When Animals Dream (2014) User Reviews

Mild Horror, drama from Denmark.

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 6/10 · 11 June 2016]

Marie is sixteen and lives in a coastal town with nowt to do, no friends and a mother with a mysterious debilitating illness. The local doctor seems to take a lot of interest in Marie's condition especially when she starts to grow thick body hair and she would like to know why.

Now she gets a job at the local fish factory, where she is not exactly made to feel welcome. She makes a connection with Daniel, a kindly soul who is also a good looking man whom she takes a shine too. The thing is she starts to feel that she has not been told everything about her 'illness' and soon she will find out the hard way.

Now this is a slow burner but one that is fairly intense at the same time. There are some sterling performances especially from Lars Mikkelsen – brother of Mads but everyone is actually good even Gustav Dyekjær Giese who has a small role playing a nasty type here and was in the rather good 'Northwest'. It is short at 81 minutes and that includes the run off credits, but it does not do much wasting of screen time and is better for it. For lovers of 'horror' this may be lacking as it is a coming of age tale and a relationship story as much as the horror part and that makes it a more rounded film – recommended.

an atmospheric Scandinavian horror film

[SpannersGerm669 · 7/10 · 6 February 2015]

When Animals Dream has a lot of similarities with the Swedish masterpiece Let The Right One In. While one movie deals with Vampires and the other with Werewolves, both share a brilliant atmosphere along with sympathetic situations. When Animals Dream isn't so much about Werewolves as such, but about a family struggling to cope with hereditary illness. The power of a young female caring for her ill mother and depressed father. The whole situation is hopeless and portrays a very depressing story, but strangely at the same time, a story of beauty. The story is simplistic, but its the rich flavour that keeps the movie afloat. While Let The Right One In is a better film, When Animals Dream is yet another very memorable Scandinavian horror/drama. Highly recommended!

An exercise in mediocrity, but with a good female lead.

[sarastro7 · 6/10 · 16 June 2014]

As a Dane I hate to say it, but most Danish movies are pretty bad. And what's perhaps even worse: a lot of Danish (and now also international) movie critics still give these movies positive reviews. This is certainly the case with this movie, which, while perhaps not especially bad, is certainly not especially good, either. But hey, Danish movies and TV shows are in vogue these days. With enough support and praise, these products of Denmark might well begin to get better in due course.

"When Animals Dream" is about a provincial fishing village, where a 19-year-old girl is beginning to find out about her mother's strange disease, which necessitates keeping the mother sedated in a wheelchair like a vegetable. The girl, Marie, has inherited the disease, and starts very (very) slowly turning into a werewolf. And SHE won't be sedated.

Sonia Suhl, a new young actress, is good as Marie, and a very good fit to play the daughter of Sonja Richter, who plays the mother. Lars Mikkelsen as the father is also fine. But the movie as a whole is slow-moving and laconic, giving too few clues about when and why things happen, and while well-produced in some ways, it is too obviously low-budget in others. The rest of the cast are not well-developed.

Now, the great stable of Danish film-making, which almost always ensures a project being financially supported by the Danish Film Institute, is social realism. This movie is stuffed with it, as well, and hasn't got that much werewolf action in it, which is a pity. If you're a genre fan, it's a little bit yawnsville. Or a lot.

There are two ways to interpret the movie. One is that Marie's turning into a werewolf represents a coming-of-age journey and sexual awakening. That's how mainstream critics understand this movie.

However, if you look at the movie in terms of the fantastic genre (which I believe is much more proper in this case), the artistic twist is that the werewolf represents true and beautiful human nature, which is being destroyed and actively suppressed in provincial dumps populated by repressed, conservative bigots. All things considered, though (such as how powerful the movie is, or rather, isn't), this is not a particularly original or progressive message, but simply a moderate one.

