User reviews

Lars von Trier's weird, crazy TV show about a haunted hospital with an amazing atmosphere and a great cast. Shows that you don't need a lot of money as long as you've got great actors, good writing and the perfect location. Shot entirely on an ordinary video camera, this is "no budget" Arthouse cinema. The second part of the series is just as good, and I only wish we would have gotten the originally planned third part as well, but the untimely death of the lead actor sadly prevented this from ever happening. Still, let's enjoy what we got. 9 stars out of 10.

In case you're interested in more underrated masterpieces, here's some of my favorites:

imdb.com/list/ls070242495

Lars Von Trier perfects his dogme style with this fascinating Horror satire about a haunted, bizarre hospital. I watched both this and `The Kingdom II' back-to-back over one night and I must say the six hours just flew by. I've never had so much fun watching a television series before. Every thing was brilliant, the casting and sepia toned style helped give a reality of the situation and a labyrinthine theme to the hospital itself. All the actors were wonderful and totally believable. I hope they make more episodes soon; I'm hooked...

The closest that American television has even come close to "The Kingdom" was the recent Stephen King mini-series "Storm of the Century." Still, even this was nowhere near as engaging as this Danish mini-series. Practically none of this would ever get through through censors here.

Loopy hospital drama, restless spirits, an incubus, Voodoo... it's all here, it all makes perfect sense and it is a series that leaves one screaming for more when it ends (I will be scouring this city for "The Kingdom II" before the week is over). I won't ruin a bit of it, other than to say the closing scene shocked me so much that my original critical summery cannot be printed here. Truly amazing film-making, and definitely a glimpse of what television could be without all the censors and constant pandering to the lowest common denominator.

Acclaimed director Lars Von Trier came to Riget (The Kingdom) after the failure of his film Europa (1991) and some trouble with his personal life, weather these contrasting elements had anything to do with the set up of the story of the Kingdom is unknown, but it might explain the playfulness of the film. This was the first time that von Trier would use the documentary-style approach he continued in his Dogme film The Idiots (1998) and with this project it worked wonders at enriching the source material with a certain satire. We except straight away that these bizarre occurrences are actually happening in the largest hospital in Denmark (The Kingdom of the title) and we have no reason to doubt it. As well as visual style, the characterisation is also good, Von Trier and fellow writers Tomas Gíslason and Niels Vørsel understand that we need to be interested in the characters of a TV show if we are to follow them for the duration of the series, and the characters in The Kingdom are no exception. We have at the focus of the action Dr Helmer played by the late Ernst-Hugo Järegård, a Swede with a troubled past who despises the hospital and it's practices, his recurring catchphrase "Bloody Danes" is a memorable addition to the proceedings. But more importantly is the character of Mrs Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes), the Ms Marple type character who's strange visions of the ghostly young Mary set the ball rolling. All of the actors are perfectly cast and have a great time mixing the surreal horror with the more comedic moments. Having seen both series of the Kingdom, I would say that series two is much better, perhaps because by this time we have a better grasp on the characters, but that by no way means that series one isn't just as good, let's not forget just how important a stepping stone it is. With this one Von Trier and co-director Morten Arnfred created a modern TV masterpiece. 10/10

Simply one of the best and most original European tv series ever. So original, clever and visually groundbreaking it was way ahead of its time. Dont miss this one!

I didn't like Riget I much. It was boring, and horror stories like that had been told a thousand times before. On the positive side, Stig Helmer was one of the most memorable characters ever, and he was even better than he was in the second series. Kudos to Jaregard for an outstanding interpretation. Also on the positive side, some things were funny (Helmer with the car rims) and some were genuinely absurd (where Krogshoj lives). But overall, Riget remained well inside the boundaries of the horror genre, and the narration didn't reach the critical point where everything becomes art.

Now Riget II, a masterpiece. The second series expresses all the unrealized potential of the first one. The tone is consistently grotesque, each action and interaction is quite absurd, and all the bonds with reality have been cut. There's no suspension of disbelief anymore, because everything is obviously surreal. Still, the audience is hooked till the end following a plot that is part crazy, part logical and compelling. There's much more humor and much more horror than there was in the first series, allowing the film to reach that critical point where contrast between tones and genres creates a rich canvas of relationships and meanings. You will smile at the electric car, believe the zombie poison, and listen to extremely deep pieces of philosophy by the dishwashers and Lars von Trier himself. The last scene with Little Brother is painful and hilarious at the same time, while flirting with a cosmological, universal, spiritual significance: hats off. You will also witness delightful, unbelievable situations, that make perfectly sense within the plot: this is a subtle form of art that started to reach its full potential in the nineties.

