Films by country: Iceland

ICELANDIC HORROR [1950 - 1990]

As you can probably imagine from the most sparsely populated country in Europe (just 3.5 people per square kilometer), the Nordic island of Iceland has a rather small film industry; so small that they didn't even have their own film awards (the Edda Awards) until 1999. And if we're talking internationally-known chief entertainment exports, those would include pop singer Björk and Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen, who was born in Iceland but immigrated to the U.S. at age 5 with his family, rather than the scant horror films produced in the country. To my knowledge, none of the films below were ever released in the U.S. except for The Juniper Tree, which was filmed in 1987 but not released until 1990 when it played film festivals in Los Angeles and elsewhere. It was also the first acting role for - here's that name again - Björk. Björk also had the female lead in the bizarre Glerbrot / Broken Glass (1988) a year later, which means with just two credits she starred in over 20% of the countries early horror films and even those are only partially horror. Since 1990, Iceland has produced or co-produced quite a few horror films though, with Óskar Thór Axelsson's I Remember You (2017) being a standout. Still, the pickins are very slim in the early years.

Iceland's very first horror film was Hrafn Gunnlaugsson's Blóðrautt sólarlag ▼ (given the English titles “Blood Red Sunset” or "The Crimson Sunset"), which all but disappeared after being shown on TV in 1977. It, like six of the eight films listed below, was made for the public TV network Ríkisútvarpið-Sjónvarp (RÚV). According to the English-language Icelandic paper The Reykjavík Grapevine, the film was met with some controversy upon release, with some viewers irate that taxpayer money funded a horror film while others were thrilled to finally see an entirely homegrown genre film, especially one incorporating elements of Icelandic folklore. Still, this and most of the other titles listed below have never received a legitimate home video release. Gunnlaugsson himself used to sell Blóðrautt on his website but it appears to have been pulled from circulation. He's also uploaded his Vandarhögg / "Whiplash" (1980) onto Youtube, though there are no English subtitles.

Egill Eðvarðsson's Húsið: Trúnaðarmál ("The House") appears to have been the first Icelandic genre film made for theaters... and that wasn't until 1983. Like many others, it was made with funding from the government-supported Icelandic Film Center. Viðar Víkingsson's Draugasaga ("Ghost Story") was a co-production between Icelandic (RÚV again) and Norwegian TV networks and reputedly was so hated by Norwegian critics that they attempted to dissuade any further collaborations! Still, it's been resurrected in recent years as a minor cult film and was shown on the big screen at the Frostbiter: Icelandic Horror Film Festival.

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1950s

None.

1960s

None.

1970s

- Blood Red Sunset (Blóðrautt sólarlag; The Crimson Sunset) (1977; Hrafn Gunnlaugsson) [TV]

1980s

- Whiplash (Vandarhögg) (1980; Hrafn Gunnlaugsson) [TV]

- House, The (Húsið: Trúnaðarmál) (1983; Egill Eðvarðsson)

- Oxsmá Planet, The (Oxsmá-plánetan) (1983; ?) [short]

- Ghost Story (Draugasaga) (1985; Viðar Víkingsson) [TV] [co-Norway]

- Tilbury (1987; Viðar Víkingsson) [TV]

- Broken Glass (Glerbrot) (1988; Kristín Jóhannesdóttir) [TV]

- Deacon of Dark River, The (Djákninn) (1988; Egill Eðvarðsson) [TV]

- Juniper Tree, The (Einitréð) (1990; Nietzchka Keene) ▼

TOTAL FILMS:

9

NOTES:

- I've seen The Juniper Tree classified as a "eerie witchcraft drama" but I'm holding off judgment as to whether it's "horror enough" for this website until I get a chance to actually watch it.

- Blóðrautt sólarlag is available on DVD-R with English subtitles from some bootleg outlets using the title The Crimson Sunset. Don't want to promote these outfits by name as I can't vouch for the quality of their release; just putting it out there that an English version is available.

- Not had much of a chance to comb through the Icelandic films classed as "thrillers" so there's a possibility a few others may qualify for this list.

- A 1950 film called Síðasti bærinn í dalnum (“The Last Farm in the Valley”) is set on a remote farm and includes a big-nosed troll menacing a family plus heroic elves. It is classified as drama / family / fantasy on most websites so I'm leaving it off of here.

- Also need to keep an eye on 1982's Sóley (aka The Hidden People of the Shadowy Rocks), which looks to be a bizarre surreal film with ghost / horror elements. I only had a 2 minute trailer to go by. It has English subs which clearly means a full version with English subs is out there somewhere.

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Any comments, corrections or additions (I'm always looking for these) are always more than welcome so please drop a message down below if you've got anything to say or anything to add to the list.