MEDIEVAL MOVIES V

Updating and correcting “Medieval Movies: Films of the Viking Era,” to include films released since the last edition. And discovered there were many other films as well…

I’ll be posting comments on some of the ones not covered before for the next month!

The Huntress: Rune of the Dead (2019)

A quiet film that is more Asatru than Christian using runes as developed in modern paganism, that uses subtle dark fantasy. A well-crafted film that is not the typical clash-boom Viking film. The violence slowly rises and becomes overwhelming but rapid. And in an amusing piece, a child plays with a top that is obviously a spindle whorl! Costume is good if not perfect, and we must deal with older women with long unbound hair, and a daughter wearing tunic and trews. Very well done, extremely effective and highly recommended!

Pagan Warrior (2019)

aka Vikings Vs Krampus aka Das Krampus Massaker 2

We are placed willingly into a Viking film that is so obviously bad that there is no way to recommend this as an historical film, but have every right to recommend it as a comedy. How else can you appreciate a film that is unable to delineate between 812 and 1812 and that includes twenty-first century scenes as well? Another deeply serious horror film that does not seem to recognize—or at least hopes you do not see—how incredibly stupid it is. Of perhaps, the is its selling point. In any event, just enjoy it and enjoy the sight of the Vikings and Krampus. Poorly acted, poorly costumed, poorly environed, but damn is it funny! Grab a mead and settle back! And if this is an example of a modern horror film, I’m not surprised that I haven’t seen a horror film since “White Zombie!” The ITV drug, by the way, budget must be monumental!

Viking: The Berserkers (2014)

aka Viking Berserkers aka Vikings—L’âme des Guerriers

A much better than it could have been, without bing a quality effort. Poor effects, but you can see what they are striving for, and they are so earnest that you feel sorry that they cannot get there. Homes seem temporary and ramshackle, though not intended in the film to be temporary. And the jail cage is incredibly flimsy. Good scenery, including forests and waterfalls, and a nice cart that seems related to the Oseberg waggon but consdierably simpler. The main sword is two-handed, but their mamnufacture of bows and arrows, while rather crude and ineffectual, sow that they checked with the historical method. Fairly accurate costuming, except for the fur cloaks and short sleeves, with hair shaved as if they were Normans a couple centuries later. The main female character wears trousers and armor, with no head coverings since this is a twenty-first century film. The berserks, the villains of the piece, were were fairly stereotypical villains in period works, and the berserks in this film are druggies and quite suitable, though many viewers probably think they were actual. They affect odd makeup white facs with dark circles around the fire. Not period but effective at being weird. They call the time the Dark Ages and seem to want to make everything as dark and subdued, so that even the daytime scenes are rather flat and dark, and some of the action is had to discern properly. What you can see is pretty suspenseful and well-done action if nothing new or innovative.

Arnljot (1927)

A lost film; if a copy is available or discovered, please let me know! Probably based on Wilhelm Peterson-Berger’s opera from 1910.