Sadly, even though I see a dimension to the movie that most of the gushing professional critics (that I've read so far) apparently do not, this is in my view still not a movie that goes much beyond tedious mediocrity. The story is too small, has too little to say and doesn't add anything substantially new to the genre. It has all the typical hallmarks of Danish movies, perhaps best exemplified by the sparse, ill-at-ease and artificial dialogue which sounds completely unnatural. Foreign audiences should be thankful that this is not apparent to them. Denmark is a small country, and we are so deeply suffused with Anglo-American culture that our own language is becoming unbearably stilted, especially in scripted drama.

Having said this, one must applaud the effort to make a werewolf movie in the first place, and while failing to arouse much excitement in this viewer, it's not a complete failure. Perhaps this director's next movie will be more interesting.

I rate "When Animals Dream" 6 stars out of 10, although parts of me incline more towards 5.

Artfully composed

[Red_Identity · 10 December 2014]

Wow. What a pleasant surprise. Carefully-paced, artfully composed with some beautiful cinematography and direction, and some strong acting. The fact that it's the director's feature film debut is highly impressive, and it actually reminds me of Let The Right One In in some aspects. It's definitely a horror film, but definitely a coming-of-age drama in other ways. Definitely recommend this little gem, and further proof that 2014 was actually a good year for horror (among others like Under The Skin, Coherence, The Babadook, Honeymoon). I hope people try to seek this one out because it's definitely worth the time to, especially among sure dire horrors these days.

Horror with a bit of romance thrown in

[euroGary · 6/10 · 13 November 2014]

Danish film 'When Animals Dream' is about a teenaged girl called Marie (Sonia Suhl), who lives in a small fishing village with her mother (Sonja Richter, who looks about the same age as Suhl) and father (Lars Mikkelsen, who doesn't). Already concerned by a mysterious rash on her body, Marie definitely realises that something is wrong when she catches her father shaving her mother's back.

For Marie, it's downhill from there: hair starts growing over her body, her fingernails bleed, and even those co-workers at the fish factory who have previously been friendly to her start to whisper in corners - some of them remember what happened with her mother all those years ago. Then the doctor tries to inject her with the same medicine that keeps her mother a wheelchair-bound invalid...

But it's not all bad, and that's where the film is as much a romance as a horror flick: Marie catches the eye of Daniel (genetic lottery winner Jakob Ostebro), a kindly soul who isn't phased when, in a moment of passion, he discovers a coating of hair on Marie's back: "You're beautiful", he smoulders. It is Daniel who comes to her aid when the townsfolk turn violently against her and Marie's physical changes reach their peak.

In a film like this the make-up department are important and they do a good job in the early stages of Marie's transformation: soft, floaty hair on her cheeks and neck. Conversely, they go overboard in the final stages of her transformation and she ends up looking less real - and less horrific as a result. But this is still an entertaining film - a bit subtler than your average schlockfest.

New twist to werewolves

[que_no_me_toque_un_alto_delante · 6/10 · 27 October 2015]

A twist to a theme already seen many times, but is an original contribution. Through concise and fair dialogue, we can see a clear intention not to give everything chewed to the viewer, not explaining everything that happens (which came out very well in my opinion).The lead actress does a fine job. Perhaps a rewriting of the myth of the werewolf, perhaps a metaphor for the animal in us, maybe a social critique to the aggression that the horde develops when something is different and frightens us. Probably all that together. I liked the point made by the father/mother and father/daughter relationship in the context of the situation they are living. Either way, it's a movie with original features, beautifully set in a rural town in Denmark, and with decent special effects.

Too Poetic, Loses it's Bite

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 18 January 2016]

"When Animals Dream" is a pseudo Werewolf movie. The main character, Marie (Sonia Suhl) goes through some slow yet perturbing bodily changes and she doesn't know why. Her father wants to medicate her to prevent the inevitable but she'll have nothing of it.

This film starts of slow in a good way. It takes time to set the mood and introduce the setting and the characters. The problem is that it continued to be slow even after we were aware of the direction of the movie.

