Sauna (2008)

Thanks for the memories!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strikingly beautiful Finnish art house 'horror' film about guilt, religion, sin and punishment, set in the 16th century, at the end of the Russian/Swedish war. It's full of atmosphere, symbolism, and unanswered questions. Two Swedish brothers/soldiers -- one intellectual, the other violent and borderline mad -- come to a strange town where they are confronted with eerie reminders of their sins, and of those they have killed in war. Slow paced, but not boring. However, the underlying ideas do get stretched a bit thin over time, and the occasional turn to horror clichés was a little disappointing given the generally high level of intelligence and originality. Still, interesting enough that I would give it another look now that I understand what its getting at, and gorgeous enough that I'll still enjoy it, even if I'm once again left with mixed feelings about some of the content. Mention also must be made of the arresting performance by Ville Virtanen as the violent Eerik, recalling Max Von Sydow in his prime.

Literally, this film sucked.It made no sense what so ever.........THe acting was OK, the pacing was OK, but the ending was just terrible.I got the whole idea of this 'cleansing sauna' in the middle of nowhere but the movie went off to space as far as I'm concerned, it lost me.It had potential to be great, but failed.so, it was boring...........tedious ................pretentious ......and definitely over rated.

Its about a group of border demarcation team stumbling into some kind of witch black hole kinda village .When they arrive the village is been repopulated only relatively recently by a group of finish refugees .Who tried to get away from raiding marauding Russian cossacks only to get into bigger trouble .Apparently upon arriving to this place they lost their fertility and lots of people chewed out their tongues and scratched their eyes out .There is something roaming the place of such horrendous entity that they prefer to mutilate themselves than faceit .Or the self mutilation is the result of encounter ? Well u never know . There is this creepy whitewashed cube like sauna in the middle of a swamp from which radiates all that creepedom .Your enter in it u are done u are history . Subtlest ermm...they're really annoying!and Finnish language is really creepy to listen to it . I swear they sounded like those things from District 9 movie! Alien.Couldn't they make them speak English? Well its my first Finnish movie and I think it will be last I ever will see. But to be fair I don't think I can be considered a fair judge of this kinda of movies . Thats not my idea of horror I like gore and blood flying all over . People who like ghost ,supernatural horror movies might like I dunno

Sauna (Finnish w/Eng. SUB) is a subtle but chilling horror film set in 1595, tells the tale of the 25 year war against Sweden and Russia…and the men who survived and the ghosts that haunt them as they head home. This movie is a rare treat! …it gave me nightmares…and that says volumes considering I watch hundreds of horror films a month and my collection is in the excess or 2200 horror films alone. I loved the movie 'Let the Right One in', as well as 'Cold Prey' and 'Dead Snow'…all excellent examples or Nordic horror (Vampires, Serial Killer and Zombies)…but Sauna actually made me think about the fear of the facing one's own demons (in the dark); the story being presented may be too subtle for some to get into, but believe me, well worth the time and effort. It was NOT an in your face with knives and blood type of scary movie; it brought about the horror through mysteries, shadows of the past and an unknowable horror. The best kind of fear is from things you do not understand and cannot explain