I remember reading about this a while back, and just remembered it today. It sounds/looks really, really good. Any chance it'll get released in the US, dubbed of course? Any information would be great. Thanks ahead of time.
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To Die, Would Be An Awfully Big Adventure...
DROWNING GHOST will screen at the Loews Universal Studios Cinemas at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles during the 4th Annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival, Oct. 15th - 24th 2004.
shareDROWNING GHOST will screen at the Loews Universal Studios Cinemas at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles during the 4th Annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival, Oct. 15th - 24th 2004.
shareDROWNING GHOST did really well at the festival and WON TWO first prizes !
Best Director (Mikael Håfström) and best sound track (Anders Ehlin and others)!
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I just saw this film today, and I must say I did not like it.
First of all, in a slasher, should we not see the knife, axe or whatever piercing the victims' skulls, legs or other body parts (remember Melissa in Friday the 13th Part VII? great scene)?
Second, like many swedish films, the dialogue and many of the situations do not feel natural. Part of it I think is due to the 50's feel that the boarding school and its stereotype pupils (and other characters) give (or the 70's feel every scene involving the janitor gives). It is, though, as if the director is aware of this and to remind us that the film is set in 2004 the mobile phone scene was added (and the E60 BMW).
However, towards the end of the film, the director manages to build quite a suspenseful feeling and despite that I didn't like the film from the beginning I started to like it somewhat and actually didn't moan loudly over some, in my mind, flaws. I must stress that this is extremely rare as most films usually take a turn to the worse towards the end. Plot wise, maybe this one does too, but, like I said, the feeling is there.
To sum up, I don't think this film is worth seeing, but I probably would watch Håfström's next film because I think he has potential (and I'm not trying to be condescending here).
Personally I believe its because its basically a Swedish version of an American slasher... If they had spoken English they might has well had been in England or America. It didn't feel very... Swedish. Swedish movies aren't traditionally horror movies either... They're usually dramas or comedies. But there are several horror movies that are in production or being planned. So that might very well change.
another reason might be that it wasn't very bloody. In American slashers you can usually see the victim being stabbed, while in this movie you couldn't.
I have the import disc and enjoyed it. It's gorgeously shot with these great autumnal colors and deep black shadows, which for me was a fair trade for having less in the way of blood and violence. The heroine is smart and brave but also not a cardboard menacee free of personal pain or trouble. The ghost story element is interesting. The movie does nicely draw on elements from American Slasher films: the ending has shades of "Friday The 13th" and there are familiar themes like hateful pranks gone awry like in "Terror Train", revenge- for-the-past-wrong as in "Prom Night", "Happy Birthday To Me", or "Scream", and the night of bloodletting coinciding with a student celebration like in "Hell Night" or "Cherry Falls".
I love it (and am swedish)!! What makes it so good is that its not a typical Swedish movie... Swedish horror movies are kind of boring actually, but this one is surprisingly good. And its good that it wasn´t very bloody because that whould have made it to American and not Swedish... The dark and the lack of splashing blood give it a mysterious feeling, and I like it.
We are all going to end up in Shamas black garden. But I will be his most beautiful flower.