Although billed as a horror it was far more drama. They tried to make it too poetic; establishing mood with very little dialog and plenty of music, non-verbal communication and imagery. It maintained a somber mood much of the movie with only small glimpses of action.

What was clear was that Marie was the victim in this and the townsfolk were the ill-intentioned oppressors. That's how they painted it but that's not how I viewed it.

Marie is a small, docile, nubile young woman that still lives at home. She just wants to lead a normal life. Whatever happened to her, whatever she did as a result can hardly be blamed on her. Except that the world doesn't operate like that. People like safety and security even if from those without a heart to do wrong. Even though Marie was painted as and represented the underdog, she was nothing but.

Unusual horror, avoiding abundant bloodshed, yet maintaining loaded atmosphere around werewolf coming-of-age. Clearly outlined dilemmas of family in question and villagers

[JvH48 · 7/10 · 8 May 2015]

Saw this at the Film Fest Ghent 2014. Combined several nice ideas derived from the Horror genre, thereby avoiding an abundance of blood and gore that gave the genre a bad name. Only a handful of people died in the process, at times where the story needed it and where we like to see "bad" people punished for their deeds. It was nowhere over-the-top frightening, so actually more Drama than Horror.

A good-looking adolescent girl Marie with hidden were­wolf genes plays the leading part in this movie. She has a mother who is constantly drugged for initially unknown reasons, and a father who tries to suppress the inevitable that he sees coming. And the villagers keep them constantly under watch for reasons that become clear later on.

The effect of the hidden genes become more and more apparent. Meanwhile the whole village assumes that Marie will develop the same symptoms as her mother, and eventually has to be kept semi-conscious too. Father and daughter play their respective roles very well, and their dilemma's and compromises become very clear. Though less prominent, the same can also be said about the villagers, mostly colleague workers in the fish factory where she starts a new job.

Not a lot of action in view yet not boring throughout all of the 84 minutes running time. The werewolf theme and its positioning in the village seems interesting, but could possibly have been exploited more fully. Nevertheless, we should encourage movies like these that do not make spilling blood and causing bodily harm to their primary goal. It is more important to create a loaded atmosphere around a phenomenon that we don't fully understand, with potential very dangerous repercussions when it would turn against us. The latter need not be a danger for everyone, as we see in this movie where most good people are left unharmed. Of course, we have no problems when a few bad people get what they deserve, which is precisely what happens here as well.

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[dcarsonhagy · 4/10 · 1 December 2015]

I tried "When Animals Dream" evening-before-last. I tried it again the next morning, then, the afternoon, and I finally finished it this evening. I want to thank the movie for helping me sleep...

"When Animals Dream" is a very slow-paced--almost boring--attempt to tell a story of a young girl experiencing changes to her body and mind. What those changes are and why (or how they develop) are never explained. The story begins when Marie is in her doctor's office for a checkup. The doctor says he needs to do a little more blood tests before he can make a diagnosis. In the meantime, Marie has begun work at a local fish cannery, and hair has started to grow on one boob. She's pranked at her job, she flirts, she smokes, she works, she's sexually harassed, she's confused, she dances, she gets drunk, she falls for someone. Bored yet? I know I was.

I'm not sure anything could have helped "When Animals Dream." Perhaps, a little more action, but this snooze-fest left me feeling nothing. There is no character development. I felt nothing for Marie because the movie never developed her character. You're just given a bare-bones look at a woman changing. "Ginger Snaps" was MUCH better.

Rated "R" for a hairy boob, adult situations, and mild violence. Not recommended. NOTE: In Danish with sub-titles.

