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Now that pretty much every movie ever made is at our fingertips, finding something decent to watch sometimes feels like more trouble than it's worth. Which is why it's always nice when something good actually rises to the surface and makes our jobs as viewers that much easier. When it comes to horror, free streamer Tubi offers a surprisingly great selection of horror movies, while Hulu hasn't had the best track record this year following the streaming success of a forgotten Sandra Bullock horror movie with a truly terrifying 7% Rotten Tomatoes score. But the streamer is making up for that now by showcasing an overlooked folk horror film that's more than worthy of its high Rt score.

2024's "The Damned" comes from Icelandic filmmaker Thordur Palsson, who previously oversaw the Netflix crime series "The Valhalla Murders," and writer Jamie Hannigan, working from a story by Palsson. ​​The period horror movie stars Odessa Young as Eva,...

Exclusive: The Valhalla Murders duo Thordur Palsson and Óttar Nordfjord are creating an Icelandic-Finnish climate disaster miniseries titled Avalanche.

Forged for Iceland’s Síminn and rolling cameras next week, Avalanche stars Elín Hall (Let Me Fall) as Freyja, a meteorologist who returns to her hometown to warn the villagers of an imminent catastrophe. Casting striking similarities between fictional tragic events and today’s climate crisis, the series is aiming to highlight the urgency of heeding scientific warnings.

The series is another example of Scandi outfits coming together to create TV, with Iceland’s Glassriver co-producing with Finland’s Whatevergroup, while Ginny & Georgia outfit Dynamic Television is selling worldwide. Palsson is directing and Nordfjord is writing. The pair were behind The Valhalla Murders, the RÚV police procedural that was picked up by Netflix several years back. Margrét Örnólfsdóttir is co-writer of Avalanche.

Palsson said: “Bringing Avalanche to life is both a creative challenge and a responsibility.

In his latest video, Kevin sits down for an exclusive interview with director Thordur Palsson to talk about his feature debut movie The Damned.

A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.

The Damned is currently (still) in UK cinemas, courtesy of Vertical Entertainment. You can also check out Kev’s video review of the film right here.

A brand new theatrical release puts a unique twist on the classic haunted house movie, Richard Dreyfuss returns to the shark attack sub-genre, and one of the late Tony Todd’s final horror movies gets a posthumous release. And that’s just the beginning of this week’s new arrivals.

Here’s all the new horror that released January 20 – January 24, 2025!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

Horror legend Tony Todd leaves behind a handful of roles in horror movies not yet released, and one of the first of his final roles comes courtesy of Werewolf Game, now available on VOD.

In Werewolf Game, “Twelve strangers are kidnapped and forced to play Werewolf Game, to the death. A thrilling feature film based on the iconic party game.”

Sunstrike Pictures tells Bd, “We have a huge influence of John Carpenter and horror manga, to create a...

Directed by Thordur Palsson, The Damned is an Irish horror drama that unfolds in the 19th century at an isolated fishing post. The cinematography, the characterization, as well as the suspenseful build-up, deserve appreciation, and the ambiguous ending leaves room for speculation. Eva, a young widow, owned a fish station, and after her husband’s death, she was responsible for running the place. In the cold, harsh winter, when the fishermen gathered at her post, she took it upon herself to ensure the men did not suffer. Her opinion contradicted Ragnar’s, the helmsman, who believed the men should only focus on the catch; after all, they had agreed to live in the brutal cold for the sake of earning some extra money. The catch was not impressive that year, but for Eva, as long as the fishermen were alive and well, she was content. Things soon took a dramatic...

Thordur Palsson’s The Damned, a harrowing and atmospheric horror film set in 19th-century Iceland, has finally arrived for digital streaming. Starring Odessa Young, the film explores themes of survival, guilt, and the supernatural, making it a must-watch for horror enthusiasts. If you’re looking for where to watch or stream The Damned, here’s everything you need to know.

What is The Damned About?

Set during a particularly cruel winter, The Damned follows Eva (Odessa Young), a widow tasked with leading her isolated fishing community after a devastating shipwreck. With their food supplies nearly exhausted, Eva and her crew face an impossible choice: attempt to rescue the shipwrecked survivors or ensure their own survival through the harsh season.

As the community grapples with the consequences of their decision, guilt begins to take hold, and a growing sense of dread consumes the inhabitants. Believing they are being punished for their choices,...

