Some classics, some remakes, and some fun for you this week! We’ll start out with the super-powered “Freaks” from 2019. We’ll then watch the original “Cube” film from 1997 and then the Japanese remake from 2021. We’ll do the sequels another time. We’ll watch a couple of old classics next, “The White Reindeer” from 1952, as well as “The Seventh Seal” from 1957.
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Mainstream Films:
2019 Freaks
Directed by Zach Lipovsky
Written by Zach Lipovsky
Stars Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park
Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This leans heavily into science fiction, action, thriller aspects while whispering in some horror. It starts out nicely with a bit of mystery and gets more fascinating the more we find out what’s going on in this alternate reality. It was very entertaining with a big thumbs up from both of us.
Spoilery Synopsis
A little girl, Chloe, peeks out the window at the ice cream truck on the street. Her father shoos her away from the window and covers it back up, saying she’s not being a good hider, and the bad guys will find her if she’s not careful. She recites all the details about her made-up identity with her dad. She knows exactly what to do if her father ever doesn’t come home. “I can’t wait until I’m normal,” she whines. They seem happy, but they’re also clearly hiding. Is he some kind of loon?
Then Dad’s eyes start to bleed, which surprises no one. She wonders if her eyes will do that someday. He shouts at her, “You are not normal!” and she laughs. Chloe knows things about “the mountain,” but she’s not supposed to know about that.
Chloe dreams about a monster trying to break in the door, and we see that she’s been drawing scary pictures. Turns out, she sees ghosts. Dad says, “Ghosts aren’t real.”
The next morning, Chloe hears the ice cream man outside again, and someone drops a book through the mail slot, “Mr. Snowcone and the Princess.” Chloe wants ice cream. She sees another little girl at the ice cream truck and wishes out loud repeating for Harper to bring her some. She does, so Chloe opens the door. Harper’s mother, Nancy, also stops by and introduces herself. “She looks so normal,” Nancy says. Dad wonders how Harper knows Chloe’s real name.
Harper wakes up and finds Chloe in her room. This version of Harper is Chloe’s sister, at least Chloe thinks so. And wants Harper to pretend she’s Chloe’s mother. Dad comes in, and Chloe’s alone in the locked room. He offers to just buy her some ice cream since he has to go out for supplies anyway.
A short time later, Dad rushes in, covered in blood and holding a gun. “That’s OK, this mostly isn’t my blood,” he says. “I just gotta be more careful.” Not only has he been shot, he’s forgotten the ice cream. He says they may have to stay hidden for a very long time.
Once Dad passes out, Chloe grabs a gun and hundred-dollar bill and goes outside to get some ice cream. She looks around like she’s never been outside before. “Are we safe from the people who want to kill us?” She asks the ice cream man, who happens to know her name. He lures her into the back of his truck and drives her to “the park.” On the way, they pass a billboard showing someone who bleeds from the eyes and a warning to call 911.
They do, in fact, actually go to the park. The old man asks if Chloe can do anything special. He tries to scare her, and then he tries to make her mad, to get a response. “Is there anything you can do that other people can’t do?” A police officer shows up, and the old man claims to be her grandfather. Chloe gets upset at the cop, and she makes him go away with the power of her mind.
On the way home, the old man explains that Chloe’s mother was his daughter– he really is her grandfather, and he really does take her back home. He hands her a drug to make her father go to sleep the next time he returns.
When he wakes up, Chloe’s father finds that his daughter has a new attitude; she calls him a liar. He says her mother was killed because she couldn’t follow the rules. A little later, Chloe finds her mother in the little room where she was with Harper earlier.
We watch Chloe’s father dozing in front of a news report, “Remembering Dallas Ten Years After the Attack,” and they show the city in ruins. The “Abnormals” or “Freaks” are the subject of discussion. Any Freaks who are running loose are illegal. Most of the Freaks have been relocated to a mountain somewhere. “Living weapons of mass destruction,” calls the newscaster. But the agent being interviewed suggests how wonderful it could be to find an Abnormal child they could raise to be good and on their side.
Chloe somehow ends up in Harper’s room while still at her own house during a sleepover, and all the other girls start calling her a Freak. She also finds her mother chained to the floor.