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 7/10 · 11 August 2016]

On beginning her new job, shy Marie (Sonia Suhl) is greeted with ominous words, 'Since you're new, you'll have to get rid of the fish waste.' Marie is shy, occasionally sullen, and seems to be suffering from an un-diagnosable disease which leaves marks over her body. Getting rid of the fish waste is only the start of her challenges, in this film set in a Denmark fishing village … At first, the abuse she receives at work seems like vicious, testosterone-fuelled cruelty disguised as high jinks, and it isn't until later we discover there is reason for the resentment the locals have against her family. Marie's mother (Sonja Richter) is catatonic, and late one night, Marie spies her father Thor (Lars Mikkelsen) shaving her shoulders and back. This is doubly cause for concern for Marie, as blemishes she is beginning to exhibit also feature the sprouting of down-like hair.

Thor's history is revealed slowly. His wife is heavily medicated because her disease has a history of turning her into a killer. When it appears Marie is similarly afflicted, the local doctor, under Thor's instruction, takes steps to anaesthetise her, when her mother springs into life and kills him. Shortly after, he is secretly buried in the garden, and she drowns herself in the bath.

Online reviews compare this to 'Let the Right One In (2008)', in that it can be seen as a kind of coming-of-age drama as well as a horror film. There are similarities.

When her work-mates continue to torment her, their wariness of her family giving them an excuse to act in their vindictive manner, it is hugely satisfying when Marie's lycanthropic rage leads her to kill main protagonist Esben (Gustav Giese) – in fact, it's a pity his suffering isn't greater! Eventually, Marie is taken aboard a trawler where the locals intend to kill her, most likely dump her in the waters. Her subsequent slaughter of the entire crew puts me in mind of Dracula's exploits aboard the Demeter – it is last seen as a ghost shop, drifting aimlessly. On board, only Marie remains, sleeping and child-like again, alongside Daniel (Jakob Oftebro), the only person to show her consistent kindness.

The sedate pacing may not appeal to everyone, but this unspectacular direction allows the story to tell itself, and for the characters to breathe, and is the way a truly atmospheric horror story should be told. Highly recommended.

Was the craziest things infinite deep love of her father against his wife?

[Aoi_kdr · 1/10 · 13 June 2019]

The protagnist was Marie, a female werewolf. At first, its sign didn't appear. As the story went on, she grew up as a true animal. Her environment was terrible. She was bullied at her workplace. Also her mother seemed to be able to do nothing because of her illness. So her father took care of her dedicatedly. But it looked a bit strange. I thought the craziest things was infinite deep love of him against his wife.

The images showes the town were bluish and beautiful. It had an effect on the story as her feeling entrapped. But, to be honest, the quality in the last half was not good as I couldn't watch it. Was the reason why it was the production cost? Although I expected and went to a far-off theator, that was disappointing.

They might not be dreaming at all

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 19 January 2015]

It's not as exploitative as some may think (especially considering the English title), but more Art-house. So while this is a different beast (no pun intended) than "Let the right one in" (your dreams?), this still has a similar feeling to it. Not to mention a female character in the center of it. A really good movie (coming of age and other things that is) if you like your drama spiced.

Acting wise this is great and it may need some time to get rolling, but when it does there seems to be no stopping. Many people can also identify with the main actress/character, the way she feels and is being treated. There is more than a connection (though it does stop there of course ... hopefully) and that is being exploited, if anything.

Simple, but effective, werewolf movie.

[fearnomoshpit · 7/10 · 21 December 2016]

Personally, I liked this movie. It has a simple, raw sort of charm in a time when so many movies are being made with complex, twisting plots just for the sake of seeming "complex" and "deep", but closer inspection reveals that half the plot points don't make sense, don't tie together, seem completely extraneous or even outright contradict each other. This movie avoids those pitfalls by stripping the narrative development down to the bare bones of what's necessary to tell the story. I can understand why this would be somewhat jarring for modern viewers, given what I've previously said, but personally I found it a bit refreshing.

