Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Night 10: LAMB (2021) – Folk Horror or Farm Drama? | 13 Nights of Halloween
20 Plays1 month ago
It’s Night 10 of 13 Nights of Halloween, and we’re heading to the eerie, windswept fields of Iceland for one of the strangest entries in modern folk horror: Lamb (2021). Directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson and starring Noomi Rapace, this slow-burn A24 film blends rural isolation, ancient superstition, and deep emotional grief—with a sheep-headed child at the center of it all. Is it horror? Is it a tragedy? Is it just really, really boring? We’re diving in. Join Tim and Johnathan as they discuss the production, symbolism, awards buzz, and why Lamb has become one of the most polarizing movies in recent folk horror. 💀 Want to join in the scoring? Head over to our Instagram (@theaveragereviewspodcast) and grab a scorecard to rate along with us. Drop your score in the comments—your opinion helps us build a better average! 👻 And don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to keep up with the rest of 13 Nights of Halloween! ✨ Be part of the conversation! Submit your own score here: 👉 https://tr.ee/iGtZ-DpOO6 📚 Want more horror? Check out our books on Amazon: 👉 https://a.co/d/bUtniBd 🎧 Check out our friends at Zencastr and get 30% off your first 3 months of Zencastr Pro: 👉 https://zen.ai/theaveragereviews 📖 Enjoy $5.00 off your first purchase when you use Tim Umpleby’s code “TIMOTHYREADS” at checkout: 👉 https://pangobooks.com/TIMOTHYREADS
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Folk Horror Celebration
00:00:28
Speaker
Welcome back everyone to 13 nights of Halloween, our folk horror celebration where we get weird, witchy, and sometimes downright confused.
00:00:40
Speaker
I'm Tim. Yeah. And
Exploring 'Lamb' and Its Genre
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm Jonathan. And tonight we're taking a slow, quiet, sheep-filled detour into the Icelandic art house film with Lamb.
00:00:50
Speaker
Lamb is technically fits our folk horror lineup. It's atmospheric, it's eerie. There's an animal-human hybrid involved, and it's got that what ancient god did we just piss off energy.
00:01:06
Speaker
It was Iceland's official submission to the Academy Awards for Best International Feature, which is impressive for a movie that has maybe 15 lines of dialogue tops. And let's be real, about an hour where you're just watching people farm very quietly.
00:01:23
Speaker
Yeah. 824 picked it up, so you know it's on the artsy side. It's directed by Vladimir Johansson. in his feature debut and it's starring Noomi Rapace, who literally moved to Iceland as a teen and speaks the language fluently.
Performance and Cultural Context
00:01:40
Speaker
Her performance here is completely committed, even when she's cradling a baby with a lamb's head like it's the most normal Tuesday of her life. It's one of those movies that splits people down the middle.
00:01:52
Speaker
Some folks see a quiet emotional meditation of grief and parenthood. um Others, they see a 90 minute lullaby with goat man jump scare at the end. yeah and whether you loved it or hated it or fell asleep halfway through it's worth talking about because lamb plays in that strange liminal space where folk horror lives rural isolation ancient fears and the natural world pushing back and hey halloween isn't just about jump scares and slashers sometimes it's about soft lighting emotional repression and sheep
00:02:31
Speaker
So let's crack open this weird little a two four egg and see what hatches. And while you're here, don't forget to follow along and score the movie with
Audience Engagement
00:02:39
Speaker
us. so You can grab a scorecard on our Instagram and drop your ratings in the comments.
00:02:45
Speaker
Your scores help build the average where the real review happens with your friends. All right, let's dive into this um
Personal Experiences with 'Lamb'
00:02:54
Speaker
monster. So This movie was brought to my attention by my wife.
00:02:59
Speaker
and She was going to join us tonight, but there was some scheduling conflicts and she's out. um She might pop in halfway through recording and give her opinion. But she saw the commercial for this movie. She saw it with a friend. She came home and she was like, we need to go see it. She loved this weird little movie.
00:03:18
Speaker
ah I had the same reaction the first time I watched it as I did this time. So my opinion of this movie has not changed whatsoever. And so if I am going to come at this, how original is the story in this film
Story and Genre Analysis
00:03:35
Speaker
category? How original is the story that we were watching?
00:03:39
Speaker
I do have, this is where I have to give the film the most credit out of any category. i have never seen a movie like this one. Maybe that's because it is not in my wheelhouse. There's I'm not looking for these types of movies.
