Vikingulven
Director: Stig Svendsen
Writer: Espen Aukan, Stig Svendsen
Cast: Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne, Liv Mjönes, Arthur Hakalahti, Sjur Vatne Brean, Vidar Magnussen, Kasper Antonsen, Mia Fosshaug Laubacher, Silje Øksland Krohne
Seen on: 24.3.2023

Plot:
Thale (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne) and her family have just moved to a small town after her mother Liv (Liv Mjönes) got a job as a police officer there. Thale is unhappy, as teenagers tend to be when they have to move, and is unsure how to fit in her new environment. When her classmate Jonas (Sjur Vatne Brean) invites her to a party, she accepts but quickly raises the jealousy of Jonas’ ex-girlfriend Elin (Silje Øksland Krohne). When Elin asks Jonas for a private talk, Thale follows – and becomes witness as something attacks them. Despite Thale’s efforts to help, Elin is dragged away and Thale herself is scratched – but by what isn’t clear. Was it a wolf?

I like werewolf movies, so of course I wanted to watch Vikingulven. The film itself was a bit bland, though, I’m afraid to say. I feel like you could have made more of it.

[SPOILERS]

Vikingulven starts with an origin story that explains the title of the film, tracing werewolves back to the vikings via Christianity. This beginning was a strong opening and also a rather novel idea about werewolves. If the film had expanded on this a litle more, it could have gotten some really interesting parts, but unfortunately, it never really returns to this origin story in the course of the film.

Instead it stays firmly in the here and now, focusing on Thule and increasingly on Liv who tries to investigate the mysterious attack as Thule herself realizes that she is going through a few changes. Here, too, it felt like the film didn’t focus on the really interesting parts. On the one hand, I quite liked Liv’s characterization and would have liked to see more of her, maybe have the entire film told through her perspective (which would have been an unusual approach to the story that probably wouldn’t have worked either, I’ll admit). On the other hand, Thule was already rather short-changed by the story, barely managing to show what the changes mean for her.

Trying to connect the werewolf story with a mother-daughter drama was again, an interesting idea, but the execution here didn’t really work for me, either. Here, too, the film seems to turn away just when things get interesting to focus on other things – or rather, to just be over. I don’t know if that’s because it wanted space for a sequel, but really it feels a little lackluster.

And that’s just true for the entire film: some good ideas with just the wrong focus in the execution so that we don’t actually stick with the interesting bits, turning the entire thing just a little boring.

Summarizing: meh.