I watched Riget II before year 2000 for the first time, and then recently watched it again. At the time, I was quite shocked by its originality. Many things that von Trier did here spread around later in film making: I think this series was really ahead of the times. For example, I could not but notice the similarities between Riget II and "Arrested Development", the comedy series: camera work, editing, jumps between scenes and subplots, dry humor, over the top characters, lots of things were exactly the same. It's like Von Trier developed a language to imagine and handle absurd situations with ease; you can notice the obvious progress he made from Riget I to II.

Von Trier's Riget is his playground. It's fun watching and you can sense it was fun making. The cast all give top-notch performances, which is rare if there is only money involved. The directing is inspired and ambitious and best of all, it works, hand camera and all.

Riget is also a tour-de-force for Ernst-Hugo, a man who left my home town in his youth never to return. His cynical, out-of-his depth, partly incompetent and totally danophobic Swede Stig-Helmer is one of the funniest and best-played characters I've ever seen. He dominates every scene he's in, and his monologues on top of the hospital are priceless.

The rest of the cast do their best to overshine Jähregård, and they're not far behind. Krogshöj, Stig-Helmers nemesis, is really memorable, with a really unsettling gaze. Fru Drusse, played by Kirsten Rolffes, is another great character, utterly believable and also very funny. Then there's Bulder, Rigmor, the incompetent hospital director Moesgaard and his love-sick medical-student son, the mongoloid dish-washers, the elderly gentlemen of the secret society, and so on and so on.

The plot is a simple ghost hunt thing, nothing special. It's the quirks and the characters that move Riget forward. In four hours time, not a lot has happened on a larger scale, but you will still be sorting through all the details.

Riget is the concrete evidence that the Danish movie culture is superior to the Swedish. One can only hope we will ever produce something as great as this.

I first saw riget at a local theater. What was amazing was that after more than for hours every one in the audience wanted to see more (at least after a short cigarette break). However, this highly entertaining work which was, as far as I know, produced for TV is not a horror series. This is neither th X-files nor has it anything to do with friday the 13th. Sure, there are some gothic elements but it is rather a romantic ghost story. To me, it is more astonishing how easily von Trier and his great writers manage to combine several different genres. First of all this is a hospital series, different strands, none of which you would see in emergency room. The different stories meet perfectly at a hilarious finale. The main character is a swedish doctor whose scream of despair ("Dänischer Abschaum" in German, something like Danish scum) is a main event in every episode. The description of the freemason-like organization of the doctors is as brilliant as the parody of scientific ambition represented by a doctor who does some extraordinary things with his liver. Watch it, it`s great fun, but don`t expect a horror movie. In my opinion this is the best of von Triers works, because it`s the least ambitious.

Actually, Bill Murray said it best in Tootsie: "This is one *nutty* hospital"

Try to imagine a Danish hybrid of Spielberg's "Poltergeist" and the George C. Scott black comedy "The Hospital", with hints of "Rosemary's Baby" and the camp humor of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" thrown in. A really bizarre trip, alternating between seriousness and biting humor, with crazy camera angles and sepia-colored cinematography.

Among other things, you'll be feted with a severed head as a valentine; an initiation ritual involving an onion and a sharp knife; seances in the geriatric ward; Haitian voodoo and zombies; girl-ghosts in elevator shafts; a pathologist who has a diseased liver transplanted into his own body; an administrator who hides under his desk to avoid greeting important guests; and a belligerent Swede who ends each episode by waving his fists in the air and shouting "DANISH SCUM!!" ...in other words, be sure your sense of humor and appreciation of the bizarre are intact when you rent this, and don't expect a dramatic masterpiece. (It is, after all, a soap opera)

It would be an understatement to say that this film will not be for all tastes. The storyline has been delved into enough so I really can't add any more to it. I will say though that the woman who plays Mrs. Drusse does an excellent job, the actor who plays Stig the pompous Swede is a real horses ass, whom you hate, but laugh at at the same time, and the telepathic dishwashers (who apparently have downs syndrome or an other similar condition) are effectively chilling. I agree with the reviewer who asked why American television can't be like this. A well done work.

I purchased this after seeing great reviews, and a high ranking. What am I missing here. It is not a bad series, but it certainly doesnt deserve this high a ranking. It simply looks like a darker oriented soap opera. Those looking for a spook or dark/scary/disturbing movie should steer away from this one.

I am becoming fascinated with Lars von Trier. After seeing 'Zentropa', 'Breaking the Waves' and 'The Idiots', each movie different from the last, and each a minor masterpiece. Now I've watched another piece in the puzzle of his career, the fantastic (in all meanings of the word!) mini-series 'The Kingdom', and I'm once again hugely impressed! I can't think of any contemporary American or British director with his range or inventiveness.