00:03:56
Speaker
I'm not gravitated to these types of movies. I don't even know if these types of movies describes this. I don't know if there is a genre for this film, which is kind of why I think it gets lumped into horror because it's just weird enough.
00:04:12
Speaker
Nobody outside of the horror community cares. So but it's also not at all scary. that's why I don't understand why the horror community cares.
00:04:24
Speaker
Uh, I was, I was, I was very disappointed. Uh, there was like no scariness really to it. Just suspense till you finally see the creature in its fullness at the end, which you're waiting, waiting for, you see like a, like a reflection of it in some shades or whatever, you know, midway through the movie or like reflection in like a,
00:04:47
Speaker
the the little doll or little lamb child's eyes. Yes. um Man, I just, this was really lacking for me. Story wise, it just felt kind of flat for me.
00:05:00
Speaker
I mean, the, you don't see a lot of an entity banging an animal and birthing a hybrid. Usually that's like whatever entity and like a female human and making some abomination this time is just,
00:05:14
Speaker
ram man and his is you you know having a baby with a regular sheep don't know yeah not really great for a story for me so i don't i like we get a little bit of icelandic folklore interpretation of this interpretation yeah it's an icelandic film so it is Icelandic people making it it, it's definitely reflective of some of their folklore and they ah blending a little bit of the rural drama, personal grief.
Folklore and Themes
00:05:54
Speaker
But
00:05:59
Speaker
the the lamb child is not directly from folklore. It feels more like it's trying to tell ah new addition to folklore. So I appreciate those elements for that. That's why it's in this category uh this is probably by far our least scary movie of the the list but because it's not scary at all it's mildly curious it's somewhat suspenseful towards the end it's more of a family drama with a hybrid creature waiting waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, the my still my least favorite scene is not when the dad dies. It's when the dog dies protecting the kid. And that that's upsetting to me. um But this is where, like I said, I do have to give this a lot of credit because I've never seen anything like this.
00:06:50
Speaker
It does watch like an adult version of a fairy tale, maybe. Like if you were to trim this up and make it Grimm's fairy tales and like one day a woman discovered a lamb child in her barn.
00:07:07
Speaker
She raised that lamb child like it was her own. and free And is it years? They don't really establish that. It seems to be a lot of time passing because this lamb child grows from a baby to like a 10 year old.
00:07:18
Speaker
ah this So I don't know, maybe like a toddler to me. Yeah. know really maybe Maybe like a four year old.
Character Dynamics
00:07:25
Speaker
yeah so is it growing up at lamb speed or human speed it doesn't say it doesn't answer um but it has that kind of fairy tale roots just dragged out into its we said 90 minutes in the opening it's like two hours and 20 minutes or something like it's freaking long um 107 minute running time yeah yeah So this is where I'm going to stick by it because I do think this is wildly unique.
00:07:54
Speaker
Nothing I've ever seen. i have to give the story. i think it's a five on the story.
00:08:04
Speaker
And that is strictly from I've never seen anything like this.
00:08:11
Speaker
I am at a two. That's okay. It just didn't have much carry for me. there's just waiting and waiting and waiting, hoping something to happen and just a whole lot of, and that's just a lot of the film right there.
00:08:30
Speaker
Just that, you know, yeah and a I, would do story-wise I was more scared that the brother-in-law was going to try and essay her, you know, uh, yeah. Yeah.
00:08:45
Speaker
So that was just like, Oh, what the hell's going on there? Like, you know, brother was almost the real villain of the film. And multiple times when he tries to kill Ada.
00:08:57
Speaker
And then ah when he tries to essay his brother's wife, which that whole scene plays out like they have a history and have done that before. Yeah. It, yeah. It seems like there's definitely something there either before or maybe shortly after, you know, Maria and Ingar maybe are married possibly.
00:09:15
Speaker
So let's dive into the character that we have. yeah It's Maria Ingvar is her husband.
00:09:23
Speaker
I don't know who her brother is Peter, Peter, Peter. Yep. And then the child is Ada. And that is our cast of the film. That's it. you see a few other There's a few other like very, very short appearances, like the people that like kicked her out of the car. Yeah, Peter's friends kicking him out.
00:09:42
Speaker
And then like some people you see on the TV and like the music video that Peter was part of or something. Oh, I forgot about. Yeah, I wasn't really counting it because there's there's there's not really any other characters that speak really that we see.
