I Was Impressed By This Psychological Period Horror’s Ability To Deliver Top-Notch Atmospheric Terror

The Damned
has been made to a high standard. The film is extremely well-crafted; the cast, the period setting, and the eerie and isolated fishing village where the story plays out all help to create a tense and believable story as a group of fisherman find themselves the subject of a supernatural attack.

The Damned takes place in the 19th century and focuses on a small group of fishermen who are having a challenging season. The action truly begins when Eva, the young widow who inherited the fishing lodge and equipment, is forced to make a tough call about either saving strangers struggling in the sea or protecting those already in her care, especially considering the lack of resources and food. After choosing to let the others die, the entire crew finds themselves facing unforeseen challenges.

The Damned Delivers An Outstanding Atmosphere

The Damned‘s main draw has to be the incredible setting. The movie shows a quiet and vast coastal village that is covered in snow and ice. While this could lead to a lack of interesting scenes, the setting is used to its full potential and guides the story with the natural atmosphere and weather that is common to the area. This setting then does a lot to create tension, hide potential monsters from view, and expose the inhabitants to the harsh conditions and terrors hidden in the fog.

Odessa Young, as Eva, [stands] out for her subtle performance.

On top of that, the cast’s acting is superb, with Odessa Young, as Eva, standing out for her subtle performance. Eva hides sadness due to the loss of her husband. She also fears she may be doing everything wrong with the business she inherited and she attempts to be strong to keep a handle on the rowdy fishermen. And when the troubles begin in the film’s second act, these subtle emotions expand to become much more overt and apparent.

Much of the rest of the cast deliver quality performances as well, including Rory McCann as the boarish fishing captain and Joe Cole, who plays an old friend of Eva’s late husband. While others do have minor slips, and the pacing may drag at times, the film is incredibly polished, and it could easily compete with every other horror released in theaters.

The Predictability & Pacing Holds The Damned Back

Many horror films tend to fit into a subgenre that helps to define their story. Whether that be folk horror, suspense, religious, cult, supernatural, or something else entirely. For The Damned, it could have leaned more into one of these categories or made a larger effort to set itself apart from being a horror movie that’s too predictable and slow-moving. The movie contains several of the aforementioned elements, but due to a lack of focus and clarity, the film’s overall story feels underwhelming.

Yes, it is still possible to enjoy the movie, largely because of the incredible setting and the quality acting. However, the story is too much of a soft horror with expected developments that happen at too slow a pace. If the same story played out in a shorter timeframe, we would have less time to figure out what was coming. Even still, it felt like there were too many moments and scenes of quiet, slow, and ineffective motion that ultimately led to nothing.

The Damned does have its moments and when the ending comes around, it feels like a natural stopping point for the story, but maybe it’s because the 90-minute duration starts to drag at the latter half of the first act. But it being director Thordur Palsson’s first feature-length project, this could all come down to the learning curve. Palsson’s style, ability to bring the best out of actors, and skill for creating an atmosphere will surely aid him in creating more feature-length films over time, but The Damned hasn’t quite nailed down the format just yet.

The Damned is now playing in UK and Ireland theaters.