Thale is Another Exquisit Modern Fairy Tail

My three favorite horror films made in the last five years had at least two things in common.  Each was made on a shoestring budget and all three presented contemporary versions of stories that were once told to scare children.  Troll Hunter (2010) and Absentia (2011) gave us two distinct versions of the troll: the large lumbering creature in the forest (more or less a Norwegian counterpart to the Japanese kaiju) and the creepy, crawly, thing under the bridge that will drag you back into its lair. 

Thale (2012) makes a very fine third entry.  Here the mysterious creature is not a troll but one of the many imaginary hominids who populate the wooded and cragged regions of our dreamlands.  They are shy and so at home where there is a lot to hide behind and where it can be perilously difficult to distinguish a crooked branch from a furry femur.  The forest folk may or may not be malevolent but they are usually as suspicious of us as we are of them.  An encounter with them may occasionally promise some prize.  It always involves a peril. 

Thale (pronounced tall-eh, as best I could hear it), like Troll Hunter, is a Norwegian film.  It was written and directed by Aleksander Nordaas, apparently on a budget of $10,000.  

Synopsis

The action opens with a couple of fellows cleaning up soupy viscera off of someone’s floor.  Leo (Jon Sigve Skard) is the crime scene cleanup veteran.  He works stoically and patiently while his partner Elvis (Erlend Nervold) pukes into a bucket.  Elvis is not a man who had other options.  They are called to another location where some poor fellow has excreted his entire remains down an outhouse hole. 

They are compelled to enter the house and at that point the two characters switch roles.  Leo is cautious and keeps telling his partner not to touch anything.  Elvis succumbs to the lure of mystery and cannot resist exploring.  Eventually they discover a woman hiding in one of a series of dirty rooms.  Thale (Silje Reinåmo ) is beautiful, naked and mute.  In short order they will discover that she is no ordinary girl and that she is being hunted by two sets of characters with very different powers and motives.  

Comment

The film builds steadily from its quiet but dismal opening toward a climax of violence and horror, all the while following a delicious mystery.  It treats us to a terrible retribution leavened with magical grace.  Nordaas is an alchemist, turning blood, viscera, and abuse into something exquisitely beautiful. 

I will add here two features of the plotting that are very well done.  Elvis is immediately taken with Thale and at first it seems as if this is out of a sexual attraction.  No one could blame him.  In fact, she reminds him of his daughter.  Apparently he is estranged from the mother and child, which goes to explain why he took this awful job.  His instinct is fatherly.  He wants to protect Thale.  That will have important consequences. 

Second, we get some quazi-scientific commentary from cassette tapes recorded by Thale’s deceased benefactor (the guy in the outhouse).  This is done not to make the myth seem more plausible (it wouldn’t serve that purpose) but to weave the mythic aspects of the story together with the stories that modern natural history offers up.  That is exactly how this sort of thing ought to be handled in horror fiction.  

Thale is a first rate piece of work.  It appears that a sequel is in the works, no doubt with a considerably bigger budget.  It will be a miracle if that doesn’t ruin it.  Don’t miss this one. 

Absentia2

This is an update of a previous post, with some screen captures.  I originally watched Absentia on Netflix Instant.  Now I have the DVD.  I continue to think that this is one of the most brilliant horror films of the decade. 

I have posted a lot of horror movie reviews over the years, but not so many of late.  I just haven’t seen very many films interesting enough to review.  I am happy to say that I found one on Netflix Instant Watch: Absentia.  This independent film was written and directed by Mike Flanagan.  I hope he has more where this one came from, because it is one of the best horror movies I have seen in the last decade.

The film begins with a woman (Courtney Bell) replacing a weathered missing person notice on a poll with a fresh one that she pulls out of a large leather bag.  Tricia’s husband disappeared seven years prior.  Though she is in the process of applying for a death certificate and is in fact pregnant, she is clearly having trouble letting go.  Her younger sister Callie (Katie Parker) arrives to lend moral support.  Callie is almost but not quite drug free.  These items of emotional baggage are the material which the fine cinematography and haunting score can work on.

In view from Tricia’s front stoop is the opening of one of those pedestrian tunnels that run under a highway.  If you have ever walked through one, you may recall that they are ominous enough all on their own in broad daylight.  Callie has brought a gift for the baby: a copy of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  In case you are wondering, that’s a clue. 

I won’t reveal any more details, for this is one film that tells its story efficiently and effectively.  An event that occurs about a third of the way through ratchets the story up to another level.  It ratchets up again a bit later into full bore horror.

I have had an affection for spooky stories all my life.  I am not alone, to judge by the volume of horror cinema produced each year.  I like the tension produced by wanting and not wanting to see what is just out of sight.  The film keeps this tension perfectly balanced all the way through.

