Perfect cast and a good story

Just perfect...

A Disappointing Continuation

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Antti-Jussi Anilla Is An Interesting Director To Watch In My Opinion, The One Other Film Of His That I Saw The Whole Way Through Was Jade Warrior, Both Movies Qualify As Interesting.This Is Anilla Trying To Make An Atmospheric Horror In The Vein Of Some Of The Masters Of Suspense (eg. Alfred Hitchcock, John Carpenter) I Liked The Character Development For The Characters But If Anything I Would've Wanted It To Be A Few Minutes Longer To Set Them Up, Besides That Everything Was Pulled Off Very Well.Tommi Eronen Is The Highlight Performance But Ville Virtanen Also Pulls Off His Role Very Well.The Plot Is A Sort Of Thing Where The Less You Know About It The Better It Will Be Its One Of Those Sorts Of Movies, I'm Not Saying That Its Got A Huge Twist I'm Just Saying That Your More Likely To Enjoy It If You Don't Know That Much About It.Overall I Recommend This Film Highly.

I've been watching horror since childhood, and it has become a tiring, arduous task trying to find a flick that satisfies my elitist craving. I can't begin to tell you how happy (and genuinely frightened) I was to watch this.Everything about this movie is original. Set in 16th century Europe, the story's foundations are firmly planted in realism. The horror comes from masterful application of suspense, fear and dread that is gradually introduced in each scene. By the time you reach the climax you're paralytic; gripped by fear – eager to watch to the end but terrified by what may happen next.Having said that, this movie isn't for everyone. If you're after a bunch of over-sexed, blonde and artificially enhanced teenagers being hunted down by a knife yielding psycho – you're gonna hate this. If you're after fast-paced action, you'll be yawning throughout the film. If you're after a complex horror film marked by developed characterisation, a unique premise and set in an unfamiliar time in history, you will be pleased.This is a rare, horror film that focuses on atmosphere and restrained script-writing, resulting in a mature, sophisticated experience for the discerning viewer. Grab a glass of red and enjoy!

It is a stylish gloomy film. But it is very boring film. Action occurs very slowly. Events are not present. Besides, the film contains too many anachronisms and historical errors.The uniform of soldiers, their ranks, a manner to speak and many other things does not correspond to time in which there is a film action.The sense of events also is not clear. Nevertheless, once it is possible to look. From the pleasant moments it is necessary to note good work of actors. Gloom of a film is well allocated thanks to excellent work of the camera man. This film can very much it will be pleasant to fans of gloomy mystical thrillers. My rating 4/10

If someone told me "hey, watch this movie about a haunted sauna, its a really scary horror movie!".. I guess I'd stay as far away from the movie as possible. Luckily I saw some pictures of this Finnish movie and they looked really great.Everyone looking for a horror movie should stay away from this. Its pretty laughable that so many people focus on the sauna and some ghosts in this movie as typical horror clichés while the director works so obviously on making every single piece and image in this movie a symbol for guilt."Sauna" or "Filth" (which is the far more fitting title referring to a statement by one of the Russian soldiers in this movie) is placed after the Russian/Swedish war around 1600 when a group of Russian and Swedish soldiers are setting for the new borders. The opening of the movie with the drawing of borders in blood and then the first shots of water turning red already indicate where this movie is going. Everything is carried by some great cinematography and the lead characters, 2 brothers of a very different kind. One is Knut, a mapmaker with high goals, the other is Erik, a soldier with a grim past who has his problems adjusting to the new peace.Erik constantly looking for trouble soon gets the group of soldiers into problems when messing with a family. The town the group soon finds in the middle of a swamp becomes a clear symbol of Erics previous atrocities with as many inhabitants as victims on Erics list, a strange girl reminding them of recent wrongdoings (also involving a sauna) and animals and people who clawed out their eyes. The whole issue of not being able to face your past is present throughout the movie that is more like a fable. There is plenty of interesting historical information as well as philosophical dialog including the story about the king and filth or the thoughts if hell is just a place that god turned his back on. The place is soon presented and the irony is that yet everyone is fighting for the land soon there is a place that no one wants to take but rather wants to give to his enemy."Sauna" is full of these abstract images and the finale is far from a clear resolution. After all the director clearly tries to make the viewer have his own thoughts. Actually I am still working on figuring the closing images out but however this is a damn interesting and different movie with great cinematography, acting and an interesting setting. There sure are some horror elements in this movie, but I'd rather consider this a mix of art-house movie and drama and its definitely worth giving a chance.