The Damned
A sweeping Gothic touch shrouds Thordur Palsson’s evocative Nordic bone chiller.
Speak no evil: Odessa Young
Image courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.
There are places in the world, perhaps because of legend and lore, that seem to hold their fraught history and heritage in the land itself. An air of mystery brings the chill of the unknown. Inspired by the Westfjords of Iceland in the 1800s, where fishing was the traditional mainstay, director (and native Icelander) Thordur Palsson draws from folklore to tell the tale of The Damned. Among the gruesome narratives regaled to Palsson in childhood was the story of a ship that sank near Icelandic shores. As any good storyteller should, Palsson coaxes audiences to warm themselves by the fire, gaze into the embers and be chilled to the bone.
In contrast to ominous tones over snow-pelted mountains, a fire rages inside a remote fishing station as a young widow (Odessa Young) toasts to her ambitious anglers on midwinter’s night. Among sea shanties and song, crew cook Helga (Siobhan Finneran) spins a yarn about a fateful knock at the door. As the men (Joe Cole and Game of Thrones’ Rory ‘The Hound' McCann among them) revel, they have no idea how resoundingly fate is about to knock for them. In the vast loneliness of a frozen tundra and bitter glacial waters, an unidentified 19th-century vessel crash lands in a dangerous rocky inlet. Many of the men are reticent to lend aid to the doomed crew, for fear of being pulled down to the depths themselves. The decision falls to outpost owner Eva (Young), who finds herself duty-bound, caught between the hope of offering help, fidelity to her fishermen and the raw memory of her late husband Magnus.
Awash with superstition, religion and madness, The Damned is solid psychological horror. Palsson provides an impressive feature debut, leaning into landscape, a tone of dread and character development – perhaps the most important element in good horror. We have to care about the characters before we can become concerned for them. The delirium of cabin fever yields dividends, blurring the lines between circumstances and the supernatural. Although much of the film plays out in the dark, there’s detail in the darkness thanks to cinematographer Eli Arenson. As with Eggers’ Nosferatu, it must be a massive relief to a production designer when a director of photography (Jarin Blaschke in the case of Nosferatu) has a keen understanding of how to light for the night. Arenson hasn’t deferred to the indistinct black wash that other horror films have favoured in recent years. Much is made of shadows, actually seen, out of the corner of the eye or a figure in the recesses of a room. Yet, in spite of strong cinematography, performances and an effective premise, conventional genre tropes still manage to seep in. There are jump scares aplenty and the occasionally overbearing score likes to lead more than support. As the plot begins to whisper its secrets on the premonitory events to come, that’s when we’re reminded that we are in fact, still seated by the fire, having momentarily been bewitched by the spell of a spooky story.
CHAD KENNERK
Cast: Odessa Young, Joe Cole, Lewis Gribben, Siobhan Finneran, Francis Magee, Rory McCann, Turlough Convery and Mícheál Óg Lane.
Dir Thordur Palsson, Pro Conor Barry, Tim Headington, Kamilla Hodol, Emilie Jouffroy, Nate Kamiya, John Keville, Theresa Steele Page, Screenplay Jamie Hannigan, from a story by Thordur Palsson, Ph Eli Arenson, Pro Des Frosti Fridriksson, Ed Tony Cranstoun, Nathan Nugent, Music Stephen McKeon, Costumes Helen Beaumont, Sound Quentin Collette.
Elation Pictures/Wild Atlantic Pictures/Join Motion Pictures/Ley Line Entertainment-Vertical
89mins. UK/Ireland/Iceland/US. 2024. US Rel: 3 January 2025. UK Rel: 10 January 2025. Cert. 15.