One of my few complaints is that the dialogue does seem a little too sparse to the point of seeming unnatural at times, even for the creative direction the movie was taken in, but it makes up for it with an intensity I can't quite fully describe in many of its scenes. For example, in one scene Marie is spoon feeding her mother and misses her mouth, getting food on her face. At first it seems like it was because she's distracted by the TV and/or her own thoughts, but then she turns to her mother and starts intentionally smearing the food over her face until her father notices. He becomes irate, asking Marie what she's doing at which point Marie storms out of the room after angrily demanding to know what, exactly, is even wrong with her. This scene only has two lines of dialogue, but it perfectly captures Marie's frustration over being so in the dark regarding her family's situation and the fact that it seems like she may be starting to suffer from the same condition as her mother has been all these years, whatever that may be.

That pretty much sums up the movie, actually... an intense but minimalist experience that substitutes raw energy for anything beyond the most basic exposition. Well, verbal exposition, anyway. There's plenty of non-verbal cues to tell you what's going on, but I guess that's what I would describe as the "energy" of it... looks exchanged between two characters, facial expressions, the pace of their stride. Things like that are put to extremely effective use to tell this tale as well as the movie manages to do so. Once again, it's probably not for everyone, especially viewers used to modern Hollywood flicks, but it's very well done (IMHO) and a refreshing movie experience.

A new trend?

[Patient444 · 5/10 · 22 March 2015]

So, last night I just finished watching Spring. Wow does these 2 resemble a lot! Sadly, in a bad way...

Let's see: both of them involve a woman, going through changes, becoming something different, a monster if you like. Any originality here? Of course not, just making the most of a indeed small budget, but it will easily go unnoticed, cause let's face it, this is not what anyone is looking for when searching for a horror. It is another dull ride, maybe a tad bit better than Spring indeed, nevertheless, dull, heading to a romantic ending and that's that.

I won't recommend it "When animals dream", but if you're searching for something familiar, a movie about an isolated place, you could put an eye on "The dark" or ""Dorothy Mills". Both of them, far better!

Cheers!

If you appreciate the visual, pure beauty of it - this one is for You

[skylight-203-375607 · 7/10 · 28 January 2016]

If you appreciate the visual, pure beauty of it - this one is for You.

The story itself is OK, nothing spectacular (better told in 'The Uninvited' (2009),) developing through beautiful scenery while depicting character's actions the most, the story doesn't relay on the conversation - it's the weak point and the strong one, depends how you look at it... I love it for what it is - a piece of art, trying to tell the story within, with more or less success. Still way better than most of the movies today ;) Just go with the flow and enjoy, don't expect any revelations, that's not what this movie is about.

It is so easy to talk about all the bad and disregard the good, as it is in life. I guess, it comes down to what kind of person you are. I assure you - this movie still has a lot of great things to offer, as long as you don't expect to see what it is not there to begin with. Not many movies are that way, these days. It all comes down to a personal level of finding and appreciating the beauty presented, in front of you. Not about your expectations, the whole story you wanna see in each and every detail. Just get over it and enjoy it for what it is, cause it's pretty great ;)

Affective yet stilted horror film

[george.schmidt · 7/10 · 5 November 2014]

WHEN ANIMALS DREAM (2014) **1/2 Sonia Suhl , Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Jakob Oftebro, Mads Riisom. Affective yet stilted horror film from the Danes, first-time director Jonas Alexander Arnby about a cursed family - a young woman (Suhl) in a small town working in a local cannery is under scrutiny when her unknown past becomes a shocking reality: inherited lychanthropy from her vegetative mother (Richter). When push comes to shove in the constant hazing and bullying within her lame workforce the latent beast makes its presence known. Beautifully shot by Niels Thastum and a few twists on the old genre make for fine visuals as well as a sadly stoic turn by Mikkelsen (Mads' real-life bro) add some gravitas in spite of the thin plotting.

Unexciting.

[smitherm-40966 · 3/10 · 3 May 2021]

Not as frightening as Howling 3 or as scarey as An American Werewolf in London.

Competent and stylish, but....

