Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

ekwall_peter The comments above sums it up quite good, but there is one thing that is worth to point out. For some reason, most horror movies from Sweden tend to keep an ironic distance towards them self (Evil Ed and Frostbite for instance). This is an exception. It feels serious and it would be a shame if it will be forgotten.The actors are great. Better than a lot of bigger productions.The comparing with Blair which project are totally uncalled for. A lot of movies where filmed with hand held DV-cameras those days. The equipment triggered a lot of new low budget films, thats all.(sorry for the crappy language, but I seldom write in English)

Coventry What's the worst thing that could happen to a director? I imagine it would be getting accused of shamelessly ripping off an original movie idea, even though it never was the intention and everything's just a matter of bad timing. When "The Unknown" came out, not too many people were interested in seeing it because most press reviews stated it wasn't much more than a lame imitation of "The Blair Witch Project". But in reality, this modest Swedish low-budget film was as good as finished when "BWP" played in the theaters and, even if it did influence Michael Hjorth in some way, it must have only been during the post-production phase. In all honesty, "The Unknown" is also a much better film than the annoying and way overrated "Blair Witch Project", which – by the way – is nothing more than a hypocrite imitation of "Cannibal Holocaust". That being said, the script for "The Unknown" obviously found most of its inspiration in the classic Sci-Fi concept of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". The use of hand-held cameras, with shaky movements and extreme close-ups of the inside of people's nostrils, might be reminiscent of "Blair Witch", but the premise of something unearthly and evil prowling a remote area and gradually taking humans is purely old-fashioned horror greatness. The plot centers on five friends and amateur environmentalists driving up north to research the effects on the fauna & flora after an immensely destructive forest fire. On the first day already, the quintet stumbles upon some type of unidentifiable and rotting carcass and decide to perform a pathological examination. Meanwhile, one of the girls falls ill and inexplicably runs into the woods at night. Ingar behaves increasingly freakish, as if she's no longer herself and taken over by someone – or something – different. Hjorth clearly couldn't rely on a large budget, so don't expect any gory Alien-esquire situations or even detailed glimpses at the "thing", for that matter. "The Unknown" purely thrives on an atmosphere that is constant and sheer ominous from start to finish. For some reason I cannot quite formulate, the Swedish woods appear to be far more menacing than the American ones and the characters are at least amiable and "normal". Sadly enough, the story and style characteristics are far from perfect. The unstable camera gives the impression there's a sixth group member tagging along and the sets are underexposed. But the giant holes and severe elements of indistinctness in the script are what truly bothered me. The actual link between the forest fire and the alien substance is never made clear. Did he cause the fire or did he specifically select the dead region because it's the best biotope? The finale is predictable and clichéd, but endings like this will always remain at least a bit unsettling nevertheless, so no harsh complaints there. Interesting and worthwhile film, as long as you're not too demanding and/or expecting something groundbreaking and new.

dualexaust2002 Well I had been searching for this movie for over a year before I finally got my hands on it. Afterall this movie is from Sweden and I live in the US.I had heard the rumors: Blair Witch Project copycat. This statement is not entirely true though... There is a lot of simularties, and its obvious that the director was heavily inspired by Blair.. But this one is good enough to stand on its own.No ghosts, no aliens (you don't actually see any kind of creature other then the dead chicken looking thing in the beginning).. This movie relies on suspense alone. Was there something out in those woods that made these 5 scientists go insane? We don't get the answer.What irritates me the most here is that the movie is shot with a shaky handcam... yet there is no explanation of it. Why is the movie shot like this when there isn't a 6th person with them shooting the footage? I honestly think adding a cameraman to the story would be more reasonable then the shakeyness for no reason... you can even see the cameraman's shadow at one point.. come on now, if you're gonna ride on Blair's success at least go all the way with it.Other then that - a perfect horror movie.

mix-scene1 This movie is in the same mould as Blair Witch Project, but this time with five Swedish people to encounter strange happenings. The director manage to create realism into the characters, how would you react? The film manage to lift itself up from mediocrity, it is so easy to compare with similar movies and discard this, but it has something going for it. I would say it is fairly well made (even though it is a low-low budget movie, filmed in only 7 days) and will give credit to the makers of this film to take the chance on this project. I watched it and found it entertaining.