Thursday, September 20, 2012

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)
Thale (2012)
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Director: Aleksander Nordaas
Starring: Erlend Nervold, Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Morten Andresen
Language: Norway
Duration: 76 min.
Rating: 6.0
Summary:
Two men discover a mythical huldra living in the basement of a home.
Thale is a film written and directed by Aleksander Nordaas, based on a mythical creature found in Scandinavian folklore known as the Huldra. It premiered at the 2012 Bergen International Film Festival.

It's made on a micro budget, and except for some cheap looking CGI in a couple spots, you wouldn't be able to tell. Nordaas makes very good use of locations and props to create an impressive basement setting where most of the film takes place. A sort of underground bunker with a makeshift lab full of creepy implements.

The acting is also quite good. At least, better than you'd expect for a film like this. The two leads Erlend Nervold and Jon Sigve Skard, play childhood friends Elvis and Leo, and they exhibit a great chemistry, a somewhat silly but entirely natural rapport, that makes me think these guys are good friends in real life. The pair run a Sunshine Cleaning type of service, tidying up crime scenes and dead bodies. When they get a call to recover a body eaten by wolves in a remote location, they end up discovering a hidden basement with a secret. The lovely and dangerous Thale, played by Silje Reinåmo, who does equally well in her dialog and mostly wardrobe free role.

However, as is the case with most films that start with a fascinating mythology and strong setup, it seems the director didn't know where to go with the plot. Never really committing to a path or genre, saddling it with too much pointless exposition, relying on cheap scares, and throwing together too many elements into the mix. None of which, manages to stand out.

It's pretty cool what was done with the limited funds, and some of Nordaas' ideas are promising. It will be interesting to see what he can do in the future with some proper backing, but the result this time fails to either freak out or grab hold of the audience.
Bonjour Tristesse
Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

Thale (2012)

5 comments:

FrontRoomCinema said...

Probably a bit scary for me, but I do love films from Scandinavia

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I think you could probably handle this one.

Dr Blood said...

Unfortunately, I've encounted the Huldra before in Inhabited (2003) and they were very mean to cats. :(

Hoi-Ming Ng said...

Wow, I'm surprised you even gave this film a review. I saw a trailer of it on the 'horrornymphs' YouTube channel and I just assumed it was another cheap scare, cheap production horror flick piece of crap. Well... I guess you didn't really disprove that..

d_4 said...

Just an oh well then. I really don't think watching this one will do me any good, I'd rather just see something more complete in the future.. yeah?

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