Psalm 21

Saw this one yesterday at a filmfestival in Lund.

The script itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary (I won't spoil it, but you know the drill), you follow a person going to the middle of nowhere because something happened to someone close to him and during the story remembers frightening stuff.

The acting was the good part of the film, especially Jonas Malmsjö who was close to being over the top but never reached it, it was a good balance he held almost all the way through. The supporting actors where mostly good, though they didn't all the time have the best material to work with, but during the better parts they shined. Especially well did Per Ragnar (Låt den rätte komma in) who even though only had a minor roll got good material and also made the best out of it.

I need to see this movie a second time to reflect on my first thoughts but I think I will stand by my review without any alterations after a second viewing.

I can see perfectly well why certain people would reject this movie out of hand, since - in spite of their possible expectations - this is not a horror film, but a scathing indictment of fundamentalist religion and an examination of the destrucive impact that the sexual abuse of children will have on many lives.

If I had to criticise the film I would have to observe that the tone is somewhat over-emotional at times, in many of the characters, including the main lead, whose inner "demons" have produced a volcano of repressed feelings which are obvious throughout the movie.

The performances are strong, the writing is decent, the imagery and the direction are effective and the message is laudable.

Do the nay-sayers really believe that this is a bad movie, or do they regard it as simply striking too close to home.?

In the interests of balance, I have given this a rating of ten, but it actually deserves a seven.

Why does this movie have such low rating? It's definitely worth a lot more. First this is a horror movie. If you expect Oscar winning dialog, well you are watching the wrong type of movie. If you expect every little detail to be correct or that they don't speak the correct dialect for that part of Sweden, don't watch it. All movies have mistakes let's not forget that. Now let's look at what we have here. It's quite a basic set up for a horror movie, no real surprises there. The acting is over all good to very good. The main actor is on the verge of overacting from time to time especially in the beginning but he pulls it together. The storyline isn't hard to follow, but you have to pay attention though. For a horror movie it's actually quite good. Compared to a lot of "horror" movies out there this is actually one of the better ones in the last few years. If you like the American style "everything is explained to you so a 5 year old can understand" this might be to tough for you. If you like the Asian style "the movie is over and nothing is explained and you have to guess and try to puzzle it together for hours", this might be to easy for you. This mixes both of those and finds a nice middelground of storytelling. There's so many really awful horror movies that has gotten way better rating so I'm surprised that this doesn't have at least 6/10. Intentionally I haven't summed up the plot or written any "spoilers". Others have already done that and I really want you to give this movie a fair chance without giving anything away.

A fairly good attempt of venturing into the genre of modern Asian horror, although, with a Scandinavian touch to it. In the story line, we follow when a young priest battles his personal stand point alongside with the modern theology, involving the issue that hell does not exist! However, he will soon experience the contrary when he visits the village where his father recently died.

The move contains some chilling scenes when normal people transforms into demon like characters. These special effects are regurgitated throughout the movie, which, in the end loses its supposed scariness.

Due to this, my drowsy eyes gains control and the only thing that is occupying my mind is the need of a good night rest. That night, I slept like a baby!

I had to give this a higher rating than it deserves because so many have not managed to figure out what this film is and what its purpose seems to be.

This ain't a supernatural horror movie!

This is commentary on abuse, hypocrisy, elitism, and the blind respect of privileged authority figures by the masses, which is made possible by the creation and the manipulation of superstitious beliefs.

The imagery which is used to make these statements belong to the horror genre, but supernatural horror is not the point of the film.

The performances of the actors are very strong, although the director has coaxed out more histrionics from some of them than was probably wise, and the final denouncement in the church is definitely too on-the-nose to be subtle.

But the lessons here are important ones to take on board, for those who - incredibly - still haven't managed to learn them.