When Chloe tells her father about what she’s seen, he doesn’t believe any of it. She tries to drug him as instructed, but he figures out what she’s doing. She forces him to go to sleep–without the powder, and her eye bleeds.
Chloe wants to go across the street and pay Nancy to become her new mom, but Grandpa shows up and offers to take Chloe to her real mom. Grandpa explains what happened to Chloe’s mother– her father wouldn’t use his powers to protect the family, since he wanted to hide.
Grandpa takes Chloe to see Agent Ray, the woman from the TV. He pretends to be a priest who’s been taking care of an “Abnormal.” Ray has an easy, painless way to detect mutants by using an ultraviolet flashlight to see if there are traces of blood tears, and the old man looks clear. He wants Ray to take them both to Maddick Mountain. That plan goes south, and the old man makes them both disappear– he can turn invisible! He stabs a cook in the eye, and the overzealous cops shoot that guy as they invisibly escape. He believes that his daughter is still alive and being held at the Evil Mountain.
Chloe’s dad, Henry, appears out of nowhere, and teleports the old man away. He says he’s been looking for her for a week. Then we see that Henry doesn’t teleport, he can slow down and even stop time outside a bubble he projects. The world only advances while he sleeps; it’s only been a few months since Chloe’s mom died, but it’s been years inside the house from their point of view inside the bubble he projects.
Henry takes Chloe and a big pile of money across the street to Nancy and Steven’s house. They expected this; Henry wants to leave Chloe with them with the promise of regular payments. Harper is there as well, and she doesn’t like Chloe, who has been appearing in her room; she’s gonna be a problem. This is a weird situation, and Nancy and Steven argue. Chloe makes the problem go away– for a few minutes before they’re thrown out.
Henry and Chloe go back home, where Grandpa Alan is tied to a chair. As the two men argue, Chloe talks to her mother in the attic. When Henry tries to nail the door shut, Chloe makes him nearly kill himself before passing out herself.
Alan tells Henry that Mary isn’t really dead. This leads to an argument. Chloe notices Nancy, across the street, talking to the police about getting a reward. Chloe makes the policeman stab Nancy in the eye, and then the other cops see her eye bleeding and shoot her.
Chloe gets a vision of her mother strapped to a bed after being tortured. Henry sees it too, this time. He apologizes as they watch two workers get ready to inject something into Mary. Chloe makes them stop, at whatever distance the scientists are away. She then makes the remaining man release Mary, fully possessing him.
Agent Ray comes to the door, which interrupts everything; Henry freezes the entire outside world. Chloe wants Henry to talk to Ray and convince her that he’s normal. Alan shows Henry how to get past Ray’s ultraviolet light test, so he lets her in. They talk about Freaks in the neighborhood like Nancy and Steve. She knows who he is as well as the whole family story. She’s got drones outside ready to kill them all if he doesn’t cooperate, as well as heavily armed cops outside. Meanwhile, Chloe continues to fully control that other security man, who wheels Mary toward the prison exit. Mary has said she has to get outside to have room to use her power.
As Ray and Henry talk, Alan, who is invisible, steals Ray’s gun. Ray says Henry will be killed, but Chloe will be saved and used as a weapon. Ray knows he’s there. She shoots Henry and goes upstairs to find Chloe doing her thing with Mary and the man at the prison. Ray shoots Chloe, but Grandpa gets in the way and blocks the bullet; he dies. Chloe then makes Ray shoot herself.
Henry comes upstairs, and he uses Ray’s radio to tell the men outside that she’s a hostage. Henry freezes time, goes outside, and shoots several of the cops before starting time up again, which gives the rest of them pause.
Inside the mountain, the guards close in on Mary, but Chloe makes them open the doors. Mary then flies away with a shockwave that blasts all the guards outside into pulp, “I know where to find you,” she tells her. Henry slows the Hellfire missile that’s in the process of hitting their roof and he runs out with Chloe.
A bit later, Chloe wakes up just as Henry dies. Mary shows up, she flew all the way there. The shockwave from her landing kills the remaining soldiers closing in on Chloe. She carries Chloe away, who declares that they aren’t going to hide anymore.
Brian’s Commentary
This should not be confused with the 1932 film “Freaks” which is a whole different animal.
