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.
