Svarta Madam

This is my first exposure to Jarno Lee Vinsencius' work. Moody and atmospheric, with top-notch quality, as is with THE WITCH (a film that I thoroughly enjoyed from all perspectives) SVARTA MADAM is Jarno Lee Vinsencius' tour de force in 23:50. Wise not to make a feature film, SVARTA MADAM is the right length, with a cautionary pace building to it's climax. Vinsencius gently takes you in to his main characters' nightmare. With excellent performances by the cast and and fine score, it was a pleasure to screen. My only criticism (and it could due to the over-saturation of the device here in the States) is that there are too many jump-scares. Though effective, I have discovered that once a jump-scare occurs, the end result is that it takes the tension out of the film. Too many jump-scares not only removes tension, like wind out of the sails of a boat, but now we, the audience, have been trained to expect more jump-scares as the film moves forward, hence dampening the suspense. Aside from that, I truly enjoyed SVARTA MADAM. I look forward to more independent work by Jarno Lee Vinsencius and his outstanding repertoire of actors, designers & technicians.

It's always fun to see horror from Scandinavia. There's not enough of that stuff. Svarta Madam is Spooky and gorgeous with elements of both the ghost and slasher genres and still manages to be its own thing. There's definitely a lot of interesting mythology hinted at too, which is cool. Would love to see this expanded into a feature film. It's awesome.

I will start this off by saying that the pacing of the opening to this film was particularly well done, with the exception of one very early jump-scare scene which, in my opinion, broke immersion. Other than that; the music, the slow-moving camera angles and the gritty filter worked in unison to create a very good setup for the film.

From thereon it's sort of a roller-coaster mix of good, mediocre and bad. This is an independent production, and as far as independent productions goes, this is well done. I will give credit most of all to the ambiance, the color setting, the music and the use of camera angles and movements. The acting can be incredibly campy. Some lines are delivered with such strange timing and tone. And the film itself pretty much makes use of every trick and cliché in the big book of horror film history.

Does that make it a bad film though? Of course not. I think that this movie is, if anything, self-aware of how clichéd it is. It contains everything we've gotten to know and learn and either love or hate from older horror films. In short: this is a homage. A harmless flirt with the classics. And I don't find anything wrong with that.

And one can tell that both the actors and the creator(s) of this film had fun making this idea a reality. And that's something they should definitely be proud of. I will give it a well-earned 7/10 for keeping me entertained throughout the whole feature. If you have about 25 minutes you can spare in your daily life, I would totally recommend this one.

An interesting variation of the "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary" urban legend and the 70s-80s films it spawned, "Svarta Madam (The Madam in Black)" avoids being blatantly derivative through its use of a different legend—the very Swedishness of which will prove compelling for audiences of other nationalities—and most of all, its use of subtle, keenly placed details. These details allow the audience to see, hear, and experience new things with each view. I've watched "Svarta Madam" twice and intend to watch it at least twice more. Fine use of atmospherics: As in most good horror films, what you don't see is far more crucial than what you do, and "Svarta Madam" shows you just enough. There are some great "jump" scenes too.

Fine acting by all, with special kudos going to Zalma and Oliver Lopez as young Emma and Alex. The close relationship between the siblings is adeptly shown and proves crucial to the story. While the resemblance between the two men gets a little confusing, the fact that Emma marries a man who looks and acts so much like her brother is significant.

The directing, screen writing, and cinematography are all expertly done: You can tell the makers of this film spent a good bit of time and trouble fine-tuning every little thing about it. The one criticism I might have is that "Svarta Madam" would have been enhanced by just a bit more dramatization of the 1633 back-story legend. Still, Jarno Lee Vinsencius is going places as a writer and director, and I am eager to see more from him.

I make IMDb page to write review. Very cool to see this film. I like horror films and this was correct made. The emotion, the scary, the madame in black was cool killer.

The actors did good work. I also very happy to see Harry who artist Kase Chlopecki acts. I like to see more of him. I wait for Evil Rising a long time and hope soon to see it.

The director make good work also.