Sweden
Review:JA Kerswell
A slow-moving yet creepy and engaging made-for-TV Swedish police procedural whodunit with slasher overtones that gained an almost mythical reputation in its home country after its 1988 debut. During a full moon, someone wearing an African ceremonial mask hacks campers to death with a machete while filming the murders. Police lead a desperate hunt to unmask the killer before he or she can strike again.
John Vinge (Tomas Laustiola) is a detective given a one-month ultimatum to catch the murderer after a family is found butchered at a campsite (we learn that another four victims have previously fallen to a maniac who leaves only the fathers’ corpses posed at the crime scene). Vinge is the son of the previous police commissioner (Áke Lindman), who is rotting away in a hospital inside an oxygen tent and seems to have nothing but contempt for his son, seeing him as a failure. The detective attempts to enlist the services of psychology professor Erland Salander (Per Myrberg) to profile the killer, but Salander is reluctant to get involved after being gravely injured in a case some years before—but eventually comes on board the investigation.
When an African face mask is found buried in mud near the latest crime scene, Vinge seeks information from an expert at a local museum, Rebecka Nordenskiöld (Agneta Ekmanner), who is building an exhibit that recreates a ceremonial African sacrifice hut. Meanwhile, a technician at a film processing lab calls the police after being shocked to discover a Super 8 film the killer took of themselves committing the murders. The police’s hopes that the murderer will come for the developed film are dashed when it remains uncollected. During their investigation, the authorities think they have found their man when they place an elderly forest manager (John Harryson) at both crime scenes. However, when another family is found butchered at a campsite on the next full moon, they realise that the killer is still on the loose …
THE MOON GOD has a deliberately paced, emotionally muted, almost dreamlike feel common in much of classic Swedish cinema. Unusually, all of the film’s main characters are middle-aged or older, which suits its themes of lingering trauma from the sins of the fathers. What this made-for-TV film perhaps lacks in thrills, it makes up for in atmosphere and a genuinely intriguing mystery. Arguably, the payoff might be a little too esoteric (although it wouldn’t be out of place in a Giallo directed by Pupi Avati), even suggesting a potentially supernatural angle. The questions the film asks are enigmatic, but the answers tend to be quite obtuse—which could frustrate some. However, the killer—who wears a creepy African ceremonial mask, robes, and carries a machete—is unmasked in classic whodunnit style after a brief but exciting rooftop chase. The film’s slasher-movie elements are fleeting but still very effective, with the murder scenes shown through green night-vision footage, which adds a disturbing snuff-film angle. The fact that the masked maniac slowly walks toward the camera, staring at the lens, is the kind of thing viewers are used to in these post-found-footage days, but was probably very unsettling in 1988.
The film is notable for its reputation among Swedish viewers who saw its September 1988 TV debut (it aired only twice on SVT), especially since censorship had largely blunted the impact of violent media up to that point. This led to an almost mythical reputation as a terrifying watch, a reputation that only grew because it was virtually impossible to see, as it wasn’t released to video or shown again on TV. Eventually, its reputation as a ‘lost classic’ gained enough momentum and interest that it was remastered and released on DVD in 2010, to largely a collective shrug, as it mostly didn’t quite live up to the hype.
However, with that in mind, it still has its moments and remains a relatively unique mix of North American slasher movie, Giallo, and existential Swedish introspection.
BODY COUNT 9:
Female 4 / Male 5
THE MOON GOD (1988) Murder Scenes Compilation