Thordur Palsson’s “The Damned” is not the only 2024 film with that title. There is also Roberto Minervini’s war drama, set in 1862, which premiered at Cannes. This article is not about that brooding drama. Instead, it is about Palsson’s horror film that stars Odessa Young and Joe Cole in the central roles. It follows a young widow (played by Young) trying to run a fishing outpost in the Arctic bay. While trying to survive through a brutally cold winter in an isolated piece of land, she and a group of fishers start to lose their sanity as they are surrounded by the ghosts of their past misdeeds and regrets.

Spoilers Ahead

The Damned (2024 Palsson film) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

“The Damned” is an English horror film directed by Thordur Palsson based on Jamie Hannigan’s screenplay. It follows the hardships faced by the inhabitants of a fishing outpost in the freezing,...

For the first of the new year, Kevin sits down to review another of his picks of the big budget / low budget / no budget movie landscape. Giving you his personal opinion on why you should or shouldn’t give this movie your time… This episode it’s horror film The Damned, the feature debut of director Thordur Palsson.

A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.

The Damned will be available in UK and Irish cinemas from 10th January, courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.

Mufasa: The Lion King clawed its way past Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in a tightly contested race and won the No. 1 spot at the box office to kick off the first weekend of 2025. Director Barry Jenkins’ animated adventure made an estimated $23.8 million (per The Numbers) and claimed the top spot for the second consecutive weekend. Meanwhile, the Sega sequel brought in another $21.2 million en route to the silver medal. The Disney prequel/sequel also thrived overseas.

Mufasa had made $168.6 million at the domestic box office at the time of this writing. However, the Mouse House’s latest flick continued to fare even better internationally, with a total of $307.8 million for a worldwide take of $476.4 million. Meanwhile, Sonic 3 hadn’t done quite that well, but the Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey team-up still managed to make $336.3 million globally. Unfortunately, that’s not a franchise record for the speedy hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2...

A trip to the cinema is an excellent way to pass a winter evening, but it does come with one potential drawback. After braving the winter chill for a brisk speed-walk from your parking spot to the entrance (and avoiding slipping on black ice along the way), the theater’s climate control and comfortable seats can make you temporarily forget how cold it is outside. Thordur Palsson’s directorial debut “The Damned” looks to rectify this problem, as the Icelandic horror film is singularly focused on making its viewers feel the frigid cold that permeates the bones of its characters. From icy landscape shots to midnight huddles between characters that do a middling job of preserving body warmth, Palsson immerses his audience to the point where you can almost feel the mind-numbing cold that pushes his subjects to the brink of madness.

If that strikes you as a remotely pleasant...

As awards season heats up, From Ground Zero, Palestine’s Oscar entry that’s on the shortlist for Best International Feature, debuts this weekend at about 70 AMC locations in top 20 markets and select arthouses including the Quad in New York and Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles.

The documentary from Watermelon Pictures is a series of 22 video diaries by Palestinian filmmakers commissioned and assembled by Gaza native Rashid Masharawi that show what it’s like on the ground in Gaza trying to survive and keep families safe, fed and sheltered amid Israeli bombardments. Mostly shying away from politics, From Ground Zero is a view of life in hellish conditions that also finds hope in small moments of normalcy. Masharawi, who currently lives in France, set up a fund early in the Israel-Hamas war to support filmmaking in Gaza.

Watermelon and parent MPI Media took a risk opening soon after Oscar shortlists were unveiled,...

Throughout The Damned, writer-director Thordur Palsson’s formidable feature debut, the phrase that kept echoing through my head was the chilling proclamation that the “world is dark and full of terrors.” Yes, this is a quote from Game of Thrones, whose Rory McCann is part of the cast here. However, he is not what kept bringing it to mind. No, it was the terror in the eyes of those like Odessa Young and Joe Cole where this was most felt. In the isolated Icelandic fishing village their characters inhabit in the 19th century, this desolate darkness is where death awaits. Not only is this where you can freeze to death, but it’s where the forces beyond our understanding may also lurk. Whether they’re there or not, which is something that’s best left to discover in the film for yourself, they certainly feel petrifyingly real. Even as the...

