“Late one night when everyone was in their beds . . . there was a knock on the door.”
And just like that, this chilling tale of ghosts, demons, and evil spirits has our full attention!
The Damned, a psychological tale hellbent on commenting quite frankly on grief, is an atmospheric journey which has its roots in the Westfjords of Iceland in the 1800s. It is a haunting story in which one woman comes face to face with an ancient evil spreading like wildfire through her small fishing outpost.
And it will leave your mouth gaping wide open.
The Damned, directed by Thordur Palsson (The Valhalla Murders), rounds out the year and starts a new one off with a very promising film which suggests that 2025 might continue to be another banner year for horror, too. At least, that is the hope as this tale from the north delicately weaves its spell of supernaturalism over the viewer as if it were a spider with its webbings.
And it starts with a shipwreck as the community must make a decision. Do they rescue the crew or use their dwindling supplies on their own survival?
This is a tale about humanity itself and, without speaking out of turn, what it offers is a bleakness which can’t be easily shaken off. And it begins with a 19th-century widow, Eva (Odessa Young, The Staircase, Mothering Sunday) witnessing what the others in her close-knit community don’t see at first: a shipwreck. 
She’s frozen with fear as she sees the far-off ship begin to sink. It’s already a harsh winter, but this seems especially cruel. Tasked with making an impossible choice, Eva and her close-knit community must face the consequences which arise when the concept of the Draugur from Norse mythology is introduced and the community is suddenly tormented by guilt and a mounting sense of dread.
Are they being punished for their choices? It certainly seems so. Written by Jamie Hannigan and co-starring Joe Cole, Lewis Gribben, Siobhan Finneran, Francis Magee, Rory McCann, Turlough Convery, Mícheál Óg Lane, Guillermo Uria, The Damned is a straightforward tale of the supernatural as an uneasiness settles into the fishing camp. It is an absolutely chilling tale of evil and extremely oppressive as the cold days, in a camp surrounded by crosses, descend into long nights where shadows become increasingly threatening and even the smallest of spaces in this camp grow all the more threatening . . . and full of chaos.
Nothing in this production feels cheap. There are no jump scares. And I promise that you’ve not seen horror done like this before. The Damned is . . . damn good and very haunting. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
The film will be released in UK and Irish theaters on January 10th from Vertical.
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 89 mins
Director: Thordur Palsson
Writer: Jamie Hannigan; Thordur Palsson
Cast: Odessa Young; Joe Cole; Lewis Gribben
Genre: Drama | Folk Horror
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Official Site:
Release Date: January 3, 2025
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.
