Nigel P On beginning her new job, shy Marie (Sonia Suhl) is greeted with ominous words, 'Since you're new, you'll have to get rid of the fish waste.' Marie is shy, occasionally sullen, and seems to be suffering from an un-diagnosable disease which leaves marks over her body. Getting rid of the fish waste is only the start of her challenges, in this film set in a Denmark fishing village … At first, the abuse she receives at work seems like vicious, testosterone-fuelled cruelty disguised as high jinks, and it isn't until later we discover there is reason for the resentment the locals have against her family. Marie's mother (Sonja Richter) is catatonic, and late one night, Marie spies her father Thor (Lars Mikkelsen) shaving her shoulders and back. This is doubly cause for concern for Marie, as blemishes she is beginning to exhibit also feature the sprouting of down-like hair.Thor's history is revealed slowly. His wife is heavily medicated because her disease has a history of turning her into a killer. When it appears Marie is similarly afflicted, the local doctor, under Thor's instruction, takes steps to anaesthetise her, when her mother springs into life and kills him. Shortly after, he is secretly buried in the garden, and she drowns herself in the bath.Online reviews compare this to 'Let the Right One In (2008)', in that it can be seen as a kind of coming-of-age drama as well as a horror film. There are similarities.When her work-mates continue to torment her, their wariness of her family giving them an excuse to act in their vindictive manner, it is hugely satisfying when Marie's lycanthropic rage leads her to kill main protagonist Esben (Gustav Giese) – in fact, it's a pity his suffering isn't greater! Eventually, Marie is taken aboard a trawler where the locals intend to kill her, most likely dump her in the waters. Her subsequent slaughter of the entire crew puts me in mind of Dracula's exploits aboard the Demeter – it is last seen as a ghost shop, drifting aimlessly. On board, only Marie remains, sleeping and child-like again, alongside Daniel (Jakob Oftebro), the only person to show her consistent kindness.The sedate pacing may not appeal to everyone, but this unspectacular direction allows the story to tell itself, and for the characters to breathe, and is the way a truly atmospheric horror story should be told. Highly recommended.

view_and_review "When Animals Dream" is a pseudo Werewolf movie. The main character, Marie (Sonia Suhl) goes through some slow yet perturbing bodily changes and she doesn't know why. Her father wants to medicate her to prevent the inevitable but she'll have nothing of it.This film starts of slow in a good way. It takes time to set the mood and introduce the setting and the characters. The problem is that it continued to be slow even after we were aware of the direction of the movie.Although billed as a horror it was far more drama. They tried to make it too poetic; establishing mood with very little dialog and plenty of music, non-verbal communication and imagery. It maintained a somber mood much of the movie with only small glimpses of action.What was clear was that Marie was the victim in this and the townsfolk were the ill-intentioned oppressors. That's how they painted it but that's not how I viewed it.Marie is a small, docile, nubile young woman that still lives at home. She just wants to lead a normal life. Whatever happened to her, whatever she did as a result can hardly be blamed on her. Except that the world doesn't operate like that. People like safety and security even if from those without a heart to do wrong. Even though Marie was painted as and represented the underdog, she was nothing but.

kosmasp It's not as exploitative as some may think (especially considering the English title), but more Art-house. So while this is a different beast (no pun intended) than "Let the right one in" (your dreams?), this still has a similar feeling to it. Not to mention a female character in the center of it. A really good movie (coming of age and other things that is) if you like your drama spiced.Acting wise this is great and it may need some time to get rolling, but when it does there seems to be no stopping. Many people can also identify with the main actress/character, the way she feels and is being treated. There is more than a connection (though it does stop there of course ... hopefully) and that is being exploited, if anything.

sarastro7 As a Dane I hate to say it, but most Danish movies are pretty bad. And what's perhaps even worse: a lot of Danish (and now also international) movie critics still give these movies positive reviews. This is certainly the case with this movie, which, while perhaps not especially bad, is certainly not especially good, either. But hey, Danish movies and TV shows are in vogue these days. With enough support and praise, these products of Denmark might well begin to get better in due course."When Animals Dream" is about a provincial fishing village, where a 19-year-old girl is beginning to find out about her mother's strange disease, which necessitates keeping the mother sedated in a wheelchair like a vegetable. The girl, Marie, has inherited the disease, and starts very (very) slowly turning into a werewolf. And SHE won't be sedated.Sonia Suhl, a new young actress, is good as Marie, and a very good fit to play the daughter of Sonja Richter, who plays the mother. Lars Mikkelsen as the father is also fine. But the movie as a whole is slow-moving and laconic, giving too few clues about when and why things happen, and while well-produced in some ways, it is too obviously low-budget in others. The rest of the cast are not well-developed.Now, the great stable of Danish film-making, which almost always ensures a project being financially supported by the Danish Film Institute, is social realism. This movie is stuffed with it, as well, and hasn't got that much werewolf action in it, which is a pity. If you're a genre fan, it's a little bit yawnsville. Or a lot.There are two ways to interpret the movie. One is that Marie's turning into a werewolf represents a coming-of-age journey and sexual awakening. That's how mainstream critics understand this movie.However, if you look at the movie in terms of the fantastic genre (which I believe is much more proper in this case), the artistic twist is that the werewolf represents true and beautiful human nature, which is being destroyed and actively suppressed in provincial dumps populated by repressed, conservative bigots. All things considered, though (such as how powerful the movie is, or rather, isn't), this is not a particularly original or progressive message, but simply a moderate one.Sadly, even though I see a dimension to the movie that most of the gushing professional critics (that I've read so far) apparently do not, this is in my view still not a movie that goes much beyond tedious mediocrity. The story is too small, has too little to say and doesn't add anything substantially new to the genre. It has all the typical hallmarks of Danish movies, perhaps best exemplified by the sparse, ill-at-ease and artificial dialogue which sounds completely unnatural. Foreign audiences should be thankful that this is not apparent to them. Denmark is a small country, and we are so deeply suffused with Anglo-American culture that our own language is becoming unbearably stilted, especially in scripted drama.Having said this, one must applaud the effort to make a werewolf movie in the first place, and while failing to arouse much excitement in this viewer, it's not a complete failure. Perhaps this director's next movie will be more interesting.I rate "When Animals Dream" 6 stars out of 10, although parts of me incline more towards 5.