Period horror often has a tough hill to climb within the modern landscape of cinema. Younger generations prefer a more energetic pacing in short bursts so a drawn-out film that relies on tension and dread can be a tough sell. Thankfully, I’m an old man and absolutely love any horror film that can bring me on a journey through hell, regardless of the time period. And thankfully The Damned is able to utilize the setting and give us a glimpse at a time that passed while walking the line of myth. I really enjoyed the film myself.

Actor Odessa Young and Director Thordur Palsson were gracious enough to talk to me about their film The Damned. We got into the very harsh conditions in which they filmed in as well as the difficulties of something as simple as getting equipment to their filming location. But I was surprised to...

Starring: Odessa Young, Joe Cole, Rory McCann and Siobhan Finneran The Damned, an ominous and chilling thriller, follows Eve and her crew as they come across a shipwreck and are faced with the moral dilemma to either help, or prioritise their own survival. Vertical has announced that Thordur Palsson’s ominous and chilling thriller The Damned will be released in …

The post The Damned | Chilling Nordic horror in UK & Irish cinemas from 10th January appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Plot: A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.

Review: There’s something about a period piece that lends itself to a dreadful atmosphere. Maybe it’s the harsh time period itself, which carries within it such tragedies and misfortune. Death was a constant presence. But there’s also so much room for metaphor and beautiful imagery, making it an ideal candidate for emotionally resonant stories. Especially within the horror genre. And The Damned fully utilizes its time period and setting to deliver a story that resonates even in modern times.

Odessa Young stars as Eva, the widow who owns the primary ship for a fishing village. They’ve had a particularly cruel winter, and their food supplies are growing smaller and smaller. She’s faced with some difficult choices. When...

Mufasa: The Lion King roared to life and sped past Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at the box office over the Christmas weekend. After finishing in second place behind the Sega sequel last weekend, the latest offering from Disney laid claim to the No. 1 spot over the five-day holiday frame with an estimated $63.7 million domestically. Meanwhile, Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey’s team-up settled for the silver medal with $59.9 million. However, the results were quite different where the films’ three-day (Friday-Sunday) totals were concerned.

It was Sonic 3 ($38 million), edging out Mufasa ($37.1 million) by less than $1 million (per The Numbers). Focusing on Mufasa’s impressive comeback, though, the follow-up to The Lion King began its run towards claiming the top spot over the five-day holiday after Mufasa surprisingly won Christmas Day against the feisty hedgehog with a take of $14.7 million. The Disney flick also won Thursday and Sunday, while Sonic took the...

Thordur Palsson’s The Damned coasts on the striking contrasts between the wintry landscapes of its 19th-century setting and the characters who trudge across them in clothes that appear as if they’ve been assembled from blankets or potato sacks. Odessa Young is no less memorable as a young window named Eva, especially in an early scene where she makes it very plain that this woman must always choose her words carefully in the company of men, even among those who so clearly respect her for her savvy.

But there’s evocativeness and then there’s lack of context, and it feels as if the cinematography and Young’s performance are trying to deflect attention from the latter. As indicated by the stories spun by one character (Siobhan Finneran), The Damned draws on Icelandic folklore about the draugr, or reanimated corpse, and from the characters’ names we can, indeed, intuit...

I genuinely enjoyed “The Damned” from director Thordur Palsson. Haunting and creepy with strong themes of grief and abandonment. Odessa Young is wonderful as Eva, a 19th-century widow tasked with making an impossible choice – rescue the shipwrecked off the coast of her isolated fishing post or survive the cruel winter with their last remaining

The post Inside the Terrifying “The Damned’ appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

This winter, get ready for a chilling tale of moral conflict and survival as The Damned arrives in UK and Irish cinemas on 10 January 2025. Directed by Thordur Palsson, this psychological horror transports audiences to a 19th-century Nordic fishing outpost, where isolation and harsh winter conditions serve as the haunting backdrop for a gripping story.

Starring Odessa Young (The Staircase), Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders), and Rory McCann (Game of Thrones), The Damned follows Eva, a widowed matriarch, and her tight-knit community. Their fragile existence is upended when a shipwreck is discovered just offshore. Confronted with a harrowing moral dilemma, Eva must decide whether to extend a hand to the stranded crew or safeguard her village’s dwindling resources.

As the consequences of their decision unfold, the villagers are plagued by escalating guilt and a creeping fear that they are being punished for their choices. Tensions mount, relationships fracture, and an eerie...

