From Darkness

This anticipated Swedish atmospheric horror film ends up being just a decent genre flick after the gripping trailer, but I was expecting simply more. A search for a missing woman in a natural Swedish reserve with Nordic folklore and superstitions about a cave fairy sounded great on paper, but the result is so hard to classify. It's got decent visuals, it doesn't look cheap (that's important), the setting is fine (a cave), the atmosphere is decent in places and there were some murders, although you can't expect any gore. The scares here are too few for my taste and I didn't find them entirely functional. It's half ghost story, half slasher, but it just doesn't really go to the core on any level to pull me in or make me jump out of my seat with a scene. Luckily it doesn't get boring and the mythology is quite functional. Too bad the ending doesn't say anything; if it had a proper finale I'd probably be willing to go higher, this way only for a better three stars. Worth a try. 6/10. (07/05/2024)