[MrGKB · 6/10 · 21 July 2016]

...style and competence can't always compensate for a pedestrian script. Case in point, "When Animals Dream," a tyro effort from Denmark that apparently drew a fair amount of attention, although you'd be hard-pressed to tell that from the scant IMDb audience it's garnered. I'm not overly surprised. It's a somewhat mundane tale of adolescent lycanthropy oddly set in a small Danish fishing community; in this iteration the affliction is apparently genetic rather than anything supernatural. Like mother, like daughter, with dad the dedicated if somewhat taciturn caretaker. Well, kinda, since he ends up standing aside when his maturing offspring finally bolts the homestead, offering only a hearty "Don't take any crap!" as parental advice. The film's shot nicely, edited well, scored appropriately, acted decently, and even directed with some careful finesse. The problem is, as per usual, the script. It's sparse, in fact downright laconic, making it a chore to relate to its protagonist in any significant way. Characters do things without any apparent rationale; a great deal of whatever passes for back story is never explained. It makes for a frustrating viewing experience. Glad I caught it for free.

Dull

[TdSmth5 · 4/10 · 28 December 2016]

A teenage girl is being examined by a physician. He seems to be looking for something specific--we learn not what. The girl, Marie, is concerned about a rash on her chest. Marie and the father take care of the disabled, wheelchair-bound mother/wife.

Then Marie gets a job at a fish processing plant. There she is hazed and eventually bullied by some guys. She also meets a guy whom she likes and who likes her. They go out a couple of times.

The good doctor also treats Marie's mom and one day Marie steals a file from him where she discovers some notes and the picture of an old shipwreck. She learns that it belonged to some Russians but that her mother dispatched them. There she gets intimate with her friend.

When the father decides to have Marie medicated--her rash is getting worse--Marie cries for her mother's help when suddenly something appears and kills the doctor. The towns' leaders appear and have a chat with the family. Eventually, the mother dies, Marie's condition worsens, and she takes several important decisions for her life. But the town, too, takes a decision in regard to her.

It's hard not to talk about this movie without revealing what is going on. The movie itself is undecided whether it wants the werewolf angle to be a surprise or not. The pace is exceedingly slow. Even though the family is undergoing a serious crisis, the family members have very little to say to each other. The dad tries to keep the family together but presumably is trying to conceal the condition to the daughter who is the one undergoing it. The daughter is obviously aware what's going on. What should be dramatically powerful isn't presented that way at all. It is interesting that this movie presents human disability as the flipside of superhuman powers. Also interesting is the deal the town has with the family. Everyone knows what they are, supposedly they fear them, but not enough not to provoke the daughter.

When Animals Dream is one Euro-pompous title for a movie that offers very little. It tries to be a horror-drama with little horror and little drama. In the absence of a basic attempt to entertain the audience, this movie could have tried to make a point--it doesn't. It could have gone an artsy route, but it doesn't do that either. At the very least it could have shows us some sights or ways of Denmark, but it doesn't bother. I can't think of many reasons to recommend this movie. It reminds me of those lackluster European made-for-TV movies with overly-modest ambitions.

Slow burn indie flick with bite

[youngcollind · 7/10 · 18 March 2022]

In the vein of Let the Right One In and Raw, When Animals Dream presents a familiar horror trope through a low key delivery in an effort to re-frame a well known monster. It's artistic by way of minimalism, getting off to an especially dull start that almost dares you to get bored. If you're the "I turned it off in 15 minutes" type, I can save you 15 minutes and tell you to skip this altogether. If you have the patience to stay with it, things do come together and serve to justify the more mundane moments. It never adds up to horror proper, and even the dramatic elements come from understated characters intent on saying more with less. But it has an interesting way of weaving werewolf lore around a it's coming of age themes, and though many points are predictable for both genres, the blend of melancholy moodiness and cathartic violence is actually quite satisfying.