Thordur Palsson’s The Damned explores the complexities of morality. Set in a harsh winter in the 19th century, the occupants of a fishing outpost discover a shipwrecked crew in need of assistance. With their own resources running low, Eva (Odessa Young) and her community choose their own survival over that of the others. Their decision, […]

The Damned Movie Review – Odessa Young Stars in a Sinister Horror That Cuts to the Bone Written by Sergio Pereira for Fortress of Solitude...

A mysterious ship crashes mid-winter in period chiller The Damned from director Thordur Palsson, and Bloody Disgusting has been provided with the film’s official poster today.

Look for the psychological chiller to release in theaters on January 3, 2025.

In the meantime, find the poster and previously released trailer below.

Starring Odessa Young and Joe Cole, The Damned is a tense psychological horror film that follows a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost during the middle of an especially cruel winter.

With provisions running low, Eva and her close-knit community must choose between rescuing the shipwrecked crew and prioritizing their own survival.

Facing the consequences of their decision and tormented by guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they are all being punished for their choices.

Siobhan Finneran...

"I wouldn't sleep if I were you... a thing like that never stops." Vertical has revealed the official trailer for the indie horror film The Damned, from young Icelandic filmmaker Thordur Palsson marking his feature directorial debut. Not to be confused with the film about US Civil War soldiers also titled The Damned from this year, this is a haunting horror set on Iceland in the past. A 19th-century widow (starring Odessa Young) has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village. The Damned, an ominous and chilling thriller, follows Eve and her crew as they come across a shipwreck and are faced with the moral dilemma to help or not. An atmospheric blend of drama and psychological horror that captivated audiences at the 2024 Sitges Film Festival this fall. Starring Odessa Young, Joe Cole, Siobhan Finneran,...

Survival odds become even more harrowing when a mysterious ship crashes mid-winter in period chiller The Damned from director Thordur Palsson. The first look trailer highlights just how cruel life can be in the 19th century.

Look for the psychological chiller to release in theaters on January 3, 2025.

The Damned follows “a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost during the middle of an especially cruel winter. With provisions running low, Eva and her close-knit community must choose between rescuing the shipwrecked crew and prioritizing their own survival. Facing the consequences of their decision and tormented by guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they are all being punished for their choices.”

Jamie Hannigan wrote the screenplay based on a story by Palsson.

The Damned boasts an impressive cast,...

Roberto Minervini’s new film, which premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, is the second feature in this festival round to be titled The Damned. Another movie with the same English-language title, directed by Thordur Palsson and featured at the Tribeca Film Festival, was also set in a period setting, and talked about moral compromises and emotional tolls extreme circumstances can take on human beings. (See review linked below.) Minervini’s feature ventures to explore similar ideas, setting the story in 1862 during the Civil War, somewhere along the borderlands of the Western territories. The Damned (orig. Il Dannati) starts off with a prolonged shot of some wolves ripping into an animal carcass, a grim image that doesn’t promise opistimistic things for the main characters,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Andrea Arnold’s Bird, Sandhya Suri’s Santosh and Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight are among the films to receive backing from the latest round of UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf) awards.

The BFI has made 19 additional awards totalling £527,563 through the £7m Ukgsf, which is financed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms).

Cannes premieres Bird, Santosh and Sister Midnight all received international distribution awards via the festival launch track, which supports festival runs for UK films to reach global audiences.

The only film to receive an international distribution award via the prints and advertising support track in...

Andrea Arnold’s Bird, Sandhya Suri’s Santosh and Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight are among the films to receive backing from the latest round of UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf) awards.

The BFI has made 19 additional awards totalling £527,563 through the £7m Ukgsf, which is financed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms).

Cannes premieres Bird, Santosh and Sister Midnight all received international distribution awards via the festival launch track, which supports festival runs for UK films to reach global audiences.

The only film to receive an international distribution award via the prints and advertising support track in...

Exclusive: The Gotham Group has signed Icelandic film director Thordur Palsson whose feature debut, the horror film The Damned, premiered at this year’s Tribeca Festival and will be released domestically by Vertical this fall.

Palsson was the creator and lead director of The Valhalla Murders, which premiered on Netflix in 2020 as the platform’s first Icelandic original.

“We have been admirers of Thordur’s work since the chilling series The Valhalla Murders and with his debut feature it’s become even clearer that he is one of the most exciting genre filmmakers working today,” said Justin Littman, Gotham Group Partner and Head of International.

