10 Swedish Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die
8. Hour Of The Wolf (1968)
When it comes to collaborations between visionary Ingmar Bergman and actor Max von Sydow, Hour of the Wolf is probably not quite as popular as, say, 1960’s The Virgin Spring or 1957’s double whammy of Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal.
Nevertheless, its chronicle of a painter named Johan (von Sydow) who vanishes while staying on an island with his pregnant wife, Anna (fellow Bergman mainstay Liv Ullmann), surely results in one of their most psychologically frightening and surreally intriguing partnerships.
Reportedly, Bergman was inspired by E. T. A. Hoffmann's novella The Golden Pot and Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute; in addition, he used some of his own nightmares to motivate Johan’s mental breakdown and the central allusions to insomnia, folklore, and romantic/sexual infidelity and frustration.
Initially, the movie received negative reviews in Sweden, but it’s since been lauded as another triumphant work. In fact, it’s commonly associated with successors Shame and The Passion of Anna – which were also shot at Fårö – as part of a geographical and thematic trilogy.
Unsurprisingly, its abstract artistry and profound connotations evoke the works of peers and [in]direct protégés like Rod Serling, Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, Jennifer Kent, and Robert Eggers, too.