Tags:
Film: The Damned
Year: 2024
Director: Thordur Palsson
Writer: Jamie Hannigan
Starring: Odessa Young, Joe Cole and Lewis Gribben
Review:
This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Amelia from Strike Media. She sent over a screener and let me know that this was slated to be released in early 2025. Since I struggle to find new releases, I decided to make this a featured review on Journey with a Cinephile. It saved me time, which during this stretch of the year is appreciated. Other than that, I came blind knowing that this was a Nordic horror film.
Synopsis: a 19th-century widow is tasked with making an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a ship sinks off the coast of her impoverished Icelandic fishing village.
We start this with voice-over narration from our lead character. She is the widow from the synopsis, Eva (Odessa Young). I get the idea that she owns the boat that this fishing community uses, or something along these lines. It seems that her now deceased husband owned it and then that shifted to her. The company is run by Ragner (Rory McCann). With him is his son named Daniel (Joe Cole). They work with Hakon (Turlough Convery), Jonas (Lewis Gribben), Skuli (Francis Magee) and Aron (Mícheál Óg Lane). We learn through what she says that they’ve hit a rough patch, food is scarce and they’re not sure what they’re going to do.
They’re faced with a tough dilemma. A ship has crashed at the mouth of their bay. The men want to help. Ragner says they can’t. Eva sides with him. To not be disrespectful, they won’t go fishing that day. It also seems a way to not draw attention to them. Eva walks to the beach and finds a rope. It is connected to a net that leads her to a barrel. Inside of it is food. Ragner tastes it, to find that it is good. It is decided then that before the currents change to see if there is anything else they can salvage from the sunken ship.
This turns out to be disastrous. They find that there are survivors on a rock near the wreck. This group and our fishing company don’t speak the same language. The survivors try to get on their boat and this causes a fight. Daniel kills one of them and Ragner is lost in the fray. The company members head back to camp and try to figure out what to do next.
It gets dark here as Helga (Siobhan Finneran), a woman who helps out at the camp, believes that an entity is now haunting them. The men are superstitious and fear grows. Eva wants to alleviate the fear. There are just unexplained things happening, as members of the group disappear and others descend into madness. She must figure out the cause before it is too late and spells disaster for this group.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is a great film to watch in the middle of winter. It feels cold, there is snow and ice in this isolated location. What adds to it is that the surroundings of this camp are bleak. Then knowing this group doesn’t have food adds to it. I thought that this did an excellent job of setting this all up. You just know that the water around them is frigid and that the land itself is unforgiving. That is the first thing I wanted to credit here.
Then from there, you have the guilt of not saving the people from the shipwreck. Ragner is right though, they don’t have enough food for them let alone more people. That is a different decision to make so I’m not shocked to see members of this group then descend into madness. Then you couple that with them being superstitious people. This takes place in the mid-1800s. You have people here that follow Christianity, but when you get isolated like this and people that historically don’t, they would revert to pagan ideas. There’s also that idea that if something works, you put your faith in it. I do love Eva trying to keep the sanity and having Helga keep her fears to herself. Then when this other woman disappears, it is hard to not worry even more. These first two things definitely work together in building tension.
Now this is listed as folk horror. I wanted to include that here as I delve more into this idea. We get a story that could either be something supernatural is happening, a logical explanation or a combination of both. What is interesting here is that for a majority, we are leaning into there being an entity that is stalking them. Eva doesn’t believe it and she’s trying to keep the men from the camp with her. There are things that she can’t explain though so she’s on the verge of descending with them. I do like that we get the explanation at the end. It allows us to decide up until then. I don’t love where it goes, but I respect the filmmaker’s decision.
I’ll then shift over to next to discuss the filmmaking. I’ve already gushed over the setting. The cinematography and the framing help there for sure. There is something that is breathtaking about capturing that bleak and coldness. It also displays that isolation. Now there are limited effects used. I’m not sure how much of that is practical and how much is CGI, but what helps is that it is out of focus. There is something here where we see behind a character and they don’t. That gets under my skin so credit for that. I’d also say that the soundtrack fit what was needed in building the atmosphere.
All that is left then is acting performances. I thought that Young was good as our lead. She is in over her head after Ragner goes missing. She is doing her best, but I love that she then starts to wonder. McCann is good as Ragner. I like that he commands respect and then there’s despair when he is lost in the bay. Cole, Convery, Gribben, Magee and Lane are all solid as the different members of the team. I also like Fenneran as the superstitious woman who helps build fear and atmosphere with those beliefs. There are a limited number outside of that who help round out what else is needed.
In conclusion, I thought that this was an interesting folk horror film to help kick off 2025. The best part here is the setting and how the filmmaking techniques are able to capture it. That makes it almost a character in itself. The acting performances, especially from Young also help there as we watch this group try to survive and not lose their minds. This is more of a character study watching them survive these elements. I’d also say that this was well-made by the soundtrack and design to build tension. Even though I don’t love where it ends up, I still think this is one that is worth a watch if you enjoy movies like this. Be warned, it is a slow-burn as it develops these elements.
My Rating: 7 out of 10