The Damned follows Eva, a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when, in the middle of an especially cruel winter, a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost. With provisions running low, Eva and her crew must choose...

Exclusive: Odessa Young is set to join the ensemble cast of Deliver Me From Nowhere, the upcoming Bruce Springsteen pic from 20th Century. While not confirmed, sources say she will be playing Springsteen’s love interest.

Jeremy Allen White is set to play Springsteen and Scott Cooper is directing the biopic, which tells the story of the making of the classic Springsteen album Nebraska. Paul Walter Hauser is also on board.

In April, the studio closed a deal to finance and distribute the pic, which follows the rock ‘n’ roll icon who, after grappling with personal demons and trying to wrap his arms around becoming a global superstar, wrote and recorded Nebraska, the 1982 album that rivals Joni Mitchell’s Blue as one of the most emotionally raw, dark and honest albums in recent music history.

Scott Stuber, in his first move since exiting as longtime Netflix Film head, is producing...

The latest edition of the Tribeca Film Festival draws to a close in New York City, leaving another strong year for new genre premieres, retrospectives, and events in its wake.

Tribeca 2024 unveiled the new premiere of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s ultra-bleak The Devil’s Bath, raucous slasher Amfad: All My Friends Are Dead, goopy sci-fi horror comedy The A-Frame, and dusty neo-noir horror A Desert to name a few of the genre offerings this year. But the fest’s genre offerings don’t stop with Midnight programming, a section dedicated to horror and high-energy genre fare.

Here’s a round-up of brief thoughts and capsule reviews of Tribeca’s narrative features that either toe-dip or crash into horror in surprising ways.

The Damned

Director Thordur Palsson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jamie Hannigan (“The Woman in the Wall”), combines 19th-century survival thrills with atmospheric supernatural chills set in an Icelandic fishing village.

Nowhere is safe. This most basic of horror premises — and the sheer simplicity of its implications — has fueled countless classics and scares over the years. One of the biggest early surprises of this year's Tribeca Film Festival, "The Damned," takes this unsettling idea to even greater heights and establishes a can't-miss new talent cut from a similar cloth as Robert Eggers along the way. Icelandic writer/director Thordur Palsson (Netflix's "The Valhalla Murders" miniseries) makes his feature debut with a story set amid the late 1800s in a desolate fishing station, where a tiny Nordic community ekes out a living from a punishing environment that treats them as hostile invaders. The harsh (but gorgeously-shot) tundra and freezing waters trapping them on all sides lends a physical threat as imposing as the labyrinthine Nostromo in "Alien" or the research station in "The Thing." But in a supernatural wrinkle taken straight...

A vicious 19th-century morality play that gives way to psychological horror, Thordur Palsson’s “The Damned” draws on Icelandic folklore to create a tale of paranoia and superstition in an isolated outpost. A tiny fishing village plays host to the pressing question of whether to rescue a sinking ship nearby. The fishermen’s decisions in the wake of this terror from afar bring home their fears and regrets in a story told through dreams and shadows that, while often repetitive in its approach, is still effectively told.

Young widow Eva (Odessa Young) is left in charge of her husband’s fishing boat, which she lends to the town’s gruff fishermen while retaining decision-making ability. The village is surrounded by snow and icy waters, so every choice and every ration counts. The townspeople mostly get along, singing drinking and fishing songs by gas lamps in their cramped pub, but tensions...

The Tribeca Film Festival 2024, presented by Okx, is back this week with tons of new genre premieres, retrospectives, and events to get excited about. This year’s Festival, which takes place June 5-16 in New York City showcases the best emerging talent from across the globe alongside established names.

Horror fans can look forward to buzzy titles like The Devil’s Bath, from filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. But the horror extends beyond the Midnight section, including the premiere of Amfad: All My Friends Are Dead. Look for the festival to give special presentations of Alfred Hitchcock and Tod Browning classics, too.

Finally, if you’re a Godzilla fan, don’t miss the epic bash the fest is throwing for the classic film’s 70th anniversary.

Read on for 14 can’t miss events and screenings to catch at Tribeca:

The A-Frame (United States) – World Premiere. A quantum physicist’s machine...

Exclusive: In advance of its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, scheduled for June 6th, the supernatural horror film The Damned, marking the feature directorial debut of Thordur Palsson (The Valhalla Murders), has locked in North American distribution with Vertical. The film will be released later this year.