00:09:56
Speaker
um
00:09:59
Speaker
i don't there is a little bit of a character arc here, and I don't think it's a bad one. I'm just not sure that it's super gripping. There's little ah hints here and there throughout the film that Ingvar and Maria have struggled to have their own child.
Themes of Motherhood and Nature
00:10:20
Speaker
And so they're just kind of stuck in this farm routine, which is like the first 30 minutes of the film is just watching their routine silently. Um, in a beautiful setting. I'm gonna give it that. I wanna visit, but they, it's that it, this is a better travel brochure for Iceland than it is for anything else.
00:10:43
Speaker
But that's because I like the isolation. I don't wanna beach, give me those mountains. um But so there's, there's a little bit of tension there. Like i actually think they lost a child because there's a scene at a cemetery.
00:10:56
Speaker
Yes, that's what I thought the same thing as you at first. And then once I saw her visiting the grave and you know him pulling out like the the crib out of the shed, i was like, ah okay, maybe they had a kid before and then you then you see her. And I was like, ah okay.
00:11:11
Speaker
Yeah. And they don't really go into detail about how they lost that kid. Exactly. ah They don't even talk about losing a kid. It's just kind of like, there's there's one scene where it's like a dream sequence like when Ingvar is asleep or when or maybe when Maria's dreaming when she's asleep and it's Ingvar running through like some low flooded grassland hollering out his trying to find her so maybe you're right got lost and flushed away in the river or something who knows and drowned in floodwaters you're right yep yep that's that's the impression I got from it no I forgot about that scene that's why they're so worried when Ada goes missing
00:11:50
Speaker
Yeah, because they're thinking it's a revisit. So there is a little bit of compelling character drama here. It's there. It's in this movie.
00:12:02
Speaker
It is just between 30 minutes of Icelandic nature footage. um I do think that's interesting. I think this kind of second chance with Ada is something that is very clearly not theirs.
00:12:18
Speaker
It takes Maria on this journey of motherhood that she goes through. We see her kind of stoic and sad at the beginning. And Ada brings life back to their relationship.
00:12:31
Speaker
It's kind of is' kind of beautiful to see. ah It's a twisted, stolen motherhood. Yeah. And so it's also a little bit weird this whole time. Like she kills Ada's mother, real mother who is upset that her baby is stolen from her.
00:12:49
Speaker
So an Ada for a reference, if you have not seen this movie is a like three quarter human, 25% lamb, lamb head, one little hoof hand.
00:13:02
Speaker
The rest of it is human. So We don't know why. We don't know where this came from. That's kind of the underlying mystery of the whole thing. What is going on? ah I thought it was going to get really dark and like the dad essayed the sheep or something. And it was going to be what it was going to be a really dark story about that.
00:13:26
Speaker
I'm glad it's not. But yeah, there is that little bit of compelling motherhood stolen motherhood as you brought up. That's a good point story here and a little bit about like nature reclaiming its own nature taking back what belongs to it.
00:13:48
Speaker
So there's that in this movie and that's about it.
00:13:55
Speaker
Yep. yeah that's okay if you don't have a whole lot more to i get i give it a three well i give because i think it's good i think that little motherhood story is good and i think that's like i don't know why bailey latched onto it but i think there's something there that some people can latch onto yeah i mean you got a point there but i just it seemed like negative arc because like in the beginning it seems like Before you really know more details, it seems like maybe there's a tension between them, maybe because they like she wants to leave him or something. you get divorced, maybe you don't know until you get more development throughout all the silence and waiting through shit.
00:14:37
Speaker
I mean, oh, my God, like they took forever to give story context and just like for the characters themselves, there was just not much going on aside from just the daily ho hum drum until now they get Ada.
00:14:51
Speaker
So it's like ah It's like with the way nature is, you want to call it, or whether the entity of the Ram man taking back what's theirs from what was stolen, you know, and also kind of a revenge for killing the mother of Ada kind of deal feels like a negative arc, you know, because they were okay. They were stable. And then this, and then everything falls apart.
00:15:13
Speaker
I argue that a negative arc is still an arc. It's still an arc. Yeah. But just, man, just a
Visual and Sound Design
00:15:20
Speaker
really sucky one. Yeah. I agree. I agree.
00:15:23
Speaker
You know, yeah it's bad enough that, you know, they lose Ada, but like Maria loses Ingvar as well with getting shot in the neck and in the body. You know, it's a depressing. end It is very depressing. And you never, and with her, that final scene of her where she's just like,
00:15:37
Speaker
and You don't know if she's like about to drop off of ah herself off a cliff. Yeah, that's right. Or she's like about to set out into the wilderness to go look for Ada. I don't know. it It's i was I was hoping for more. I would hope there'd be something for her as far as interaction instead of never seeing the Ram man.
