Sauna (2008) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Finland 2008
Director: Antti-Jussi Annila
Cast: Ville Virtanen, Tommi Eronen, Viktor Klimenko, Kari Ketonen, Rain Tolk, Sonja Petäjäjärvi, Dick Idman
Rating: -
Release Date: September 20th 2008 (USA); September 25th 2008 (Finland)
Running Time: 1 hour 20 mins 15 secs

The Movie Review

Sauna film still 1


SAUNA (FILTH)
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Sauna is set in the year 1595, exactly after a 25-year long war between Russia and Sweden. When the war is finally over, both countries need to set the nation border that marks respective country territory. And for that task, Sweden dispatches the fierce warrior Eerik Spore (Ville Virtanen) and his well-educated little Brother Knut Spore (Tommi Eronen). On the woods they meet the team from Russia led by Semenski (Viktor Klimenko) and other two soldiers, Ivan Rogosin (Rain Tolk) and Captain Musko (Kari Ketonen).

Unbeknownst to the Russian party, that Eerik Spore is a cruel and brutal man, though he loves his brother so much. And before both parties meet each other, Eerik has killed 73 people and has done some unforgivable act to the local peasant and his daughter. On the woods, Knut, who is more kind than Eerik, begins to see daunting things. However, they keep continue their journey until they reach a very strange village with a very strange building on the middle of the swamp. Afterwards their life and mind would never be the same again, especially to those who have sins...

Sauna or Filth (International Title) is a horror movie coming from Finland, and it is a horror movie with a big potential to be great, but unfortunately it fails to be so. I actually like the premise of Sauna. It's interesting without having to rely on any violence, gore, gratuitous female nudity or other exploitation flick elements. Most of the violence scenes are off-screen. The horror comes in a subtle way, but when it does I guarantee that at least you would jump out of your seat. Especially the scene in the woods, I love this scene particularly, since it's shot in the open woods with steady pace of creepiness that will escalate into a big bang. Although this is accomplished by the help of the booming sound which would rather deafen your ears instead of shocking, still I respect it as an effort from the filmmakers.

Unfortunately this kind of good things doesn't come often in Sauna. Overall the pace is slow, and the scenes are jumpy. Moreover, even though the premise is great but the execution is not, the storyline is confusing, and many scenes should be cut or edited more neatly. I don't know how boring this movie would be without the excellent performances of all the cast, especially Ville Virtanen and Tommi Eronen. And this movie also skips to be awful thanks also to the great musical score. The one that reminds me of Sweden's Vampyrer.

Probably other than the scene on the woods, the most memorable horror of Sauna is on the end scene which features a "horror element" that we rarely see and the one that at least would stuck in your mind for a little while. No, it's not disgusting, it's just creepy. Sauna is a horror film that would better be performed as a Theatrical Stage instead of being a motion picture. It would have delivered one heck of a show, but as a movie being performed on cinema, it's just not strong enough. Fellow moviegoers who seek for a movie with fast pace and many thrilling elements should "stay away" from Sauna.