Written by Jamie Hannigan, The Damned follows Eva (Odessa Young), a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost during the middle of an especially cruel winter. With provisions running low, Eva and her close-knit community must choose between rescuing the shipwrecked crew and prioritizing their own survival. Facing the consequences of their decision and tormented by guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they are all being punished for their choices.

Pic’s cast also includes Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders...

The Tribeca Film Festival 2024, presented by Okx, today announced its full lineup of feature narrative, documentary, and animated films. This year’s Festival, which takes place June 5-16 in New York City showcases the best emerging talent from across the globe alongside established names.

Of particular note to horror fans, Tribeca Midnight is the “surprising, shocking, frightening, and thrilling” destination for the best in horror and more for late night audiences. Look for buzzy titles like The Devil’s Bath, from filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. But the horror extends beyond the Midnight section, including the premiere of Amfad: All My Friends Are Dead.

Read on for the genre titles scheduled to premiere at Tribeca:

Spotlight Narrative

A launching pad for the most buzzworthy new films, Tribeca’s Spotlight section brings audiences anticipated premieres from acclaimed filmmakers and star performers.

The Damned, – World Premiere. When a ship sinks near her isolated fishing post,...

Len Rowles, head of development at UK sales, finance and production outfit Protagonist Pictures, is joining environmentally-focused development fund Climate Spring as head of scripted, film and international.

Climate Spring was founded in 2020 by Lucy Stone, Josh Cockroft and James Durrant to offer development funding, editorial consultation, research and community building to climate-focused film and TV projects.

“The screen industries are uniquely placed to shine a light on the root causes of the climate crisis and illuminate existing and future solutions to inspire wide audiences,” said Rowles, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2016.

At Protagonist, Rowles spearheaded the company’s...

“It’s all true. Well, true myth, anyway,” says Thordur Palsson about The Damned, his Nordic horror film set in a 19th century Icelandic village besieged by zombies.

Odessa Young (HBO’s The Staircase) stars as Eva, a widow running an isolated fishing post in Iceland’s West Fjords in the 19th century. When a ship sinks just off the coast, Eva and her crew, snowed in and starving, have to choose to either rescue the shipwrecked or leave them to die.

Protagonist Pictures, which is handling worldwide sales for the film, co-repping the U.S. with CAA, will give buyers a sneak peek of The Damned at the European Film Market in Berlin this week.

“These are the kinds of stories I’d always hear growing up in Iceland,” says Palsson, “about ships stuck on the rocks, maybe because the Icelanders on shore moved the lighthouse to trick people...

One year on from its Berlinale Special screening Australian horror Talk To Me has grossed nearly $100m at the global box office and sellers have heeded the call: EFM 2024 is packed with “elevated genre” titles.

Neon snapped up Steven Soderbergh’s Lucy Liu ghost story Presence in Sundance and the international division has kicked off talks in Berlin. Neon International also has Cuckoo, Tilman Singer’s horror that premieres in the Berlinale Special section and stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens.

A24 is selling I Saw The TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun’s take on gender dysphoria and teenage isolation...

UK sales, production and financing outfit Protagonist Pictures has unveiled a slew of changes to its leadership structure.

Janina Vilsmaier and Mounia Wissinger have been promoted to senior leadership roles, with Vilsmaier being upped to senior vice president of sales and distribution and Wissinger becoming senior vice president of global marketing and publicity. Vilsmaier will lead the sales division and work in partnership with Wissinger to strategise the global roll out of Protagonist titles. In addition to leading the marketing and publicity team, Wissinger will oversee the festival strategy for Protagonist’s film slate. Both will report directly into chief commercial officer George Hamilton.

Protagonist Pictures has promoted senior execs Janina Vilsmaier and Mounia Wissinger to senior leadership roles as part of a wider move to strengthen its sales and marketing teams.

Vilsmaier has been upped to SVP Sales and Distribution and Wissinger becomes SVP Global Marketing and Publicity.

Protagonist made the announcement as it gears up for the Berlinale and the EFM, where its slate will include Nora Fingscheidt’s Panorama title The Outrun, starring Saoirse Ronan and Paapa Essiedu, and David and Nathan Zellner’s Berlinale Special selection Sasquatch Sunset with Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, which makes its European premiere after a Sundance debut.

