- Directed by: Hanna Bergholm
- Written by: Hanna Bergholm, Ilja Rautsi
- Stars: Seidi Haarla, Rupert Grint, Pamela Tola
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCYdpK5b5-4
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A young couple moves to her childhood home in the Finnish woods, has a kid, and lives happily ever after. Well, actually no. The kid ain’t quite right and things get progressively worse as the story progresses. It’s kind of slow moving and talky in places, but the dread and horror builds nicely. We were both entertained, Brian more than Kevin.
Spoilery Synopsis
Jon and Saga drive their car through the woods toward their new, isolated home. It’s her childhood home. It looks an awful lot like a haunted house. Credits roll.
They go inside, and it’s really torn up. There’s a tree growing in the bedroom floor. For some reason, they seem happy to be in this mess.
Out in the woods, the trees look like people, with faces and bony hands. Jon gets creeped out, but Saga rubs the belly of the pregnant-looking tree. “Grandma forbid me to come” to the forest, she explains. Then they have sex under the tree.
We cut to Saga giving birth, and it’s a bloody mess. “What is this?” asks the nurse, and then they sedate Saga. When she wakes up, Jon explains that the baby is fine. The nurse says she’s never seen such a hairy baby before; it’s all down his back.
The trio goes home, and we see that Jon’s been busy renovating. Breastfeeding hurts, as the baby draws blood, and she can’t do eye contact with the baby. The baby’s got a tiny little tail spout growing on his backside. We soon see that Saga is a little afraid of the baby, who hurts her every chance he gets.
They have a party for Saga’s family to come over and meet the baby. Saga explains that she plans to have two more babies before going back to work. Mother explains that Saga was always a weird kid, and then the baby pulls her earring, and a big chunk of her ear, off. “Why did it look so weird?” asks one little girl visitor. “Babies are usually cute.”
The wind blows from the forest, and it tells Saga to name the baby, “Kuura.” The sunlight burns the baby, so Saga takes him inside. The parents argue over her not being able to do anything right. She starts calling the baby, “It.”
Saga’s sister comes over and explains how “cold iron burns them” about something in the woods that scared their grandmother.
Jon comes to the conclusion that there’s something wrong with Saga. She soon finds out that the baby is quite eager to lick up blood after an accident. They go to counseling, and Saga says the problem is the baby.
Jon’s parents come for a visit, and his father is a priest. “If you don’t bless a child, a troll will take them,” someone jokes. The blessing is completely uneventful, which shocks Saga, who expected something bad to happen. The baby touches some iron and burns his hand. “It’s just cold. Cold iron.” After that, Saga realizes she’s given birth to a troll. She gives it a baby bottle filled with blood, and the baby loves it. She hides the bottle and remaining blood from Jon.
Later they have a rough evening of discussion and arguing, and Jon leaves for work in the morning without saying goodbye. Saga and the baby then roar at each other as the trees encroach right up to the house. Then things get a little rough.
Saga wakes up outside in the snow-covered woods. She hears the baby squealing out there somewhere, and the trees themselves try to slow her down. She tracks down little Kuura, who is eating a dead deer.
Jon comes home, and he knows about the blood the baby drinks. They argue some more.
Jon wants to watch the baby while she goes into town once in a while– which she does. Her fingernails look like they’re turning into wood, and her stomach has rings like a tree. She meets up with some old work friends, “None of us really knows you,” one says. All through lunch, she hears babies crying. The vegetarian menu does not agree with her anymore.
Back at home, Jon takes care of the baby, and it all seems normal. Saga comes home from town, on foot, through the snow. She’s physically changing, which reverts back as soon as she gets near the baby.
Saga’s sister comes over for a visit, and things get nasty. Anna, her niece, seems normal; “I got that monster,” Saga whines. The sister says there’s nothing wrong with Kuura, it’s all her. Then the baby bites off Anna’s finger.
Eventually, she embraces the monstrosity of the whole situation , and she starts getting along with the baby. Jon finds the mother and child sleeping in a hole under the floor where the tree grows. He just rolls with it. Jon wants to set “human limits” on child raising. “This child can’t be raised,” she says.
Jon’s had enough and says he’s taking Kuura away from Saga. They physically fight over the baby. Kuura gets upset, and the forest goes wild, invading the house. Jon gets impaled on a tree and dies. Then the baby starts eating on him. Saga then pulls out his heart and shares it with Kuura.
Saga goes outside and watches Kuura run toward the forest and the tree people inside.
Brian’s Commentary
If the sound of crying babies bother you, stay as far from this one as possible.
If this movie teaches us anything, it’s that babies will suck the life right out of you. If you’ve ever even considered having children, watch this film first. It’s all very mother-metaphorical, but it’s also a good horror movie.
It’s slow-moving and predictable, but it’s very well made and kept me entertained.
Kevin’s Commentary
So much crying baby in this one.
It didn’t have a long run time, but it felt long to me. Slow, quiet, and talky for a lot of it, but the undertone of dread is there almost from the beginning and the horror does build. I’d say I liked it more than disliked it.
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