It seems that the countries leading the world in terms of horror films are the Nordic ones. In particular, Norway and Sweden have produced some excellent horror and genre films within the last ten years, including Troll Hunter and Dead Snow. Now, Denmark has joined their ranks in producing an excellent werewolf thriller, that is both intelligent and chilling.
When Animals Dreams focuses around a young woman, Marie (Sonia Suhl), who lives in a small fishing community with her father, Thor (Lars Mikkelsen), and her wheelchair bound mother (Sonja Richter). When she gets a job at the fish processing factory to help her parents, Marie starts discovering strange changes in her body, starting with a rash on her breast. As the changed become more and more prominent, Marie starts exhibiting odd behaviour that startles others in her village. She also discovers these changes may or may not have something to do with how her mother ended up in a wheel chair. Eventually, the townspeople start hunting her down as a means to protect their community.
What good films do is present exposition in natural ways, that don't clunk up the narrative. They also let the audience use their brains to figure out what may be going on. This film does that, slowly unraveling the mystery of what is happening to Marie as she, and by extension the audience, come across each new piece of information. The word werewolf is never used, nor is it explicitly spelled out what actually happened to her mother, but through the information we are given, it's not hard to see what's going on. It's very clever the way the film never gives full answers, just enough exposition to hint at what is going on. You rarely see films like that nowadays, let alone horror films.
Well, if that's what good films in general do, then good horror films take advantage of the supernatural creature/force/thingy and have them represent a certain aspect of society or whatever. And When Animals Dream does this as well. Now, as with any film, it could be interpreted in many ways, so this is just my interpretation. But for me, the werewolf and the changes going on in Marie represent female coming of age, and embracing your individuality and identity. This theory is strengthened by the fact that Marie, once she does start transforming, fully embraces the animal inside her. The townspeople's reaction, that of violence and condemnation, could represent the power of conformity and the suppression of female freedom. Again, just my interpretation. But it is nice to have a horror film where such interpretations can be made.
So, what is the most important part of a werewolf film? The special effects. And the effects that they use here are very subtle. We, unfortunately, never see a full transformation. But the snippets we do see are very well done, using both computer effects and make-up. The make-up here is used really well, as small changes are added to Marie's body and face, just to hint that something is happening. And her transformed look retains her human body, while her stance and face change drastically. It's a really effective, and different way to show a werewolf onscreen.
The cinematography is also really good, with some breathtaking views of Danish coastline. But it adds to isolation of the village, and the danger that Marie is in when she tries to leave. Through the isolation of the place, a tension runs throughout the film that builds until the climax. Its really effective, but it makes the film less outright scary and more subtly haunting. Which is good, because horror films that rely on jump-scares get really boring after a while.
So, if you're looking for a smarter horror film or just an excellent retelling of the werewolf story, then I would definitely recommend this. The gore is not overt, there are few bloody moments here and there, but for most of the time the film relies on atmosphere rather than gore or jump-scares. The story is excellently told, the acting is really good, and the cinematography is beautiful. Not you typical werewolf film, but much better for it because of that I think. Until next time, readers.
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