'The Kingdom' concerns a large and sophisticated Danish hospital which is being haunted by ghosts. The doctors who work there are an eccentric bunch at the best of times, and things get progressively weirder. 'The Kingdom' successfully juggles humour, mystery, horror, soap opera and surrealism in a way not seen since 'Twin Peaks'. I found it to be compulsive viewing and can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, which sadly is nowhere to be found in Australia.

'The Kingdom' I'm sure will one day be regarded as a television classic. It's THAT good. I loved it, and hopefully you will too. Hats off to von Trier!

Before Von Trier devolved into an inconsistent and at times embarrassing provocateur, there was The Kingdom. And decades later, it's still the mightiest, most surreal, and consistently intelligent slab of perverse dark comedy you're ever going to find. In our current climate of binge-watching, this masterpiece is something you'll want set aside six hours for and consume ravenously in a single sitting. Because for those who can suspend our disbelief long enough to smile grimly and knowingly at the ludicrous surrealism found baked into the everyday operations of our largest and most established institutions (in this case, the hospital system), The Kingdom is literally a untouchable accomplishment.

You'll never see such an amazing spectacle. At approximately 4+ hours if rented (the whole mini series), it leaves you wanting even more. The film is shot in an over-exposed reddish-brown, and is filled with everything. Surreal terror, brilliant humor, incredible characters. It reminded me something of a cross between David Lynch's Twin Peaks series and Kubrick's version of Stephen King's "The Shining". Just incredible. Take a nice, long evening and watch it start to finish for the best effect, you won't be disappointed!

Riget is probably the best Danish show ever. Maybe even the best show in the world. Lars Von Trier has truly created an almost impeccable series containing both mystery and horror as well as amazing humor.

It has a number of subplots, of which all are near perfect, it has nuanced characters with both likeable and unlikeable traits and all this combined with Trier's rebellious style of filmmaking makes amazing.

Firstly, Lars Von Trier clearly watched Twin Peaks.

Secondly, The Kingdom is NOT a Twin Peaks copy. Even if Trier takes elements from Twin Peaks, AND FROM OTHER TV SHOWS !!!

Is The Kingdom bad because it's a mix of TV Shows ?

ABSOLUTELY AND UNQUESTIONABLY NO !

One of the greatest things about The Kingdom is it's a mix of comedy, silly horror and medical drama. This makes it an original masterpiece, only the intro tells it with it's mix of orchestra, pop and middle-aged choir. This series shows that a brilliant show can be made without big budget. Stig Helmer is one of the best examples for great character development, the setting is speaks for itself, the weak cameras are not taking away from the experience, they are one of the reasons for this otherworldly mood The Kingdom has.

The Kingdom is A VERY FUN SHOW.

I have a weak spot for Danish cinema and TV. I think that their filmmaking is anchored to reality. Even if "Riget'' is a show about the supernatural, the narration and some of the events told feels likely to happen. No crazy monster or unjustified and over the top violence. Lars Von Trier managed to keep my interest for all the episodes, while he slowly unveils the mystery. It is a balanced series with peculiar characters having parodistic traits. I believe that this is why this show works well: there are scary elements, but it does not take itself too seriously. The show is entirely set in a hospital and it is the perfect location for this story, with all its long corridors and creepy basements. The acting is good and it looks natural, nothing feels forced and I enjoyed the Ernst-Hugo Järegård performance. Out of all the characters, I think that Stig was the most interesting one. I also enjoyed Søren Pilmark: Hook is the proper anti hero of this story. I liked how he handles certain tough situations with biting sarcasm. Sigrid Drusse together with Bulder are the perfect ghost hunters couple, that will enable the entire supernatural storyline. At the beginning this is marginal, but then it will gradually become central towards the end of the first season and it will then be enriched during the second one. In 2022, after more than 20 years, we finally have a closure to this story. "Exodus" feels at times more like a reboot rather than a proper continuation. To be honest I was not very convinced by the pilot, it looked very strange and illogical, but then things get better in the mid-season. I think that the director did the best he could with what he had, considering that most of the main cast is dead. However, Von Trier managed to call back quite a few original members, and this was a good gift to all the fans of the show. I was very happy to see Willem Defoe taking part in this project. "Riget" is truly a different ghost story with an original plot. Compared to his other jobs, it is not as graphic, so potentially there is room for a larger audience pool. My final score is 8 stars out of 10.

