The very first Finnish horror movie dates back to 1923. The silent film, called The Old Baron of Rautakylä, was based on the 1849 novel by Sakari Topelius. It paved the way for many other Finnish horror films. Here are five of the best Finnish horror movies.
5. The Moonlight Sonata
Directed by Olli Soinio, The Moonlight Sonata is a 1988 comedy horror film that will keep you entertained from beginning to end.
The plot involves a Finnish female fashion model going on holiday to Lapland. But things take a turn for the worse when she discovers a bunch of lunatic hillbillies are living in a nearby farmhouse.
It’s not before long that the hillbillies cause trouble and the model is left alone in the wilderness with only her dog to protect her.
Unfortunately, her dog seems to have divided loyalties.
4. Noita Palaa Elämään
Noita palaa elämään, which means “The Witch,” is based on the 1947 play of the same name by Mika Waltari.
The 1952 film begins with an archaeological team unearthing a dead body. It’s soon discovered that the young woman was a witch buried 300 years ago.
Soon after, a naked woman appears in the nearby village and begins to drive the men insane.
In 1952, Noita palaa elämään was highly controversial due to its many scenes of nudity.
In Finland, fourteen metres of film reel were censored!
If you are in the mood for more witchiness after watching Noita palaa elämään, you will find plenty of other fantastic witch films to watch, such as The Blair Witch Project, Black Sunday, and Suspiria.
3. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
The 2010 fantasy horror Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a wildly humorous and bizarre gem of a film.
On Christmas Eve, an archaeological dig in Finland unearths the real Father Christmas. Only, this Santa is not the jolly and loveable chap that the world knows.
When local children begin disappearing, a reindeer hunter and his child capture Father Christmas and attempt to sell him to the dig’s sponsor.
However, Santa’s elves will stop at nothing to get him back.
This darkly comic film won numerous awards, including the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival’s Pegasus Audience Award and the Variety Piazza Grande Award at the Locarno International Film Festival.
2. Lake Bodom
Lake Bodom, known as just Bodom in Finland, is one of the finest slasher movies ever made.
Directed by Taneli Mustonen, the film is inspired by the real-life Lake Bodom murders, although it is not based on the actual events.
The 1960 Lake Bodom murders case is one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in Finnish history.
Four youths were killed while camping by Lake Bodom and the perpetrator has never been found.
In the 2016 Lake Bodom film, a group of Finnish friends decide to camp at the lake to reconstruct the murders.
But, as you would expect from a horror movie, things do not go as planned, leading to horrific outcomes.
1. The White Reindeer
Based on Finnish mythology and Sami shamanism, 1952’s The White Reindeer centres on a young woman called Pirita and her reindeer-herding husband Aslak, who live in Lapland.
When Aslak goes away for work, Pirita visits a local shaman to help her overcome her feelings of loneliness.
But in the process of curing her loneliness, the shaman ends up turning Pirita into a vampiric, shape-shifting white reindeer.
The film won several prestigious awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.
And there we have it, our best Finnish horror movies!
What’s yours?