Under the promotions, Vilsmaier will lead the sales division, overseeing both the first run and library sales activities, and work in partnership with Wissinger to strategize the global roll out of Protagonist titles.

Wissinger will head up the marketing and publicity team, including overseeing the festival strategy for Protagonist’s film slate.

Variety has a first look at “The Damned,” the upcoming psychological horror starring Odessa Young and Joe Cole.

From director Thordur Palsson (“The Valhalla Murders”) and writer Jamie Hannigan, the film, which shot in Iceland last year, follows Eva (Young), a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost in the middle of an especially cruel winter. According to the synopsis, “Eva and her crew must choose between rescuing the shipwrecked and prioritising their own survival. Facing the consequences of their choice and tormented by their guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they are all being punished for their choices.”

Alongside Young and Cole, the cast also includes Siobhan Finneran (“Happy Valley,” “The Stranger”), Rory McCann (“Game of Thrones,” “Slow West”), Turlough Convery (“Killing Eve,” “Belfast”), Lewis Gribben (“Somewhere Boy,...

Hot Nordic works-in-progress at the Norwegian event include ’Handing The Undead’ starring Renate Reinsve.

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films industry event will have a two-year special focus on Nordic co-productions with the UK in 2023 and 2024.

Activities in 2023 include a session with Denitsa Yordanova, head of the UK Global Screen Fund, and a case study of Iceland-shot The Damned, Thordur Palsson’s upcoming psychological horror, with producer Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl of the UK’s Elation Pictures.

At Haugesund’s Nordic Co-Production and Finance Market, four UK projects will be presented: Gunnar’s Daughter, produced by Angeli Marie Macfarlane at Script Cube...

Dublin-based company is a prolific Irish partner on international co-productions.

Irish production outfit and prolific international partner Wild Atlantic Pictures has appointed two ex-Screen Ireland executives to its fast-growing team.

Teresa McGrane, formerly deputy CEO at Screen Ireland, joins as chief operating office, and Dearbhla Regan, who was project manager at Screen Ireland until 2022 is the new head of film and talent development.

McGrane spent two decades at Screen Ireland where she played a key role in the development of policies and initiatives since 2001.

Regan most recently executive-produced Irish language Oscar nominee and box office success The Quiet Girl.

Joe Cole has been announced as joining the cast of a new psychological horror from award-winning director Thordur Palsson, ‘The Damned.’

Joining Cole and previously announced Odessa Young on the cast are Siobhan Finneran, Rory McCann (Game of Thrones, Slow West), Turlough Convery (Killing Eve, Belfast), Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy, Deadwater Fell), Francis Magee (Kin, The Tourist), Mícheál Óg Lane (The Guard, Calvary) and Andrean Sigurgeirsson (A Song Called Hate).

The horror follows Eva, a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when, in the middle of an especially cruel winter, a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing post. Eva and her crew must choose to either rescue the shipwrecked or survive the winter with their last remaining food. Facing the consequences of their choice and tormented by their guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they...

Director Thordur Palsson has wrapped principal photography in Iceland on “The Damned,” starring Odessa Young.

Newly revealed cast for the psychological horror film includes Joe Cole (“Gangs of London”), Siobhan Finneran (“Happy Valley”), Rory McCann (“Game of Thrones”), Turlough Convery (“Killing Eve”), Lewis Gribben (“Somewhere Boy”), Francis Magee (“The Tourist”), Mícheál Óg Lane (“The Guard”) and Andrean Sigurgeirsson (“A Song Called Hate”).

The script was written by Jamie Hannigan and is based on a story by Palsson (“The Valhalla Murders”). “The Damned” tells the story of Eva, a 19th-century widow who faces a difficult decision when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing post in the middle of an especially cruel winter. Eva and her crew must decide whether to rescue the shipwrecked or survive the winter with their last remaining food. As they face the consequences of their decision and are tormented by guilt, the inhabitants...

Talent involved includes Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton and Odessa Young.

Fourteen film and TV projects have received a combined £2.2m in funding through the latest round of international co-production funding from the UK Global Screen Fund (Gsf).

The biggest award of £250,000 has been given to Iceland-Ireland-uk-Belgium feature The Damned, which will shoot early next year. Protagonist Pictures is selling and executive producing the film.

Individual awards range between £250,000 to £95,000,

Scroll down for the full list.