We start off with a paranoid, isolating father who appears to be crazy, and it goes quite a long time until we learn otherwise. We’re forty minutes in before we figure out that this is the X-Men universe. The X-Men are fun, but this film is probably much more like the way it would really work out if mutants were real.
Bruce Dern was 83 here and it’s a big part for someone of that age. Lexy Walker, as Chloe, is very young and does an outstanding job here as well. Emile Hirsch looks just like a young Jack Black for some reason, but he’s good too.
It’s a bit minimal on the horror elements, but it was really entertaining.
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought this was very cool. We got to gradually find out what was going on in this alternate world, and once we did it was a cool story. The effects of Chloe’s distance viewing and projection, the time dilation, and the invisibility were all very well done. I’d give it a solid thumbs up.
1997 Cube
Directed by Vincenzo Natali
Written by Andre Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, Graeme Manson
Stars: Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett
Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is heavy on science fiction, but certainly has the horror elements with trapped people, deadly traps, and gruesome deaths. We travel through the cube trap with the cast, trying to figure out what’s going on as they do.
Spoilery Synopsis
A bald man wakes up on the floor inside an industrial-looking room that’s cube-shaped. Each of the six sides, four walls, floor, and ceiling, has a door in the center. He opens one and goes into the next room, which is identical to the first. He goes through several rooms, lit in different colors. Suddenly, something happens, and the man falls to pieces– literally. We see a razor sharp grid– these rooms are trapped! Credits roll.
A man whose shirt says “Quentin” wakes up another named Worth. They are joined by two women, Leaven and Holloway. Quentin has blood on his hands, and he tells the others about the traps. An older man, Rennes, comes in, and he’s found a way to avoid the trap rooms by throwing his shoes in first. None of them remembers how they got there.
Who built this place? The government? Aliens? Holloway is a doctor, Quentin is a cop, Rennes is a career criminal who is known for escaping prisons. Leaven is a student and Worth is “just an office guy.” The group uses the “boot trick” to move through several more rooms as they start looking for a way out. Leaven notices that each room has a serial number. Rennes gives them all a speech about being careful seconds before being sprayed with acid in the face and melting. So much for the boot method.
Quentin and Leaven look at the serial numbers on the doors and notice that the trapped rooms all have a prime number. The pattern seems to work, and they go through a bunch of rooms, all alike. Once in a while, they hear machinery in the walls doing something. They open a door and find a mentally challenged man inside; he’s Kazan.
They all start getting tired and hungry. Quentin falls into a trap and gets cut, but the room isn’t prime, so they don’t understand that. Quentin and Leaven start to get really annoyed with Kazan, who’s loud and smells bad. They all argue with Worth, who has a bad attitude and doesn’t believe there is a way out. He eventually admits he worked in the office who drew the plans for the shell of the cube. The group all argues about conspiracy theories and ideas about how this place got made. It all starts to sound pretty hopeless, so Quentin beats up Worth.
With Worth’s information, Leaven figures out that the cube has 17,000-plus rooms. She also figures out that the serial numbers are three-dimensional coordinates.
They find a room where the trap is activated by sound, but they have to go through instead of around. They’re all concerned about Kazan, who’s noisy at the best of times, but they all make it through. Afterward, Quentin and Hollway argue about him being abusive. They make it to where they think the door should be, but it’s just a sheer wall outside.
Holloway sings from a rope made of clothing to try and get somewhere “outside,” which doesn’t work. Something moves, and she nearly falls but Quentin catches her. Then Quentin lets her fall to her death.
Leaven, Kazan, Worth, and Quentin decide the best bet is to go down, so they can drop out the bottom. They all stop for a nap first. As the others sleep, Quentin hauls Leaven away to leave the others and go off on their own. It soon becomes apparent that Quentin is a little but insane– and maybe a pedophile as well. Worth comes to the rescue, and the others realize that Quentin killed Holloway. Still, might makes right, so Quentin beats Worth senseless.
Uh-oh. They come to a room and find Rennes’ body. They’ve travelled in a circle somehow. No, they soon figure out that the rooms move around. Leaven does some math, and she says she knows where the exit is. The math is way too advanced for her to figure out, and then Kazan chimes in with the answer; he’s a human calculator (and an excellent driver as well, most likely).