*********SPOILER SECTION********

I had mixed feelings on the ending, as riding off into the sunset with your true love was unusually positive for the otherwise dire tone. Not to mention why would that guy continue to love a girl who now seems to be half dog and just killed a literal boat load of people? On reflection, that is a pretty dark outcome though. Since the film flops between sympathizing and condemning the character, I feel like we ultimately land on she's a murderer, right? I mean, bullies suck, so we want them to get there's, but she is a bloody monster who's now loose in society. My only hope was for the guy to hug her and be like "I accept you, no matter what" then she just bites his head off anyway, 'cause you can't trust a wolf. Maybe that's just me though....

Hated this crap

[Truekornkid · 1/10 · 15 February 2016]

This movie was no good at all. I was expecting more, but what I got was a piece of garbage that fell right on its face! The plot was stupid - nothing surprising - and there was no real reason as to WHY any of the crap that was happening was happening. It was hard to like the main character, not only was she very ugly to look at, she was also a bad actress and annoying with that stupid little "smirk" always on her face. The entire cast looked like they reeked. I thought this movie would be much like "Let the Right One In," but, boy, was I wrong. This was just a waste of time, money, and energy for everyone involved, including the audience.

1 big start DOWN! Don't waste your time!

a unique idea for a monster movie

[re-animatresse · 9/10 · 2 December 2017]

this is the feature film debut of Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby who's also, along with screenwriter Rasmus Birch, credited for the original idea. the storyline actually is fairly unique for its genre, but i don't want to give too much detail lest i spoil the mystery any further than the trailer does

the story unfolds at a meandering pace, not so slowly that viewers are liable to lose interest, but the director takes his time, and it pays off nicely. the Danish seaside location is stunningly beautiful, the architecture of the small town setting distinctive and charming. the score is very fitting, slow and soft string, piano (and synth?) instrumentation, and definitely one of the strong points of the film

other positives include the 'animal' design, make-up and special effects, which are simple but fantastic and contribute to what are probably the best creature transformation scenes i've seen in a movie. i have no complaints about the acting – i don't speak Danish, but the line delivery and body language sound and look natural. the dialogue and characters are well-written, and the leading character is likable and relatable

i love this movie, recommend it highly, and i'll definitely keep an eye open for future projects by Jonas Arnby

another unwanted werewolf movie

[Neptune165 · 4/10 · 14 June 2019]

I kept waiting for something to happen but nothing happened. It's all about trying to fit in with the town, but the town fearing her, treating her like a dangerous animal that could snap at any moment, messing with her, her boy friend goes along with her. They basically did some makeup and added fangs and claws She didn't get taller, more muscular, or anything like that. I really don't like that kind of werewolf design. I like certain werewolf designs that are a bit more human-like that have less fur and more skin. First of all this doesn't seem like it has anything to do with dreams or anything like that. Second..it seems pretty clear that this girl is a werewolf. She is not an animal. She is a monster. She even says she is a monster or she is turning into a monster. She is not some regular animal like a wolf or something. She is a mythological creature. The title should have been something like 'The Monster's Secret" or something. finally the movie is slow & boring & a waste of time

Highly overrated

[Thomas-Pedersen_Denmark · 1/10 · 24 August 2022]

My jaw is hanging at how pizz poor this movie is. It's truly incredible how something this bad can even come to exist; take a random from the street and they will come up with something better, I'm very serious. It's way beyond pathetic.

A cold, gradual build to a superior horror

[GiraffeDoor · 8/10 · 18 March 2019]

This is actually a superior horror movie. I feel I can take it seriously, it's never trashy, or falls back on those tropes we're all sick of.

I suppose its power comes in part that it feels somewhat like a drama that just happens to be about the supernatural. It doesn't feel desperate for your approval, it just tells the personal struggle with family and our own body that we all go through at some point or another.

it's very....Danish. The stark, coastal setting is perfect for the slow, quite burn into self discovery.

It's a wonderfully fresh twist on the werewolf genre. And I know... modern twists on (insert overdone premise here) movies can be a pretty painful but this one really does it with its vulnerable protagonist learning to fear her own body and then become the monster itself.

There's a sense of pathos and tragedy at its core that transcends the normal parameters of a horror.