Det Okända (2000)

Low budget horror that works? Yes, please!

You may have gathered from the title that this is not an English speaking film. Because it's Swedish. And even though you might not feel inclined to watch films in any language other than English, hear me out.

This one's really a lot better than you might think.

It's shot for a paltry budget and if I was to take a wild guess, it was shot using a camcorder. This instantly gives the film that grainy, found footage look and some wild camerashakes, but this is not like 'The Blair Witch Project'. For starters, this is not being filmed by one of the five people here. But it's the general look and feel and because this also takes place in a forest, comparisons will be drawn. And can then be forgotten, because 'The Blair Witch' was a pretty uninteresting film with bland actors and nothing but nauseating moves.

There. I said it. Now on to this one.

Five people are sent to the North of Sweden to investigate a recent forest fire. You know: trying to count the animals, checking to see if the peat is still smouldering underneath the surface, that sort of thing. But they discover what appears to be the twisted remains of some sort of animal. They take it with them, but then bizarre events start to take place. One of the girls becomes ill and runs away and then one by one, people seem to be losing their minds and not being themselves.

Is it a lot like 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'? Yes. Absolutely. Even though it is never clear wether the thing they found is an ancient animal, something alien or something altogether different.

You might be thinking I spoilt the film by giving you a pretty good idea of what happens. I didn't.

This film works for a number of reasons. There are the unknown actors, so you have no idea who will survive and who will not. They feel like a real group of collegefriends, not just some randomly assorted people. By college, I do mean people that actually study together, not party. The mystery also works, because the makers of this film knew they didn't have the budget or time for elaborate explanations and because it is all kept vague, it heightens the mystery a lot. You don't need constant exposition dumps in order to make a film work. (Take notes, Hollywood!)

The main attraction of this though, is the surroundings. The charred forest feels and looks ominous and otherworldly, a perfect setting for this type of film. As in real life, you quickly lose all sense of direction and the group are very much cut off from the outside world and left to their own devices. This isolation keeps the film going. That, and some rather gruesome effects that were done with a minute budget and still feel real and rather icky.

For a film this small, it's almost poetry in how they made an effective and engaging horrorthriller. Sure, the shakycam isn't for everyone (even though it's pretty doable most of the time) and the story might be nothing new, but what it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in atmosphere and the foreboding sense of dread.

It's a shame about the ending, though, because that is a little too predictable, but I'm literally talking about the last minute or so. If you can get your mitts on this one, give it a watch.