Lokis. Rekopis profesora Wittembacha (1970) User Reviews

A Horror Film Without Much Horror

[jrd_73 · 5/10 · 21 July 2012]

Lokis ("The Bear") does a good job at setting up a foreign world. Set in the 19th century, a German minister travels to rural Poland to study the local folklore and to view a rare book in the collection of a count. This count is a strange man with an insane mother who was attacked by a bear as a newlywed and believes that her son is the progeny of that bear. Attending the sick woman is a city doctor who can barely hide his contempt for the country and his employers. Into this world comes the minister. The viewer immediately identifies with him because we, like the protagonist, are outsiders in a strange world. Like him, we wonder at the odd sights and beliefs (at a wedding, the bride is slapped during the service). The film is aided by the visual look which expresses a time gone by.

The problem is that the film does not go anywhere. There is a moody ambiance. An occasional odd moment suggests something fearful is coming, yet, nothing scary ever happens. Somehow the horror has been left out of the horror movie.

The Bears of Lithuania

[ricardojorgeramalho · 6/10 · 5 January 2023]

A curious foray into the fantastic universe in a 1970 Polish film, directed by Janusz Majewski, based on a short story by the French romantic Prosper Merimée.

A pastor's journey to 19th century Lithuania in search of the region's folkloric roots, where he will find a strange connection between a noble Vilnius family and the bears that populate their territory.

In addition to this literal reading of a fantastic tale, which romantics loved so much, I allow myself to extract a more political interpretation of the film.

Considering Poland's historical moment in 1970, this film can also be read as a critique of the decadent and futile aristocracy and a reminder to Soviet power that Lithuania was culturally and historically part of Poland, despite the invasion ordered by Stalin in 1940, in the course of the infamous Molotov-Von Ribbentrop Pact, which divided Poland between the Nazis and the Soviets. Or not.

A Polish folk horror set in 19th century Lithuania -- not another one, I hear you say.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 19 January 2024]

Lokis sees a pastor, Professor Wittembach (Edmund Fetting), travelling to the country home of Count Michal Szemiot (Józef Duriasz), whose library contains many rare books of great interest. One of the books tells of how, shortly after her marriage, the Count's mother was carried away by a wild bear. After she was rescued by a hunter, she found out that she was pregnant but became convinced that the baby wasn't completely human. Is the Count a Lokis, the half human spawn of the bear that attacked his mother?

Beautiful cinematography and impressive camerawork make Lokis a feast for the eyes, but the film takes a long time to go nowhere and it doesn't always make sense, with quite a few seemingly pointless scenes. As a horror, it is severely lacking in chills and scares, and the ending is frustratingly abrupt and ambiguous: is the Count really a were-bear or is he just barking mad like his mother?

3/10 -- Too slow and strange with not enough horror for my liking.

Dark Gothic romance of subtle fear.

[Vassago · 10/10 · 2 May 2006]

"Lokis" is a dark Gothic romance, a faithful (though expanded) adaptation of Prosper Merimee's famous story, and the creme de la creme of the small horror niche dealing with the Eastern variant of the werewolf - the "werebear".

Reverend Wittenbach, clergyman and bibliophile, travels into the eastern regions of Polish-Lithuanian forests - the "kresy" - in order to explore the vast library owned by a rich family of noblemen. Hosted in their luxurious mansion, the reverend learns the strange secrets of the surroundings and discovers the dark and disturbing secret of the family - there are whispers that his host, the enigmatic young count Michal Szemiot, may be something other than a man... that he was born of an unholy union of a woman and a bear...

Photographed with saturation purposely taken to the extreme in outerior takes - some scenes in open spaces resemble nothing as much as impressionistic paintings - "Lokis" relies on dialogue, imagery and the viewer's imagination in order to create an atmosphere of slowly creeping fear... the kind of fear that is always in the corner of one's eye, never pushed in one's face. This is not the kind of film for a dullard that considers the umpteenth remake with TV Guide's "Teen Star of the Month" to be the Olympus of horror movies.

The most interesting aspect of the film is its ambiguity - nothing seemingly supernatural is definitely shown as such. Do we really see a witch walking on water or merely an old woman using a secret path in the forest swamp? Is the count a werebeast or merely a man driven into insanity and murderous lust by his deepening psychosis? These questions are left unanswered, for the viewer to decide.

Currently available on DVD, "Lokis" is a worthy view to a conneisseur of the subtle and refined old school of horror cinema.

Stylish piece of Polish fantasy horror.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 2 May 2008]

A pastor stays at the home of a young nobleman when he comes to study folklore in Lithuania.A local doctor tells the pastor his host may be the union of a bear and the man's addle-brained mother.When the young noble is married,he disappears into the woods while his wife remains behind suffering from bite marks.Out of sheer boredom the doctor had perpetuated the story to alarm visitors of the small village and the pastor questions his faith when he believes him..."Lokis" is a slow-moving and suitably creepy Gothic horror film that carefully builds the air of menace and dread.It's also one of the most famous Polish horror films-even reviewed in remarkable 'Fear Without Frontiers" by Steven Jay Schneider.Check out Polish DVD,if you have a chance.