The film starts with shots of the lake featured in the film and the lily pads on it as novelist Bernhard Borge's (Henki Kolstad) wife, Sonja (Bjørg Engh) quotes something from his book. This is not the last of some interestingly written and poetic lines and dialogue in this movie. The film wastes no time as we see the six people on the train going to a cabin owned by Bjørn Werner (Per Lillo-Stenberg). He is the brother of Liljan (Henny Moan) on the train. Others include: psychologist Kai Bugge (Erling Linhdahl), magazine editor Gabriel Mørk (Andre Bjerke), and lawyer Harald Gran (Georg Richter). They are all traveling to a cabin in the Osterdal woods.
Upon arriving they meet the constable, Braten (Øyvind Øyen). He has not heard from Bjørn in three days. Liljan had a premonition about this as she can tell when Bjørg is in trouble as they are twins. She tells a story, and we see the flashback of her having the same feeling when Bjørn is hit by a car. Braten tells the story of how 100 years ago the cabin was built. Tore Gruvik (Leif Sommerstad) was a cruel man who tolerated only his sister. The sister eloped with a charming fieldhand. Hello Candyman! He ended up killing both of them and putting their bodies in the lake and committing suicide three days later. He haunts the lake and apparently possesses anyone who comes to the cabin.
Soon after this they keep finding footprints suggesting someone is around. They find Bjørn's diary that says that the legend says that every night before August 23 you can hear Gruvik's screams as the lumberjacks did before he died. Hello Victor Crowley! His diary recounts his time alone at the cabin as he starts to go crazy. He starts visiting the lake every day and we see the progression as the film shows him with a beard in a fast forward shot. Eventually the ghost of Gruvik follows him. The flashback ends on some great suspense as he gets back home and the doorknob starts turning before we go back to Bugge and Bernhard reading the diary. Meanwhile Liljan sees the lily pads in the water with a log and has a feeling of deja vu. They find Bjørn's gun and hat near the water, further making his disappearance more ominous. Braten and Bugge debate as to whether to consider it suicide, murder, or possession.
I enjoy a lot of things about this movie early on. There is a great use of shadow in certain scenes in and around the cabin. This movie makes you think about the infinite possibilities of bodies of water and how looking at them seems to bring a hypnotic quality. Ever just stare into the water of a lake just because it looks different? There is something about that this movie tries to explore. I like the blurry camera moments during the flashback and as a I all ready said the suspense is great ending on the doorknob opening while the two men read the rest of the diary entry. There is a great transition there to bring us out of that flashback Bernhard gets so into the story that he hits his head on the light above. The mystery aspects are intriguing as well and I like how it becomes a conflict between authority and health practitioner. The music is also great and from the opening you hear different horn, and woodwind instruments that add to the mysterious nature of the setting.
Spoiler Section
Earlier in the film Bernard had read a note of Bugge's about a patient who was having nightmares about the lake and a creature dragging someone underneath. The rest of the diary after the transition said that Bjørn felt like he had to jump in the lake so that would mean suicide. However, upon analysis by Braten the handwriting is different so he thinks it was forged. Liljan almost walks into the lake one night before being stopped. Harald, the lawyer, thinks it was murder but Bugge is still convinced it was a possession of some kind. Harald walks out near the lake and the next time anyone sees him is his dead body in the lake.
The night before August 23, Bugge says he knows what is going on. Liljan is his patient and the note about the dream Bernhard read earlier was hers. The diary let Bugge piece it together. From the diary Bugge thinks that Bjørn fell in love with Liljan and didn't want any man to have her. Come midnight they don't hear any screams and they go to the lake and hide on a bank as Liljan jumps in the water. They see Bjørn come up after her and chase after him. They hear laughing and ripples in the water and it is implied Bjørn committed suicide. Back at the cabin Liljan is asleep. Sonja, an experienced diver pretended to be Liljan to lure Bjørn into a trap. In a very Psycho ending Bugge explains that Bjørn used the legend of the lake to try to get away with murder. He was jealous of Harald for being with Liljan and wanted revenge. At a certain point though he was consumed with the legend so he could never be himself again. '
There was no more than just a basic premise for this on Wikipedia so if you wanted a plot summary you came to the right place. I just wish the end had been more climactic. I would've liked to have seen a longer chase. While the reveal is decent, it doesn't hold a candle to Psycho. I don't know if Hitchcock was influenced by or saw this movie but man the similarities are there. I wonder if I could pick up more details and know the characters better a second time around. Because of all the non-linear moments in this and how quickly the characters get to this one setting I found myself learning more about them as the story unfolded. This movie never felt boring though and I was interested the whole time on where it would go. I enjoyed the combination of the mystery with the local legend. The flashbacks, something which giallo movies and slashers sometimes do seems ahead of its time. The cabin setting is great too. That allows for a sense of the characters being isolated and anything goes with supernatural things in that setting.
Rating: 8/10
Trivia: Andre Bjerke, the writer of the novel published in 1942 that this was based on, plays Gabriel Mork.
You can find this movie on Shudder. It is another one on the Severin Folk horror collection.
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