I also like the way that a good horror films explores the architecture of human fear and the way that cultures have managed and exploited those fears.  At its best, the horror genre affords new ways to see and map that architecture.  Evolutionary psychology has noted that phobias form around things that tended to kill our ancestors.  That is why we fear spiders but not automobiles or tobacco.  A fear of tight spaces, darkness, and being dragged away not only haunted our ancestors but also haunted our ancestor’s ancestors.  These are the stuff of fairy tales.  Absentia is a modern fairy tale, as dark as the unexpurgated versions of those that emerge from the darkness of Europe and other places.

More than one character in the film articulates the modern view of such stories.  In addition to being entertaining, they are one of the ways that we manage our fears of what we cannot predict and what we cannot secure ourselves against.  That is a rational, scientific interpretation of the supernatural and it describes how things really are.  I don’t believe in real demons or malevolent ghosts.

However, once you step over the line between world time and dream time, as you must to enjoy the story, the relationship between myth and rational interpretation reverses itself.  In horror land, the rational interpretation is the lie that we tell ourselves in order to avoid facing very dark realities.

One very neat trick that the movie pulls is to give us different visual accounts of the same event.  First we see something horrifying happen that leaves no doubt about the supernatural forces at work.  Then a character will see in his or her mind how it might have happened a different way, with only ordinary forces at work.  For a moment the viewer has to wonder which view is the real one; but only for a moment, happily.  The rational interpretation is self-deception.

So long as you know the difference between fiction and reality, it can be enlightening to see what the world looks like the other way round.  It is a useful reminder that reason and common sense are not the same things a knowledge, even if they are the best guides to truth and practice.  It is certainly entertaining, if you like the spooky tale.  Absentia is an almost flawless horror film. 

Absentia

I have posted a lot of horror movie reviews over the years, but not so many of late.  I just haven’t seen very many films interesting enough to review.  I am happy to say that I found one on Netflix Instant Watch: Absentia.  This independent film was written and directed by Mike Flanagan.  I hope he has more where this one came from, because it is one of the best horror movies I have seen in the last decade. 

The film begins with a woman (Courtney Bell) replacing a weathered missing person notice on a poll with a fresh one that she pulls out of a large leather bag.  Tricia’s husband disappeared seven years prior.  Though she is in the process of applying for a death certificate and is in fact pregnant, she is clearly having trouble letting go.  Her younger sister Callie (Katie Parker) arrives to lend moral support.  Callie is almost but not quite drug free.  These items of emotional baggage are the material which the fine cinematography and haunting score can work on. 

In view from Tricia’s front stoop is the opening of one of those pedestrian tunnels that run under a highway.  If you have ever walked through one, you may recall that they are ominous enough all on their own in broad daylight.  Callie has brought a gift for the baby: a copy of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  In case you are wondering, that’s a clue. 

I won’t reveal any more details, for this is one film that tells its story efficiently and effectively.  An event that occurs about a third of the way through ratchets the story up to another level.  It ratchets up again a bit later into full bore horror. 

I have had an affection for spooky stories all my life.  I am not alone, to judge by the volume of horror cinema produced each year.  I like the tension produced by wanting and not wanting to see what is just out of sight.  The film keeps this tension perfectly balanced all the way through. 

I also like the way that a good horror films explores the architecture of human fear and the way that cultures have managed and exploited those fears.  At its best, the horror genre affords new ways to see and map that architecture.  Evolutionary psychology has noted that phobias form around things that tended to kill our ancestors.  That is why we fear spiders but not automobiles or tobacco.  A fear of tight spaces, darkness, and being dragged away not only haunted our ancestors but also haunted our ancestor’s ancestors.  These are the stuff of fairy tales.  Absentia is a modern fairy tale, as dark as the unexpurgated versions of those that emerge from the darkness of Europe and other places. 

More than one character in the film articulates the modern view of such stories.  In addition to being entertaining, they are one of the ways that we manage our fears of what we cannot predict and what we cannot secure ourselves against.  That is a rational, scientific interpretation of the supernatural and it describes how things really are.  I don’t believe in real demons or malevolent ghosts. 

However, once you step over the line between world time and dream time, as you must to enjoy the story, the relationship between myth and rational interpretation reverses itself.  In horror land, the rational interpretation is the lie that we tell ourselves in order to avoid facing very dark realities. 

One very neat trick that the movie pulls is to give us different visual accounts of the same event.  First we see something horrifying happen that leaves no doubt about the supernatural forces at work.  Then a character will see in his or her mind how it might have happened a different way, with only ordinary forces at work.  For a moment the viewer has to wonder which view is the real one; but only for a moment, happily.  The rational interpretation is self-deception. 

So long as you know the difference between fiction and reality, it can be enlightening to see what the world looks like the other way round.  It is a useful reminder that reason and common sense are not the same things a knowledge, even if they are the best guides to truth and practice.  It is certainly entertaining, if you like the spooky tale.  Absentia is an almost flawless horror film.