Rent Thale (2012)

Thale review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

Following the festival success but personal disappointment of Norwegian horror Troll Hunter I was somewhat apprehensive about Thale, another Nordic horror based on traditional folklore however having watched the movie I was reasonably surprised; largely because “horror” is far and away an inaccurate description of this film.

The movie begins as two members of a CSI clean up crew enter a cottage in the middle of the Norwegian woods, the body of a man has been found scattered around the house, having been torn apart by wolves. The initial gore of the opening sequence prepares you for what you expect to be quite a bloodthirsty movie, however when the two men, Elvis and Leo, discover Thale – a beautiful woman lying in a bathtub filled with milky white water, hooked up to a number of medical tubes and inexplicably sporting a cow’s tail – the story takes a turn toward the fantastical and veers quickly away from the violence.

Once the more mythical aspect of the story is uncovered it is as though you are watching an entirely different movie, one filled with interesting shot choices, enigmatic music and various sequences set in the beautiful Norwegian woodland.

Unfortunately however the plot of the movie doesn’t really have much of a direction and is finished in a sloppy and disappointingly cheesy fashion. This does not spoil the over all pleasantness of the film but prevents it from being any thing other than that. The CGI and acting are both fairly well handled but the plot holes and occasional and mildly sexist generalizations as to Thale’s magical powers is just a bit of a turn off.

Thankfully for the film at a little over seventy minutes you won’t be disappointed for long.