00:15:56
Speaker
I definitely I definitely thought it looked like she was about to jump off a cliff into like the falls or something. Yeah. I thought for sure that's where this was headed.
00:16:08
Speaker
ah But yeah, I was a three on the character arc. I gave it a two. Okay. Yeah. Moving right along. Music and sound design. This, I don't have a whole lot to say. We get a lot of farm sounds. is sounds It sounds more like a nature documentary than it does a movie.
00:16:27
Speaker
There's some music, but it's a lot of like people crunching over gravel, walking through grass, water. sheep like you hear the the breeze something of in certain parts it's not a lot it's all just very low-key just a quiet life yeah it's it serves its purpose well There's no weird audio anything. So they did a good job with it. um There's really not much more to say about this other than like, it's the same audio quality as like Marsha, the penguins can't really, it's nothing else.
00:17:05
Speaker
i mean It's kind of cool that you hear like the, the huffing and breathing of the Ram man. And that's really about a couple shots fired, you know, yeah.
00:17:17
Speaker
ah music video or some randomness that peter is in yeah not memorable but definitely seems very eurovision yep there's nothing there's nothing detracting from it i give it a three three okay uh this editing and special effects so this is one that i i can put some praise on this film ada looks pretty good throughout the movie i But there's a lot of like close-ups when the head needs to be moving so that it's clearly a goat.
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah, they can wear the shirt or coat around the neckline in some places. It was a a little bit off if you know what to look for. Yeah. people probably wouldn't notice it Yeah. So they did a good job disguising it. When you see full body shots of Ada standing there with a human body and a little lamb head, it looks pretty good. It's not the best thing I've ever seen, but they did a nice job with it.
00:18:13
Speaker
The Ram man at the end who appears at the end is pretty intimidating looking. They made him up appear just from the way he shot to be 10 feet tall, nine feet tall. He's giant. I was going to guess like seven.
00:18:29
Speaker
Yeah, that's i was excited. Definitely. He is huge. He is hairy. And at no point am I looking at the hair on his body being like, oh, that's a gross little hairy bodysuit. No, it looks it looks really good.
00:18:44
Speaker
It's like they saved the best for the Ram man. Because there are times that Ada looks a little bit spliced together. And we don't, I like the editing in that we don't see Ada for a very long time.
00:18:58
Speaker
We see, we see the lamb head. We see just the head. We don't realize what's weird, why they are coddling this little lamb until much later.
00:19:11
Speaker
so i think it's edited nicely again it's mostly edited like a nature documentary and then some nice editing around the body of ada around those scenes there's one particular scene that i do love just the way it's constructed when he puts ada on the couch to sleep and And she comes home when Ada's missing and the camera just sits still in the hallway and it shows them run back and forth from rooms on it.
00:19:41
Speaker
I appreciate the way that scene's constructed. it adds a little bit of suspense. So I, this is, I think the special effects are a highlight because there's so little of them. They're done well.
00:19:56
Speaker
i and it's edited, edited competently. There's no problem in the editing. I give it, unless I'm going to talk about pacing, but um I'll talk about that later. I give it a four on the editing.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with what you said. I'm i'm a four as well on that. I mean, there's there's not much else really. you know Editing was cool. there's That was just fine. you know the ah The dead sheep after she shoots it, you know just seeing the blood, whatever. It's just standard, regular, whatever.
00:20:27
Speaker
Nothing really. I've seen the dog. That's the worst part. I hate that. I'm a doc.
Acting and Direction
00:20:33
Speaker
I hate that. So yeah, there we go on that part.
00:20:37
Speaker
All right. So the script, this is I kind of already talked about this with the character because the script is where we get those story elements.
00:20:50
Speaker
I don't know. i haven't seen the physical script. to This is one that I will actually would be kind of interested in seeing is the physical script written out like shot of mountains, shot of stream, shot of sheep.
00:21:03
Speaker
Like, is that how the script is written or is it the key story, the key story with the family and their drama? I actually think the script is pretty good at making this kind of sad, depressing family that is given a brief moment of joy through ada I feel that a little bit. It does convey that for me. and But also, like we said in the intro, there's 15 lines of dialogue. That's an exaggeration. It's not much. Yeah. The script itself written out for dialogue is maybe 15 pages.
