The Damned – review

Director: Thordur Palsson

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

I thought long and hard on whether to review this supernatural tale set in Iceland. The main thrust of the tale surround draugr, which are a type of Scandinavian revenant. If you fancy an in-depth exploration of them then I can highly recommend the section on them in Keyworth’s Troublesome Corpses. When relaying the saga of Grettir in a volume (in 1876), Sabine Baring-Gould translated draugr as vampire. Depending on the legend they sometimes do drink blood but in others they are more obsessed with guarding their tomb and grave treasure or seeking revenge. They can be split into land and sea draugr. In the case of this film, one might say it is seeking revenge but any classic vampiric activity is unseen. As such I considered having this as being of genre interest but ultimately settled on reviewing. I accept that many might disagree with the provenance.

Odessa Young as Eva

As I mentioned, the film is in Iceland in 1871 at a fishing station. A small outpost, fishing through the winter while the routes back to settlements are blocked. The outpost is owned and run by Eva (Odessa Young), whose husband had owned it and who died the year before. Also in the outpost is cook Helga (Siobhan Finneran) and a group of fishermen. The helmsman of Eva’s boat is Ragnar (Rory McCann), who clearly is the leader of the men. The year is proving particularly hard and the start sees Eva outside at night, checking a ledger. When she returns Ragnar questions her and she admits he was right – there are only a couple of winters that seemed as harsh and he points out they made it through those winters. Her concern is lack of food and the fact that men died during those particular lean years.

the shipwreck

The next day, as they prepare their boat, they spot a ship wrecked on rocks called the teeth. There is a call to rescue the sailors, but Ragnar opposes it. The men turn to Eva, as it is her boat but she, after clearly pained deliberation, agrees with Ragnar – they potentially do not have enough food to last the winter as it is and more mouths will surely lead to the loss of some of the fishermen. They don’t fish that day out of respect. The next day Eva finds a rope on the beach and, following it, finds a barrel from the ship. Ragnar checks the contents and it is a preserved meat and is still good. Eva suggests checking the other beaches, but he suggests it is unlikely anything else will wash up, given the tides. They decide to take the boat out to see if they can find any floating flotsam and jetsam.

Siobhan Finneran as Helga

They have to go out quickly and it is dark by the time they get out. They find one small crate when they hear cries – some of the crew of the lost ship have climbed on the rocks. In desperation many jump in the water, trying to swim to the boat. The boat is full as is and they are pushing the sailors back violently, Ragnar is pulled overboard and lost and when one sailor grabs Eva then a hand, Danny (Joe Cole), – who had been vocal about saving them – kills the sailor with an axe. When back on shore there are arguments – they got very little in the form of supplies and lost Ragnar. Danny stops the argument and Eva names him the new helmsman.

seeing the draugr

Ragnar was proven to be wrong about the tides, when the bodies of several sailors wash up (not including his corpse). After a scene of one stomach moving and, when slit open, an eel emerging from the torso they put the sailors in coffins. It is at this point that Helga starts mentioning draugr, with a worry that they will return as the revenants. She has rope and Eva is told that the dead can’t break free if their arms are bound by knotted rope, they lose direction if the coffin is turned three times and they can’t walk in a person’s dreams if iron nails are hammered in to their feet. None of these apotropaic things are done. However, it does seem that a draugr walks among them.

driven mad

Eva sees a figure in the dark, dreams are invaded and division breaks out amongst the men. At first it seems that it could be a combination of fear, superstition and guilt, with Helga suggesting it will get in their heads and drive them mad. Eva is dismissive of the actual idea of a draugr at first but as things continue to occur, with Helga going missing, their food stocks being stolen and a coffin being found to be empty, she becomes more convinced. They do the three methods mentioned earlier to the other corpses but the disasters continue.

the ward

Other lore we get is that the draugr will stay close to its grave during the day, that a runic ward (carved from the wood of the shipwreck) should prevent it entering the communal building and fire is the only way to destroy it. The film works well in its own folkloric space and the performance by Odessa Young is strong, with her character being believable and evoking empathy from the viewer. If I have an issue – and I do – it is in the very ending of the film, which I disliked intensely but I will not spoil. However I can divorce the rest of the experience from that and am not allowing it to spoil my overall impression. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

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On Demand @ Amazon UK