Hour of the Wolf

Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen) (1968)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

Starring: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh, Georg Rydeberg, Ingrid Thulin

From: A few different Swedish companies

This should be the most artsy-fartsy movie on my Spooky Season list this year. In this context, I don’t use that term in a derogatory fashion. The average rating for the Ingmar Bergman movies I’ve seen is quite high; there was fascination w/ the idea of him doing one horror film. Naturally, it was of the psychological variety. Note that the film’s title is explained as the hour before dawn.

Max von Sydow is famed painter Johan, Liv Ullmann his younger wife Alma. They are on a Swedish island so he can work. Unfortunately for the both of him, he is plagued by both frightening visions and insomnia. There have been times where my mind has raced and it’s taken time for me to doze off; however, I’ve never been an insomniac. My best to those afflicted with that sleep disorder. He can’t work and it’s damaged their relationship.

The film is not solely a two-hander; weird people live in a castle on the other side of the island and well, I wouldn’t want to be invited to one of their dinner parties. It’d be a crime for me to provide specific details of what happens in the second half—except that it does pay off the story presented in the first half…. & there’s what I’ll call “a Tarantino moment.” Genre scares eventually do arrive for those that enjoy the arthouse horror movies of the past. WTF imagery appears.

Of course, w/ the talent involved (the director, the leads, the cinematography from Sven Nykvist) the expectations were high; those were met. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann were both excellent. There are several tremendous sequences made by lighting and editing… Ulla Ryghe deserves credit herself as the editor. What a descent into madness… but am I referring to just Johan but also Alma? How self-reflective was this to Bergman’s own self-doubts as an artist? I was reminded of The Shining; like Jack Torrance, Johan Borg was troubled before he went to an isolated location w/ loved ones and a mental decline occurred.

My saying that this isn’t an all-timer like a Seventh Seal or Autumn Sonata is my acknowledgement that Bergman is one of the best to ever do it rather than insulting a very good film like Hour of the Wolf. Don’t think this is an incomprehensible, obtuse film that is inaccessible to horror fans.