00:21:45
Speaker
There is not a lot of dialogue here.
00:21:53
Speaker
Uh, yeah, like said, that was another part that was kind of disappointing because you don't get any, aside from like the little that we hear conversationally between them, like there's no other explanation about any kind of folklore really, you know, no kind of sense of being terrorized by this creature, you know, that's a legend in the area or anything. It's just like, they're completely unknowing.
00:22:17
Speaker
none of them have any idea except for Ingvar at the end before he dies, that this is there's there's a creature there. you know And don't know, I wish there had been more explanation, something kind of tipped off or queued up you know that would have had something in the script to to kind of give us a little more.
00:22:36
Speaker
no that's entirely accurate it would definitely add to the suspense or the tension to have even if the brother showed up and it was like oh the legend of the ram man or whatever to heighten something but where' where's the questions that he that he should have posed like did Ingar did you bang a sheep or Maria did you bang a ram like how did this happen what is going on where where's the where's more conversation that they declined to have in order to not mess with happiness like bullshit man I would love to have had Peter dug in a little more about the situation and how it came about you know that way gave us little something more to hold on to yeah there's the
00:23:20
Speaker
You brought up a good point that I thought about while I was watching it and then I forget is their reactions to seeing this thing. All of them are just like, oh.
00:23:32
Speaker
Nobody is like, what the hell is that? Like nobody freaks out. I would if I saw a human walking around with a sheep head, I'd probably freak out a little bit. So yeah, you are you're accurate there.
00:23:47
Speaker
But i don't know how religious they are up in Iceland. So I mean, they're they're reacting to things could be on a whole other level. and I actually they seem a lot more chill.
00:23:59
Speaker
ah Well, I do think Iceland is not
00:24:05
Speaker
like I don't think they're super religious.
00:24:10
Speaker
So I don't, they wouldn't think abomination. Oh my God, this is against God. And you know, this an affront to whatever, so you know, spawn of Satan. They're just like, Oh, look at this mutation.
00:24:21
Speaker
How did this happen? Kind of weird. I don't know that for a fact, but seems seems right to me. speculat I actually, i gave the script some credit here for that family drama stuff. I believe the characters are written in a realistic way, like they're real people.
00:24:38
Speaker
So i give the script a three. I'm going to shit all over it and give it a two. Okay. So the acting then, I think the acting in this movie, movie Numi Rapace, I don't even know if I'm saying her name right.
00:24:55
Speaker
ah What was fun about this was we watched this movie like the day after we watched Prometheus. Cause my wife has never seen that movie, but she likes sci-fi. And I was like, well, you like horror and you like sci-fi let's watch Prometheus because it's a great movie.
00:25:15
Speaker
Um, even though I know alien fans hated on it, but as a standalone film, it's really fun. I liked that movie, but she's good. She's been in, she was in the original,
00:25:28
Speaker
i
00:25:31
Speaker
i don't know what the name of that series is the steve larson book girl who kick the horn and dragon tattoo girl with the dragon tattoo goa played with fire she was in the i don't know if its swedish versions of those she was in the european versions of those she was in alien covenant She was in Prometheus lead role in Prometheus. She was in Sherlock Holmes, a game of shadows, which I enjoyed that movie too.
00:25:56
Speaker
um Yeah. She was in both Sherlock Holmes. Actually, she's done a lot of things. She was really big in 2010 era of movies. She did a lot.
00:26:08
Speaker
I think she's really good in this film. I can't lie. i she's given very little to work with, but she is believable. In her roles. And part of me also wonders if I'm mixing.
00:26:20
Speaker
Her role in Prometheus with this. Because they're very similar. Roles. Where both of them. are struggling with kids in some way in Prometheus. She straight up says I'm unable to have kids. I can't create life.
00:26:36
Speaker
And then this one, she's also dealing with something similar. We don't know why they never had another kid. It's not. So I actually got scenes from the movies mixed up thinking that in ah her line from Prometheus about being unable to create life was in this film and it's not so.
00:26:56
Speaker
So yeah so I see some similarities there, but it's just good. Like, I just think the acting is good. She is quality. ah The guy is believable. The brother's believable, but nobody is.
00:27:17
Speaker
I'm still just amazed that this was Academy Award nominated for, but I guess not many movies come out of Iceland, so.
