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| HOUR OF THE WOLF (1968) | |
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Johan Borg (Max von Sydow) seeks refuge with his wife Alma (Liv Ullman) on a remote island where Johan can get the solitude that he requires and where he can focus on his art. However, Johan is frequently interrupted by haunting demons both in the flesh and in the mind. These demons visit Johan in the hour of the wolf. This hour is when most babies are born and the most people die, it is also hour of the night when people wake up from their nightmares. Hour of the Wolf is a very unusual film for Ingmar Begrman as it is his only horror film and it begins with with Alma staring into the camera as she informs the audience that all the events pictured took place on the island and are all written down in her husbands diary. This beginning presents an atmosphere with an eerie hollowness full of questions and mysteries as to what information the diary holds. Bergman does this purposely as he crafts his story with canny imagination that haunts the audience visually as it is full of symbolism and suggestive themes. Nevertheless, it is the audience's imagination that creates the true horror in the story as Johan slowly steps toward his own doom. This leaves the audience with a significant cinematic experience of horror that will linger in the their minds as they will close their eyes before sleep. |
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Sweden |
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| REVIEWED | |
| 2/22/2004 | |
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The Internet Movie Database. |