The three manage to escape from Quentin, and they leave him behind. They come to the “bridge” room and wait for it to move. The rooms then shift and they lose Kazan somewhere. He doesn’t go far, and they retrieve him as they end up in the final room. They enter the bridge to the outside.
They see the light outside, but Worth doesn’t want to leave, since he feels that this is all his fault. As he and Leaven talk, Quentin sneaks in behind them and kills Leaven. He also stabs Worth. Kazan goes outside, but Worth hangs onto Quentin just long enough for the room to cut him in half when they move again.
Worth, Badly wounded, lays down next to Leaven’s body as the cubes reset again. Kazan walks out to the exit, alone.
Brian’s Commentary
Julian Richings was on the poster, the trailer, and all the advertising, but he’s only in it for thirty seconds and never says a word. Iconic!
Seven actors and one set. This would have a hard time being more low budget, but it’s really good.
The rooms all made sense until they started talking about permutations, and that’s where they lost me. The movie is essentially a math puzzle.
This was good when it came out, and it still holds up today.
Kevin’s Commentary
Having the rooms be different colors is such a simple idea but so effective in making a single set seem like a maze of rooms. This was my third or fourth time seeing it, and I think it’s great. I like everything about it.
2021 Cube
Directed by Yasuhiko Shimizu
Written by Vincenzo Natali, Koji Tokuo
Stars Tokio Emoto, Masaki Okada, Takumi Saito
Run Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a Japanese remake of the 1997 English language film “Cube.” While it does have some differences to make it a bit interesting, it has an even lower budget feel to it than the original and we both thought it was on the dull side for much of the film. If you’re a fan of the 1997 version and two follow-up movies, you’ll probably find this at least interesting. But we don’t highly recommend it.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man opens a door and climbs through the small hole. He enters a cubical room from one of the sides. He opens the opposite door and goes inside. There’s a room exactly like it, only in a different color. As he walks across the floor to the next door, giant tubes shoot out of the wall to impale him and a big cube of flesh falls out of his chest before he collapses.
Another prisoner wakes up to find two other people in the room with him. None of them know how or why they are there. A door opens and someone throws a shoe in . This guy walks through to the next door, and one of the prisoners asks him what’s going on. They open the ceiling door and find the first man and his chest chunk. Then a girl opens the door and comes in as well. Credits roll.
The guy with the shoes demonstrates to the others that some of the rooms are booby-trapped. Everyone introduces themselves. Kai, Goto, Uno, and Ide talk about what they do in the real world. Then they all freak out a bit until they calm down and Ide leads them to the next room.
Goto notices that each room seems to have a serial number. They keep moving until they find an older man, Ando, in one of the rooms. Now, there are six of them. Uno, the youngest - a boy, doesn’t like to talk or be touched.
Suddenly, the lights go out, and giant spinning fans start to descend. The room they are in is rigged; they barely manage to open the floor door and escape. Not long after, Uno figures out that the room numbers can predict whether or not there is a trap inside. He and Goto work on some math problems for about an hour, and then find a pattern.
The group starts making rapid progress, as the prime numbers seem to indicate the presence of a trap. They find one room that’s got a sound-activated trap, and they have to be very, very quiet. Ando gets a cut on his leg after Ochi accidentally makes a noise.
The next door they open has that first guy and his hollowed-out chest again. They’ve travelled in a circle? No, the rooms move! Soon after, Ide gets cut to bits with a laser in one of the rooms.
Everyone sits around while Uno does more math problems. Bars come up out of the floor, splitting the room, and the group, in half. Ando says that’s OK, he hates young people anyway, and he goes off on his own. Ochi on his side has no choice but to follow him.
Uno, Goto, and Kai continue in another direction, still relying on the numbers to guide them. Goto and the others watch a projection of himself in the past, on the roof of a building as his brother, Hiruto, stands on the edge. He says the wrong thing, and Hiruto jumps to his death.
Ando and Ochi, in a different room, talk about how much they hate each other; it’s old versus young with these two. Youth wins out, as Ochi crushes the old man’s head in one of the doors.
Uno yells at Goto that he understands why Hiruto killed himself; adults are garbage! Uno then jumps into a deathtrap, but Goto grabs and saves him instead. Kai opens the next door, which opens to an empty space. They watch as one of the rooms moves; is that the exit? Must be.
