Dark Woods (2003)

This is one of the coolest horror-movies I've seen in a long time, and what makes it even more great is that it's NORWEGIAN! I don't know how many horror-movies that have been made in the history of Norway but it can't be much more than three (!) all together, so who would have expected this one to be not only creepy, but even downright scary - at times it had me almost freaking out it was that scary!

This movie will do for forests what "Jaws" did for the ocean!

If you missed it on the big screen, get the DVD, turn of the lights and enjoy...

MOAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA...

Fmovies: A frightening Norwegian Thriller

8/10 Author: Ajit Tiwari from India 26 December 2011

Scandinavian cinema has always been a different genre. the depiction of character, the screenplay, subtleness etc. are always top notch.

A perfect example is Villmark (2003) AKA Dark Woods a creepy Norwegian horror or more than a horror.

Set in the Norwegian landscape, a TV crew and their fanatic boss want to shoot a show to survive in the wilds which will eventually make a mark in Reality television history. He (Gunnar) has gathered a production team of four people. The team goes to Gunnar's log cabin where he used to spend summers as a kid. And soon the crew has to survive the thrill, horror, suspicion and mistrust.

The choice of the cast is fantastic and we see some amazing performances which will keep the adrenaline up and frightening atmosphere almost up to the mark.

However there are some resemblances with "The Blair witch project", but it's original and scary enough, screenplay is far from clichés.

European movies more open to interpretation and not made for certain targeted audiences. It's up to the viewer, to read between the lines and understand the happenings.

An astonishing thriller.

My Vote 7.1/10

This is a very good film. In many cases the film can be compared to Blair Witch Project,but I think it's much better. It's filmed on location in Kaupanger,Sogn in Norway.The water and the little cabin is laying far away from people. The beautiful norwegian nature where it's filmed in is making it very authentic.And the characters in this film are good,Bjørn Floberg and Kristoffer Joner are some of the best characters in Norway.

If you have the opportunity,then I suggest you go and see this film!

Dark Woods fmovies. I am from norway, and I am also very patriotic conserning my country. I think this film may be alot more scary for us, as norwegians (or scandinavians) than it is for americans or whatever. Because of this, I think it is unfair of imdb.com to speak such bad of it.

The Woods have always been an important part of the norwegian "tradition", and it is very appriciated. Therefore, I find it particullary scary since the setting takes place in a typical norwegian forest. Never before, have I seen a horror-film so realistic made, because of the setting, and the language. (Norwegian)

"Villmark" is indeed a good (Except the ending ;)) horror-movie which Norway, as a folk, should be very proud of. It scared the hell out of me and my friends.

Regards,

• GnarusLeo - 18 of age.

Log cabin, scary woods, humans going back to nature. Classic ingredients for a horror, which could either be painfully repetitive or well executed. It's certainly the latter. Shot like an autumn nightmare, the film is creepy even in the sunlight. It makes use of all the fading greens, browns and grays. It also does well in not overplaying the reality TV angle, in fact it's rarely mentioned. The characters are also mature young people, not maddeningly annoying teenagers. They develop throughout the movie and at no point does anybody do anything idiotically befuddling. No wonder there's a low body count with intelligent pray taking the focus. The ending does leave too many questions, despite giving a lot of answers in the last 2 minutes. A great horror watch.

Some people outside of Norway(its made there) think this is made as a copy to "Blair witch project". It is in fact a movie that does homage to the first horror film made in Norway "De dødes tjern"1957 ("lake of the dead"). Norway has lots of forests so Horror in the forest is common.

The movie starts of good with a group of young people getting a job in the woods. An older man, their employer goes with them. The first day they find a body in the lake.......

without telling to much I can say it builds up quite nicely but does not follow through. The ending is so so. Ok effort though. It is not low budget, its normal budget. In Norway we don`t waste our money on flashy CGI and effects, but use time on developing the story and characters instead.

Score 610