Set on a remote fishing outpost in the 19th century, the psychological horror is written by Jamie Hannigan, will be directed by Icelandic-uk director Thordur Palsson,...

Protagonist Pictures has closed multiple deals for several key territories on Sundance selection and Berlin Film Festival competition title “Call Jane.”

Territories sold include Dcm for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Umbrella Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Mis.label for Scandinavia, Eagle for Italy, Shaw for Singapore and Empire for South Africa.

Directed by Phyllis Nagy, the Oscar nominated writer of “Carol,” the film stars Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara and Chris Messina. The film follows Joy (Banks), a traditional 1960s housewife who unexpectedly falls pregnant and finds the Janes, an underground abortion movement led by Virginia (Weaver). The group saves her life and gives her a sense of purpose – to help other women take control of their destinies.

Nagy directed from a Blacklist script by “The Resident” writers Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi. The film is produced by Robbie Brenner (“The Dallas Buyers Club”), David Wulf, and Kevin McKeon.

“Mothering Sunday’s” Odessa Young has been tapped for award-winning director Thordur Palsson’s upcoming psychological horror “The Damned.”

The film will see Young star as Eva, a 19th-century widow tasked with making an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a ship sinks off the coast of her impoverished Icelandic fishing village. Any attempt to rescue survivors risks further depleting the starving villagers’ supplies.

As the villagers struggle with their guilt, Eva begins to experience unsettling visions and suspects they are being punished for their choice. Shooting will begin on location in Iceland in January 2022.

Protagonist Pictures will represent sales worldwide, co-repping U.S. rights with CAA Media Finance.

Palsson (“The Valhalla Murders”) wrote the story while Jamie Hannigan wrote the screenplay (supported by Screen Ireland).

Young is currently appearing in Cannes title “Mothering Sunday” alongside Olivia Colman (“The Father”), Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) and Josh O’Connor...

Twisted Nordic noir gets a wry edge of humour in this Icelandic whodunit series that should satiate your binging urges if you love your mysteries served dark, but without too many complex subtexts. Thordur Palsson's eight-episode series is fairly simple in storytelling, but smart enough to leave you guessing with the right twists at the apt moments.

You would be following the thriller via subtitles of course but you don't miss its element of universality, which lies in the fact that this story could be imagined in any part of the world. Like many classic murder mysteries, the series starts off on a languid note, before a slowburn narrative takes you to a point where it literally gives a wild spin to the tale.

Scandinavian thrillers have a quaint quality that makes them irresistible. They narrate cold, often brutal, stories that delve into the darkest recesses of the criminal mind,...

Exclusive: Lisa Forrell will direct the story of an Icelandic woman who moves to the UK during the Second World War.

Katheryn Winnick (of TV’s Vikings) will star in Icelandic production company Truenorth’s Journey Home, written and directed by Lisa Forrell.

The English-language love story follows an Icelandic woman who moves to the UK to become a chef during the Second World War. The drama will shoot in Iceland and England, with UK producers Alex Boden (Sense8) and Tracey Seaward (Philomena) on board.

In addition, Truenorth and Mystery, the Icelandic production companies behind Berlinale TV drama selection Prisoners, have optioned six books in Stefan Mani’s police novel series that starts with Black Magic, following a street cop who has clairvoyant premonitions about death.

The company plans on adapting into an Icelandic-language TV series, which would premiere in 2019 or 2020.

True North is also planning a shoot by the end of 2017 on its next TV show...

The Damned producers Emilie Jouffroy and Kamilla Hodol are recipients of a BFI Vision Award this year.

Seven genre features were pitched as part of the Nordic Genre Boost at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market on Wednesday.

Highlights include prolific Icelandic director’s character-driven sci-fi East By Eleven; and The Damned, a Norwegian-uk-Iceland co-production that will be directed by Iceland-born, UK-based director Thordur Palsson and produced by Emilie Jouffroy and Kamilla Hodol of London’s Elation Pictures, which has just received a BFI Vision Award announced today.

This is the third round of the development initiative Nordic Genre Boost launched by Nordisk Film & TV Fond in December 2014. The Boost gives each project a grant of $18,500 (Nok 200,000) as well as offering two residential workshops and mentoring.

“The aim of this initiative is to encourage and support Nordic genre films, giving the selected projects a platform on which to strengthen their visibility and potential to reach the production...