They decide to make for that cube near the door and see if it is the exit they need. Ochi opens the door and finds them again. He’s covered in blood and says Ando got killed in a trap. Uno catches on quickly that he’s lying, but the others don’t. He tells Goto, but Goto is skeptical that Ochi would have killed Ando.
Ochi very soon exposes himself by attacking Goto. He’s gone quite insane from working at a convenience store. It’s more complicated than just that, but it makes a kind of sense. He makes a long speech before trying to kill Goto. He doesn’t want to go outside. Abruptly, a trap goes off and kills Ochi. The room starts to move, and Goto gets left behind.
Kai and Uno ride the moving cube to the exit. After Uno gets out, Kai decides to stay inside and says goodbye to him as he walks away. We cut to Goto, who is all cut up, injured, and very much not quite dead yet.
We see on a screen about the ones killed, that Uno was “Released” while Goto was “Continued.” Kai, on the other hand, has glowing computerized eyes that go back to appearing normal after a moment. She goes into a room with another batch of prisoners, and you can see her processing each of them one at a time visually before she speaks. It appears she’s some sort of android or cyborg, and she’s been in on the whole thing all along.
Brian’s Commentary
Kevin said, “This is for people who liked the first Cube, but wished it was more slow and dull.” I can’t argue with him. There are long stretches with no dialogue, and the math problems are cranked way up as well.
The original had some commentary about the conflict between rich and poor people; this one seems to do the same with age differences and child abuse.
We see lots of pointless American remakes of foreign movies, like “Funny Games,” “Speak No Evil,” or “The Ring.” This one spins that around and does a Japanese remake of an American movie. This one is equally as pointless and diminished as those other remakes.
Right off the bat, we noticed that the cube’s walls and floor are cheaper looking and smaller than in the original. It’s not a shot-for-shot remake, but it’s pretty close. The characters are all different types, and some of the traps are different from the first film.
There are some flashbacks and new things, but not enough to make this as good as the original. It picks up a bit in the second half, but the first one is still far superior.
Kevin’s Commentary
As Brian mentions in his commentary, for the most part, I found this kind of low-key and dull. There are enough differences from the original to spark some interest here and there, but overall, I didn’t care for it. The set and technical aspects weren’t as good as the original. The second half is better, but overall it’s just okay.
1952 The White Reindeer
Directed by Erik Blomberg
Written by Erik Blomberg, Mirjami Kuosmanen
Stars Mirjami Kuosmanen, Kalervo Nissila, Ake Lindman
Run Time: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Instead of the vampire turning into a bat, she turns into a white reindeer - that was a different take we’ve never seen before. This was kind of interesting seeing what life was like in a small Finnish community in 1952. The movie has a dark fairy tale vibe to it, literally starting out with a woman setting up the story, and there’s also vibes that it's a documentary about these people and the nature they live with. It wouldn’t be for everyone, but we thought it was a decent watch.
Spoilery Synopsis
We watch people wandering around in a desolate snowscape as the singer tells us about a witch with “evil in her belly.” There’s also a story about a girl who turned into a deer and died when a hunter killed her. We watch the woman make it to the witch’s tent, give birth, and die.
We cut to Pirita at the reindeer-sled races. It’s like the Iditarod meets Ben Hur. Pirita is way ahead when a man throws a lasso over her and pulls her off the sled. They laugh and then kiss.
Later, the man, Aslak, meets her parents and says he has good intentions and pays a dowry. There’s a party and lots of drinking and toasts. It’s a happy day for everyone!
Some time passes, and although the two love each other, they have a dead bedroom. He leaves to go on a weeks-long reindeer cattle drive, which leaves her at home alone.
Pirita goes to visit an evil-looking man, Taslkku-Nilla, out in a very remote cabin. She wants a love potion from him. His magic drum gets out of control, and even he’s afraid of it, calling her a witch. He does tell her that she has to sacrifice the first living thing she sees when she leaves– which is her pet reindeer, a little white tame one.
She takes the little reindeer to the altar of the Stone God and kills it with her knife. She then passes out in the snow and gets a vision.
