly creepy! Although I now admit that the basic story and screenplay aren't entirely flawless, the atmosphere of "Nattevagten" is still indescribably tense and haunting. In order to make some extra money to finance his studies, 24-year-old Martin takes on a new job as the night watchman in the hospital's morgue. At the same time, however, the city is plagued by a maniacal serial killer who scalps his prostitute victims and drives the local police inspector Wörmer insane. Pretty soon the gruesomely deformed corpses end up in Martin's mortuary and he makes himself a suspect because of a series of strange betting games with his best friend Jens. Ole Bornedal's script isn't always 100% plausible and convincing, but at least it dares to feature some hugely controversial undertones (like necrophilia, religious blasphemy and under-aged prostitutes) and it patiently takes enough time to properly introduce the main characters and make them amiable. Some sequences are truly portentous and genuinely make the hairs on your arms & neck stand up straight, like when Martin hesitantly has to check out who set off the morgue's emergency alarm. There are several highlights of brilliant suspense in "Nattevagten", as well as prime examples of brilliant acting, beautiful art-direction and a truly peculiar sense of (pitch black) humor. There isn't that much gore or bloodshed in the film, but the few visceral moments are quite disturbing and in-your-face confronting. Great film, highly recommended to fans of superior horror cinema as well as the more established art-house fanatics. Also, Danish seems like a fascinating language to learn!

I saw this today n was pulled in cos of the 2024 sequel.

Had seen the Hollywood remake starring Josh Brolin n McGregor in the early 2k.

Honestly I enjoyed both the versions but writing a review of this original version.

The movie looks a bit outdated (30 years) considering the pacing but it has solid character development.

The best part is the ominous setting, oodles of atmosphere n a decent twist.

Kim Bodnia as Jens Arnkiel gave a very memorable performance.

We have Martin (a very young Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who gets a student job as night watchman at the Forensic Medicine Institute. At the same time women are murdered brutally by a serial killer.

Martin has to make his rounds in the morgue where the latest victim's body is brought in.