SunnyHello
Nice effects though.
Spoonixel
Amateur movie with Big budget
Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Ketrivie
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
re-animatresse
this is the feature film debut of Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby who's also, along with screenwriter Rasmus Birch, credited for the original idea. the storyline actually is fairly unique for its genre, but i don't want to give too much detail lest i spoil the mystery any further than the trailer does the story unfolds at a meandering pace, not so slowly that viewers are liable to lose interest, but the director takes his time, and it pays off nicely. the Danish seaside location is stunningly beautiful, the architecture of the small town setting distinctive and charming. the score is very fitting, slow and soft string, piano (and synth?) instrumentation, and definitely one of the strong points of the film other positives include the 'animal' design, make-up and special effects, which are simple but fantastic and contribute to what are probably the best creature transformation scenes i've seen in a movie. i have no complaints about the acting – i don't speak Danish, but the line delivery and body language sound and look natural. the dialogue and characters are well-written, and the leading character is likable and relatable i love this movie, recommend it highly, and i'll definitely keep an eye open for future projects by Jonas Arnby
Tom Dooley
Marie is sixteen and lives in a coastal town with nowt to do, no friends and a mother with a mysterious debilitating illness. The local doctor seems to take a lot of interest in Marie's condition especially when she starts to grow thick body hair and she would like to know why.Now she gets a job at the local fish factory, where she is not exactly made to feel welcome. She makes a connection with Daniel, a kindly soul who is also a good looking man whom she takes a shine too. The thing is she starts to feel that she has not been told everything about her 'illness' and soon she will find out the hard way.Now this is a slow burner but one that is fairly intense at the same time. There are some sterling performances especially from Lars Mikkelsen – brother of Mads but everyone is actually good even Gustav Dyekjær Giese who has a small role playing a nasty type here and was in the rather good 'Northwest'. It is short at 81 minutes and that includes the run off credits, but it does not do much wasting of screen time and is better for it. For lovers of 'horror' this may be lacking as it is a coming of age tale and a relationship story as much as the horror part and that makes it a more rounded film – recommended.
euroGary
Danish film 'When Animals Dream' is about a teenaged girl called Marie (Sonia Suhl), who lives in a small fishing village with her mother (Sonja Richter, who looks about the same age as Suhl) and father (Lars Mikkelsen, who doesn't). Already concerned by a mysterious rash on her body, Marie definitely realises that something is wrong when she catches her father shaving her mother's back.For Marie, it's downhill from there: hair starts growing over her body, her fingernails bleed, and even those co-workers at the fish factory who have previously been friendly to her start to whisper in corners - some of them remember what happened with her mother all those years ago. Then the doctor tries to inject her with the same medicine that keeps her mother a wheelchair-bound invalid...But it's not all bad, and that's where the film is as much a romance as a horror flick: Marie catches the eye of Daniel (genetic lottery winner Jakob Ostebro), a kindly soul who isn't phased when, in a moment of passion, he discovers a coating of hair on Marie's back: "You're beautiful", he smoulders. It is Daniel who comes to her aid when the townsfolk turn violently against her and Marie's physical changes reach their peak.In a film like this the make-up department are important and they do a good job in the early stages of Marie's transformation: soft, floaty hair on her cheeks and neck. Conversely, they go overboard in the final stages of her transformation and she ends up looking less real - and less horrific as a result. But this is still an entertaining film - a bit subtler than your average schlockfest.
george.schmidt
WHEN ANIMALS DREAM (2014) **1/2 Sonia Suhl , Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Jakob Oftebro, Mads Riisom. Affective yet stilted horror film from the Danes, first-time director Jonas Alexander Arnby about a cursed family - a young woman (Suhl) in a small town working in a local cannery is under scrutiny when her unknown past becomes a shocking reality: inherited lychanthropy from her vegetative mother (Richter). When push comes to shove in the constant hazing and bullying within her lame workforce the latent beast makes its presence known. Beautifully shot by Niels Thastum and a few twists on the old genre make for fine visuals as well as a sadly stoic turn by Mikkelsen (Mads' real-life bro) add some gravitas in spite of the thin plotting.