Pirita goes looking for Aslak, but he’s not in the camp when she gets there, he’s out hunting. She goes to sleep in the tent with all the other men, but she wakes up in the middle of the night. She leaves the tent and becomes a big white reindeer.
Some hunters see the white reindeer and start tracking it. One of the hunters ropes the animal and wrestles it to the ground, just as we saw Pirita do earlier. Suddenly, the deer is Pirita, laughing at the shocked hunter. As he leans in for a kiss, she gets a surprised look and bites him on the neck, killing him.
Other hunters find the body and bring it back to the village. All the village men find Pirita attractive, especially after the love potion spell, and that night, she eats another man.
The men talk about the “White witch reindeer,” and argue about superstition. They discuss their favorite weapons. They spot a white reindeer outside and one man chases it and shoots it, but his gun explodes. He sees Pirita there, laughing at him.
That night, back in camp, the man with the exploding gun recognizes Pirita and chases her with a torch. The other men wrestle him to the ground, but now, Aslak is a little suspicious of his wife. She looks in the mirror and sees that she now has fangs. That night, she almost kills Aslak, but doesn’t at the last moment.
At church, Pirita doesn’t sing with all the other women, and people notice. Aslak sharpens his spear; he wants that reindeer. “Cold iron is the only way to kill a witch,” he proclaims. We see that a lot of people in town are readying iron weapons.
The white reindeer returns, and all the men grab their spears and go after it. Pirita knows she’s in trouble and goes back to Tsalkku-Nilla to undo the spell, but she finds him frozen to death inside his hut; no help there.
She runs back to the sacrificial altar and begs the stone god to take back his magic. Instead, she turns into the reindeer right then and runs off. Aslak sees the reindeer from a distance and pursues it on his skis. He gets it with his spear and approaches, only to find out that it’s his own wife.
Brian’s Commentary
I had no idea people used reindeer as sled dogs or could just catch a wild one to tow your sled. Very cool! There are a lot of shots of reindeers and people herding, hunting, and wrestling them.
There’s very little dialogue, so even if you don’t like subtitles, this isn’t excessive. Visually, it’s excellent, especially if you’re curious about Finland in the old days (it’s vague about when this takes place, but it could've been as late as 1952).
It’s interesting due to the location and time period, but there’s not really much of a story or drama here. A lot of it feels like a nature documentary rather than horror. I suspect many modern audiences would find it boring.
Kevin’s Commentary
The best part about this was getting a historical peek at a very different culture, thriving in a frozen land, from many decades ago. It’s low-key on horror, more like a fairy tale, but I thought it was worth watching.
1957 The Seventh Seal
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman
Stars Max Von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bengt Ekeros
Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a visually interesting piece that explores religion, philosophy, human relationships, the meaning of life, and death. Death is personified and while it’s not their first appearance on film, it’s an iconic version that has influenced other later movies and media. It’s pretty grim through much of it, and on the talky side, but it’s one worth checking out for sure if you haven’t seen it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a deserted-looking beach, and we hear about the lamb opening the seventh seal, and the signs of the apocalypse. We cut to shots of dead men on the beach, from a shipwreck, including Antonius Block. He gets up and prays, not as dead as the others. Well, maybe not so good, since Death himself appears to him. “Are you ready?” Antonius challenges Death to a very high-stakes game of chess.
Antonius rides his horse away, with Squire Jons tagging along, talking about all kinds of ominous things. They try to ask a man for directions, but he’s obviously died from the plague.
Jof wakes up, gets out of his wagon and talks to his horse until he has a vision of a mother and child walking through the grass– he assumes it is the Virgin Mary. He goes inside and tells Mia about what he saw. She doesn’t believe him since he’s played pranks on her before. They are part of an acting troupe, and they've been hired to entertain the priests, who are all worried about the plague.
Squire Jons talks to a man painting a mural about the value of scary paintings. It’s a painting of the plague dead, meant to remind the living that they’re going to die. Jons tells that they’ve just come home from the Crusades.
Antonius arrives at the church and makes a confession– to Death. He laments that he doesn’t care about his fellow man, and he has major doubts about his faith. He wants knowledge, not faith. Why won’t God show his face? Antonius wants to use his reprieve from Death to do one worthwhile act.