00:27:27
Speaker
beats me. I don't really pay attention enough to it. But yeah, like I said, I remember her from from the Sherlock Holmes film. I have never seen Ingvar, the guy, Hilmir, that played him. I've never really seen him in anything. But Peter, the brother um a Bjorn Harrelson, I have seen him. He was in The Witcher, and he was also in that Will Ferrell movie, a Eurovision Song Contest, the story of Fire Saga.
Ratings and Cultural Impact
00:27:54
Speaker
oh Those are both pretty cool.
00:27:55
Speaker
think i think ah I think Bjorn was kind of, he was like one of the, he was the queen's husband or consort or whatever. you know, like, so I guess it was like Siri's uncle or something that was trying to hit on her mom. i don't know.
00:28:10
Speaker
But hu yeah, yeah, he was, there he was in a few episodes for that series. Well, more than few, but, um but other than that, that's, that's all I really know them from. That's it.
00:28:24
Speaker
Yeah. But the acting was okay. It was just there. you know, just, you know, your standard weird family tension, you know, I was just, I gave it a two.
00:28:38
Speaker
Okay. I gave it a three. I thought it was good. the direction on this film, this movie is so weird. I don't know
00:28:49
Speaker
because it's, it's a better nature documentary than it is a movie. That's just, that's just where I'm at. Like, It's hard to narrow down the direction.
00:29:00
Speaker
ah Part of my direction comments is the pacing. This movie is slow. This movie is boring. I'm just going to. Oh, yeah. Boring. I was going to save it for my final thoughts, but it is boring.
00:29:13
Speaker
And part of that is like we have seconds to minutes of. just nature footage. And I don't necessarily mind that it's beautiful footage. I enjoy looking at it.
00:29:26
Speaker
ah Let's pick up the movie. Let's move along a little bit. And i've've I've seen i was reading in my research. shit Some people love this movie. And like my wife does, too.
00:29:37
Speaker
I just think it's it's background noise. You put this thing on in the background and maybe I usually put on something with a little bit more flair in the background, but i thought the direction, the movie looks really good.
00:29:53
Speaker
The story is coherent. Even if we're left questioning a lot of the details about how things happened, we get the beginning, the middle and the end. We follow that through. There's no major plot holes left open.
00:30:08
Speaker
There's questions that are, I guess, meant to be discussed later. we can all talk about, you know, did the brother and Maria have some past of cheating together?
00:30:22
Speaker
ah What is this Ram man? Where is he from? what Yeah, exactly. So there's all these little details that I don't think we're meant to know the answers to, but the movie looks really good. A lot of the shots look really nice, but they look like a documentary.
00:30:39
Speaker
It's yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't really know what else to say about that. Yeah. There's, it's a lot of long distance establishing shots, a lot of mid range shots.
00:30:50
Speaker
you know You don't spend too much time really being like up close in anyone's face, really. um And a lot of the shots you know are kind of from a low ground point in certain areas, especially with like the bar and stuff.
00:31:02
Speaker
yeah it's Yeah. That kind of gives it that documentary feel because it feels like they're trying to shoot down low and indiscreetly. Like you're a sheep. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it was okay. I mean, I love the scenery. and Like you said earlier, that I'd love to go check that place out too.
00:31:18
Speaker
other than that, just...
00:31:22
Speaker
I'd give it i give it a two on direction. Yeah. i I was a three because I thought it looked good.
00:31:33
Speaker
um But I am curious. It was his first film. It kind of feels like one of those movies where it was based. And I didn't see this in my research and I could be incredibly wrong.
00:31:45
Speaker
i It looks like one of those movies that is based on a short film where the short film is much better. Uh, I am surprised
00:32:01
Speaker
he's worked on. And the reason why it looks good is that, so his, I guess lamb was his first full length film.
00:32:15
Speaker
He co-directed another movie after that called Circus Maximus, which I haven't even heard of. um
00:32:26
Speaker
But, and it would make sense, he worked on special effects for, and we're talking about Vladimir Johansson, Johansson, the director.
00:32:38
Speaker
He worked on special effects for, surprise, surprise, Prometheus.
00:32:44
Speaker
Transformers Age of Extinction Rogue One Star Wars movie. So he's worked in some pretty high end special effects films, which is why I think the effects in his film work as well as they do.
00:32:59
Speaker
ah his establishing shots are nice, but it's really just, man, it's a boring movie. ah Yeah. I was a three on the direction. I wouldn't mind seeing him direct something else, direct something else.
00:33:13
Speaker
And then we'll know a little bit better. So fun one, in factor cultural significance.
00:33:24
Speaker
I can't say that it really has much of any aside from maybe trying to like, bring more exposure to Icelandic filmmaking. Because travel brochures.
