CS Film Club II

Hour of the Wolf

I actually watched this at the beginning of the month but forgot to write about it.  Here goes.

The last time I watched a Bergman movie for this film club I wrote about my failed attempt at watching the Bergman Cinema box set from the Criterion Collection.  I mention it again to emphasize that for me at least, Bergman isn't a director whose filmography you just plow through in a cannonball run.  You kind of need to let them sit and be absorbed.  Thankfully I've been able to tick a few off here and there and fortunately Hour of the Wolf was included in that box set so I get to tick that off here.  I've read how it's his only 'horror' movie and with a title like 'Hour of the Wolf' you can let your imagination get away with you.  Where is the wolf? Who plays him? How many people does he kill?  Naturally those were false assumptions as the movie itself features a husband and wife, Johan and Alma, who live in a remote cabin.  They are invited to a party at a castle hosted by affluent neighbors and is attended by an old flame of Johan's.  Before long this prompts Johan to confess some inner thoughts and experiences to Alma.  These 'demons' soon become personified in a way and seek out Johan.

It's hard to know where I stand with this.  It's not straight horror but there is a very apparent creepy tone to the movie.  Certain elements of the movie are also not intended to be scary per se but are still used to give an unsettling effect.  There's a flashback to Johan murdering a young boy and although that's graphic enough just to read it, Bergman shoots it in a way that makes the sequence difficult to watch.  You see the action (the murder) and aftermath (the boy's body bobbing up and down before finally sinking into the sea, masking Johan's crime).  There are also some good camera and editing techniques, (fast zooms, cuts and the like) that are only employed a couple times but because of that they hit home when they do happen.  It also opens with an 'interview' style scene where Alma speaks to the camera (or the presumable person behind it) that feels very natural and modern.  I don't know if I quite connected with it like I have other Bergman films but it definitely feels like a departure and when a guy like Ingmar Bergman is making a departure you know that at the very least you'll get something interesting.

B+ so says Doomsday