Antonius and Jons go outside and find a woman being flogged for having “carnal intercourse with the devil.” They think she’s the cause of the plague. Antonius and Jons ride out of town.
The two come upon a mostly abandoned town. Jons talks to Ravel, who brags about robbing the many dead in town. He’s the man who talked Antonius into going on the crusade ten years ago; it was a scam of some kind, and Jons threatens to kill Ravel if they see him again. Ravel’s woman becomes Jons’s housekeeper.
The acting troupe/circus has come to town. One of the actors follows a local woman into the bushes for a good time. The act is interrupted when a bunch of creepy monks and sick people march into town in a macabre parade. Everyone stops, prays, and cries. “You shall all die from the Black Death,” says the leader. He’s… not a fun man. After his morbid speech ends, the whole group moves on.
Everyone knows the plague is coming, and there’s a lot of angst as they wait in dread. The people are talking about Judgment Day and what that entails.
Plog the blacksmith is looking for his wife, who ran off with Jonas, the actor we saw earlier. He talks to, and threatens, Jof, because he’s an actor, too. They force him to dance and perform until Jons comes and rescues him.
Antonius sits in front of the chessboard and talks to Mia, who has a small baby, Mikael. He recognizes her from the circus show. Jof comes back, and he’s a mess from his ordeal. Antonius and Jof talk about safe places to hide from the plague. Antonius offers to guide them through the forest. Antonius talks about his wife, whom he hasn’t seen in a decade.
He likes being here with this calm, quiet family, and he’s cheerful when Death comes to play a turn of chess. Death vaguely hints that something bad might happen to Jof and his family. Plog, the blacksmith, begs to come with the group through the forest, hoping to find his missing wife.
Antonius, Jons, and a few others lead Jons’s family through the woods. They very soon catch up with Plog’s wife, Lisa, and Skat the actor. The two men call each other names until Lisa begs forgiveness. Lisa is obviously manipulating both men, and Jons cynically watches the whole thing.
Skat hides by climbing a tree, but then gets upset when Death arrives with a big saw to cut the tree down. “Your time has come. Your contract is terminated.” The tree falls and Skat dies.
Soldiers walk through, pushing a cart with the witch aboard, they’re heading to the execution grounds.
Antonius tells the witch that he’d like to meet the devil in order to ask him about God. She doesn’t have any good answers. The men burn the witch. Antonius and Jons argue over whether anyone, God, the angels, or Satan, is watching over the poor girl.
A man infected with the plague crawls into camp looking for help. Jons won’t let anyone go near the man or help him, as it’s pointless.
Later, Jof watches as Death returns for his game with Antonius. Mia thinks Antonius is alone, but Jof sees Death for what he is. “Nothing escapes me,” says Death. Antonius tries to spill the board, but Death restores the pieces and says Antonius is going to lose in the next movie. “When next we meet, you and your companion’s time will be up.” He still won’t say anything about the afterlife.
There’s a storm, and Jof and Mia have to park the wagon for the night. They know Death is on their heels. Meanwhile, Antonius and Jons enter a castle and look around. It’s Antonius’s home, and his wife is inside. They all sit down to dinner until Death shows up and they all recognize him… “It is finished,” says the mute girl.
We cut to Jof, Mia, and Mikael, all fine and healthy in the morning after the storm has passed. Jof sees the rest of the characters walking in a line as the Grim Reaper leads them in a long dancing line. Antonius, Jons, Skat, Plog, Lisa, and the mute girl are all dead now.
Brian’s Commentary
You know it’s old when Max Von Sydow gets fourth billing under people you’ve never heard of.
This wasn’t the first portrayal of Death as a character, but it was an extremely influential depiction.
It’s basically all the characters talking about how people deal with death, loss, and faith. It’s very philosophical, and all the characters have their own opinions. It’s an exceptionally bleak film, and they don’t get much more morbid and death-obsessed than this one. Visually, it’s excellent, the characters are all good, and there’s a lot of talking about religion and philosophy here.
Kevin’s Commentary
You never know when you’ll be climbing a tree and Death will come along with a saw to collect you. And the tree. This movie was much more interesting than I expected, full of engrossing and thought-provoking moments. Visually it’s great, the cast does a fine job, and the writer/director Ingmar Bergman clearly knew what he was doing.
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