00:33:38
Speaker
Yeah. Farming. It doesn't feel impactful in much of any way for me, really. Like I said, this movie was kind of letdown for me. So I don't know. Maybe this is going to like hope maybe inspire other people to think outside the box with like,
00:33:55
Speaker
weird birthing entities for stuff, I guess. short Watch possession. Uh, yeah, I I'm right there with you outside of this movie being nominated for an Academy award for international film.
00:34:14
Speaker
nobody talks about this movie i've seen zero people talk about this movie i've seen zero people recommend this movie i when it came
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
00:34:22
Speaker
out the only reason i knew about it was my wife um she loves it she still loves it and that's that's great like i said i think there is an audience for this film i don't think it's a wide audience and i think that shows here in the cultural significance i don't even know let me see if i can pull up sheeple so the sheeple who love the film.
00:34:46
Speaker
Um, the box office gross worldwide was 3 million opening weekend in us and Canada was a million.
00:34:58
Speaker
like 3 million is tiny, but again, I don't, I don't know exactly know what the budget was. So this is a film like the budget could have been 500,000. Honestly, there's,
00:35:10
Speaker
honestly there's There's not much to it. So, but this is the first film where Numi Rapace speaks Icelandic, which is interesting because she is from the area and she's done, i don't know how many languages she knows at this point, but probably a bunch.
00:35:36
Speaker
Uh, it is the highest grossing motion picture in the history of Icelandic cinema as of 2021. So it did, it did earn over a million dollars in the first weekend a alone.
00:35:49
Speaker
ah means it's the most attended Icelandic film shown in us theaters. I can tell you what another Icelandic film in us theaters was so.
00:36:05
Speaker
Oh, this is interesting. ah In traditional Greek mythology, when King Minos of Crete failed to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon, the god caused his wife to lust after the animal.
00:36:18
Speaker
By it, she conceived the Minotaur, a monster with a bull's head and a man's body, which she was which was confined in a labyrinth. There devoured human beings and until it was killed by Theseus.
00:36:30
Speaker
Some critics have compared this film to a reversal of the ancient Greek Minotaur myth, further linking mythology of lamb to Hellenic origins.
00:36:42
Speaker
So like I said, it's just steeped in mythology, but it's not interesting. So I i was a one on cultural significance.
00:36:54
Speaker
So was I. I was also a one. We are in agreement on this one. How entertained were you? This is a quick episode. We are flying by. We're going to be in under under an hour for sure on this one.
00:37:10
Speaker
The shortest 13 Nights of Halloween episode in recorded history. Breaking records over here. Yeah.
00:37:21
Speaker
We'll see if it's the least listened to. so if if i go all right i can i can kick us off on the enjoyment or how entertained was i uh three it's pretty to look at it's boring is boring boring damn and what is worse is is pretty to look at and I remember my first watch the ending being more shocking like oh crap and I remember the first watch in theaters I saw this in theaters the first time when the Ram man shows up blasts away dad steals Ada in my head I remember it being cut to black like he just shows up shoots him takes Ada done
00:38:14
Speaker
That's not how this movie plays out. it's It's a little bit longer in that scene and it spends some time in that. And I actually think that's detrimental. It takes away some of the shock value of the ending.
00:38:27
Speaker
I feel gypped in the end. i feel like it's a joke. Uh, it doesn't leave me shocking. It doesn't leave me reeling.
00:38:39
Speaker
i I, I go, oh, okay. It makes sense. But there wasn't enough buildup to that moment of tension. The really only sense of buildup is when the dog and Ada see him and the dog goes to protect Ada, which the dog in this movie, they refer to as dog,
00:39:03
Speaker
I don't even think it has a name. They just call it dog. And then the dog goes to protect Ada. And we just hear it killed off screen. And that's the only really moment of like this thing threatening their property, threatening their livelihood. They don't even know about it.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah. And they don't even know about it. so i just think this movie is snooze fest for me personally that looks really nice it's competently made it is well made across the board i think it's well acted i see why some people can be attracted to this movie i i see that But this is not my cup of tea at all.
00:39:52
Speaker
It's right there. This is probably my, and i i so I've said this on multiple episodes, folk horror is not my thing. And so we've we've got this movie. We've got some others that it's just not my vibe and I don't enjoy it as much as other stuff.
00:40:12
Speaker
So I'm a three on the how entertained was I? Mildly entertained. I am as entertained by this movie as I am when my wife puts on like some Disney nature documentary, which she does frequently.
