Euthanizer

Teemu Nikki's 2017 "Euthanizer" (Armomurhaaja) is a brutal, unflinching film that straddles the uneasy line between drama, horror, and black comedy. It tells the story of Veijo (Matti Onnismaa), a misanthropic mechanic in a bleak Finnish rural town who moonlights as a low-cost executioner of unwanted pets.

His methods are neither clinical nor kind - gasifying animals with old car exhaust fumes, suffocating them in sacks, or shooting them in the woods - but he believes his work is a necessary mercy. In contrast, the local veterinarian, who represents a more "civilized" yet commercialized approach to euthanasia, sees him as a competitor. Society at large, however, simply despises him.

Nikki crafts a cruel and filthy world, both literally and metaphorically. The film is steeped in grime, grease-streaked hands, sweat-soaked undershirts, and the rusted remains of cars and lives abandoned to decay. But its filth runs deeper, exposing the moral contradictions of human nature.

Veijo's self-imposed role as an executioner expands beyond animals when he takes it upon himself to rid the world of their cruel, unlovable owners. In a narrative that subtly plays with karma, it's a film that asks: Who truly deserves mercy? And who decides?

The performances in "Euthanizer" shift between heightened realism and something almost grotesque. Onnismaa's Veijo is a man burdened by a philosophy of justice that isolates him, yet the film never makes him sympathetic in a conventional way. He's a man of conviction but not of warmth, a character whose moral rigidity leads him to dark and irreversible places.

Surrounding him are figures that blur the lines between good and evil: a sadistic gang member, a passive-aggressive veterinarian, a woman drawn to Veijo's brutality. Everyone in "Euthanizer" is, in some way, repulsive - and yet, the film compels us to watch them, to wrestle with the discomfort they provoke.

There's something almost mythic in Nikki's storytelling. He presents a world where the agony of men and animals are intertwined, yet treated differently, with an implicit suggestion that some lives hold more value than others.

But "Euthanizer" doesn't offer easy compassion. It's brutal, unflinching, and resolute in its vision. Its grungy aesthetic keeps the film grounded, even as its morality drifts into the surreal.

By the time the story reaches its inevitable, grim finale, we're left with a lingering unease - a testament to Nikki's ability to turn the grotesque into something deeply compelling.

"Euthanizer" is not a film for everyone. It's not mainstream, nor does it seek to be. It's deliberately slow, demanding more than passive viewing - it insists on deeper engagement.

It is a story of justice disguised as cruelty and cruelty disguised as justice - an ugly, unrelenting meditation on the cost of mercy.

"Everyone has to pay for the pain that they've caused. Pain needs to be balanced."

Every detail was just perfect in this Finnish low-budget indie. From the first second, this film intrigued me and managed to hold my full attention. Not only the magnificent acting of Matti Onnismaa and Hannamaija Nikander, as the bitter and sinister person Veijo and the strange figure Lotta whose sexual preference is also rather lugubrious, caused that. The narrative and the message that simmered under the surface also fascinated me. Yet it's not an easy, everyday film. On the one hand, there's the language. Finnish isn't something I'm confronted with on a daily basis (well, for everything there's a first time), so I understood absolutely nothing. On the other hand, the story itself is rather unorthodox with the euthanizing of pets as a central topic. Not exactly cheerful material, even though it sometimes felt comical.

Veijo is the local freelancer who offers his services to help pets out of their misery in an inexpensive way. He's, therefore, a not so well-liked competitor of the local veterinarian. To be honest, nobody likes him. Veijo thus creates its own Pet Sematary. Dogs are simply shot in an adjacent forest, after which their necklace is dangling from a branch as the only remembrance. Cats and other minuscule creatures from the animal kingdom are gassed in a pimped station wagon. A cat carrier graveyard next to his meager shed is the final result. The first ten minutes alone made it clear an extraordinary film was presented to me.

Euthanizer is a film about pain and suffering. And according to Veijo, pain needs to be balanced. And that's something this pipe-smoking anti-social person applies in his life. Also on himself. The owners who bring their sick, disobedient or simply annoying pets can expect a psychological analysis first. Veijo apparently has the gift of being a dog whisperer. And some of those owners get a similar treatment as their pet. In the same way, he approaches his dying and suffering father, an alcoholic who apparently treated Veijo very badly and brutal during his childhood.

The moment Lotta enters Veijo's life, a life in which human contact is quite an obstacle for Veijo, I can vividly imagine his confusion about his feelings towards her and at the same time about her reasonably perverted fantasy. The reason why she feels attracted to Veijo was unclear to me. Was his aloofness or morbid profession something she related to? Or did she have suicidal thoughts for herself? Is she fascinated by death in a macabre way? It was a mystery to me. But they certainly go down in history as the most bizarre couple.

The weakest element in the whole film was for me the would-be Finnish neo-Nazi club "Soldiers of Finland". Notwithstanding that Petri (Jari Virman), who is only too keen to be part of this gang of jackasses, has an important part in the denouement, I thought it was a laughable fact. Apart from stealing some car tires and some provocative behavior, they seem far from being dangerous. And when they are singing as four choir boys for a karaoke machine, the image of these pseudo machos changes into purebred sissies. There's even one of them who can't control his emotions during that musical moment.

Euthanizer is a cruel and filthy film. Filthy in multiple ways. A film that shows how cruel people can be. A film with contradictions as well. Gasifying animals with the exhaust fumes of an old station wagon is, in my opinion, not a peaceful and pleasant way. And yet Veijo is an animal lover who wants to put these poor creatures out of their misery. Euthanizer is breathtaking. A gem. Fans of small-budget non-mainstream films will enjoy this. I did for sure.

Well I thought this was a good film ,pretty stark at times.I would recommend it it you like dark sort of films .

Not a comfortable film. but an useful one. for simplicity. for dark traces. for a story about a man, his passion , options and life. a parable. or just a form of fairy tale. a film about the essence of humankind. and about choices. about pets, life and karma. and about curses . and the need of equilibrium. and about hate. against yourself. the best thing - maybe the performances. and the rhytm of story. and the details of plot. because it is a film about meanings. and answers. defining the most deep solitude. a support of reflection. about near basic things.

This is a dark short incursion into the dark side of the human nature. Veijo is a haunted older guy who takes upon himself to pay retribution to those who hurt animals, according to his own understanding of how karma works. He is fair and relentless, he doesn't make excuses and he often gives lesson to those who deserve them, in one way or another. He has his own moral code: you need to take accountability for the pain and hurt you caused others, and if you don't you must be obliged. He considers that those people who are aggressive they are lost, they don't know their place under the sun, they are lost and with no purpose or understanding of their lives, so they hurt others because they have no identity, no inner core, no resilience inside them. He takes the role of a euthanizer in his conflict with a lost soul, excellently played by Jari Virman, only to end up dealing with his own karma.

Later we find out that Veijo himself is a troubled soul, through the strain relationship with his father. Good circular script, with good lines and a strong character, well played by Matti Onnismaa.