00:40:27
Speaker
well Yeah. I did. I just, I was just bored through most of it. Just did not give a shit so much. So I, yeah, like you said, you know, the other thing you said about looking nice, I'm at five.
00:40:44
Speaker
That's, i i don't care to even talk about this movie ever again other to say that i just i didn't like it that's about it yeah that's the thing like i don't want to see it again i'm not gonna i'm on that side of the fence yeah i i think three is low enough that i'm saying i appreciate how it's made i'm not gonna pull this out at any situation ever to be like you should see this movie
00:41:13
Speaker
Oh, are you really sleepy after a long day of work? Let's watch Lamb. hu You count your sheep. So, right, total scores then.
00:41:27
Speaker
I'm 23. Count your sheep. i Why did I just get that? ah I always think of, i don't know how familiar you are with it, but I was raised on them.
00:41:39
Speaker
ah The Herbie movies. Did you see the Herbie movies? Yeah. Yeah. Is it Herbie 3? Herbie... Alright. Lindsay Lohan?
00:41:50
Speaker
No. um I don't know how many Herbie movies there were. i know there was at least two original and then one with her. But anyways, Herbie movies. Let me see.
00:42:04
Speaker
There's The Love Bug. Herbie rides again. Herbie goes to Monte Carlo. Herbie goes bananas. ah And then Herbie fully loaded in 2025. I've seen the first three and then the last one with Lindsay Lohan.
00:42:18
Speaker
I was raised on those movies. I actually loved those movies. Okay, so it is not that one. That's good old school film series, kind like the Pink Panther.
00:42:32
Speaker
That was my thing. Yeah.
00:42:35
Speaker
Why can't I find which one it is? um I'm surprised by that. Anyways, but Counting Sheep, there's this scene in a Herbie movie.
00:42:47
Speaker
It's the specific one where Herbie's not really racing, and this corporate magnet is ready to tear down this old fire station where Herbie is.
00:42:59
Speaker
ah but there's a scene where the guy falls asleep and he counts Herbie's jumping over it. And that's, that's, I don't know why counting sheep. Every time I think of that, I think of that scene from that movie. And I don't even know which Herbie it is.
00:43:13
Speaker
I think it's Herbie three, because I think that's the worst of them. Uh, but Herbie goes to Monte Carlo is about racing. so
00:43:30
Speaker
I have
00:43:33
Speaker
i have no idea without diving into big research. It's Herbie Rides again, number two. Yep. um Anyways, my brief, my ah tangent on counting sheep. So your final score, sorry, you said that.
00:43:46
Speaker
23, yeah. 23. My final score 28. twenty three my final score is twenty eight Combined, we're 25. And I think that two and a half stars out of five, I think that is a fair representation of acknowledging the quality of the production while also admitting the fact that it is a boring film.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:14
Speaker
You have any final thoughts on this one?
00:44:21
Speaker
about it just and oh that's dark that's dark there's gotta be the mom yeah no i don't really two and a half stars means that this film
00:44:40
Speaker
sits somewhere mean like home hanging fruit Yeah, exactly. So according to our sheet on Instagram, two and a half stars putting this movie at a 25 out of 50 it's
00:44:59
Speaker
And what that means is not that it's a bad film, but that this movie is bad for social settings. This movie is bad for parties. Don't pick this one on your Halloween lineup for movies.
00:45:12
Speaker
That's that is what our average is supposed to represent. This is a moment to highlight that because this film is a quality film. that some people can latch onto but is predominantly ah snooze fest this is not a good one for social settings i am not artsy enough for this film this is not my mutton no yep that that's all i have that's all i have for us tonight jonathan that's it for me man i've said my piece on this one This might be the shortest recorded episode of the average ever. And that's all right.
00:45:52
Speaker
i the The three of you who probably tuned in to listen to this because you love the movie, Liam. um Yeah. Sorry.
00:46:03
Speaker
if you want, head over to Amazon. Got a couple books available right now. They're definitely not this vibe whatsoever. But you can check that out. One does take place on a farm and it has, it does move a little bit faster than this movie. Not much faster. So much more. much Jeebus.
00:46:26
Speaker
but yeah This was a snail pace film. this This is a snail pace to a sudden ending. And that's all we've got tomorrow. We talk about the original Wicker Man with the legend himself.
00:46:43
Speaker
Christopher Lee. Woo! All right. We will see you tomorrow. Peace.