Danish wonder boy Lars von Trier is the king and this is his Kingdom. I've seen some horror/ghost movies/series, but this is without doubt one of the best! It has everything you'd expect and more. I was expecting this mini-series to be good and it was by all means of the word.

Set at the Dansish national hospital, Rigshospitalet, nicknamed Rige (the Kingdom) a hobby spiritualist and hypochondriac, Drusse, who's been trying to contact spirits for years finally makes contact in the elevator at the hospital with a little girl who's been dead for quite some time. Strange things start to happened at the hospital, but in the living as well as the spiritual world as two of the doctors don't become the best of friends.

This is truly a great series because of a great story. It's captivating and gives you little hints now and then, but nothing conclusive until the end. It let's you think and guess. The characters are great. They are all very different individuals and that makes room for love, hate, comedy, drama and horror. It's not just the ghost story, but the story about the hospital and the people who work there as well. The series takes a rather odd look at medicine, making it all a freak show and making the hospital drama blend in good with the ghost story. You got everything, yet it's not confusing. This is a very well written series that plays on everything it possible can play on and it succeeds. It's a little slow in the beginning, but keeps you coming back and it just get's better and better. It's one of the best written ghost-stories I've ever seen.

The actors are good. There are a lot of very different characters and situations and to make this all go well together is not easy. Without good actors this would be impossible. It's such a nice mix and while their performances every now and then could've been a little better you don't really pay that much attention too it.

How thought hand held camera could possibly be this good. It brings suspense and reality too the series and it looks cool. The composition of the shots are good and the lightning is really good. The mood and feel of the series is really nice. It's well edited, with some really nice jump-cuts. Jumpcuts are usually a no-no in film-making and look bad, but it fits this series very well and the editor makes it look very good. The colors are also nice. A little reddish overall color, just make it more creepy, yet somehow it doesn't seem fake. Rather on the contrary.

The score is nice. The series got a kicking opening sequence with a nice mix of action and occult to it. There aren't that much score and that makes it all more real. The use of other sounds like the contentum to make suspense is really good.

I didn't give this series ten stars because there are some bad effects. Not many, though. There are a couple of bad bluescreen sequences and the title sequence are a little bad, but that's it. It's probably just three or four sequences, but the story kind of makes up for this, so you don't really let it bother you. On the other hand all the other effects are really nicely done and there are nothing too complain about there.

Riget (The Kingdom) is probably the best ghost-story I've seen and one of the best horror movies/series. It's a must see for any fans of this genre and a should-see for anyone else.

I saw both Riget 1 and 2 in two days and thought they were fantastic, especially the first one. These movies have everything and have been made almost like a soap-opera. I don't want to tell anything about them, but see both of them and be open minded. You gotta love the Swedish head doctor (Stig Helmer). Too bad the actor playing him (Ernst-Hugo Järregaard) is dead and von Trier is refusing to make Riget 3. I hope he changes his mind.

Riget II is a good sequel, but not quite as good as the first one. This series don't seem to be quite as serious as the first one. There are much more comedy in this, good one, though.

We're back at the Danish Rigshospitalet, the Danish national hospital. Mrs. Drusse is just about to leave the hospital as her work is done, but fate want's it otherwise. She is soon chasing ghosts and Helmer is doing everyone mad and it's soon to get much worse as black powers are unleashed in the Kingdom.

This story involves a lot more comedy that the previous. By all means lot of fun, but it makes you take the series a little less serious. The story has kept a lot of elements from the last series and added some new ones. It's well written, but some of the new elements are just kind of silly, but they save it by making it more like a comedy. Good story, but not as good, original and thrilling as the first series.

The actors are the same with some addition to the regular cast. They are all very good. It's an odd story and setting. Some parts are a total freak show and the characters change during the show so to keep it serious and keep it real is not an easy job. Yet, these actors handle this whole situation perfectly.

Much of the good qualities from the first series are kept intact. The cinematography is one of those qualities. The hand-held camera that made Trier world famous gives suspense and reality to the series. It gives the camera a unique ability to move and follow the characters and Trier makes use of these abilities. Good, movement, great lightning and good composition and editing makes this enjoyable to watch.

Be prepare to see better effect in this sequel that in the first. Also be prepared to see some more. I didn't think that green thing looked all too good. Thought it was unoriginal and didn't fit. Never the less, the effects like the ghosts are really good. The non-digital effects looks good too. Little Brother looks just really odd, but you accept it. All over I'd say effects are from OK to good.

The music is also quite good. Moody and nice. Some of it are really touching. It fits really nice. As the first one there are rather little music in the action scenes and it works very well.

All together this makes a good sequel. If you'd seen Riget you can see this one without being disappointed. It has many of the same qualities as the first series. However, I would recommend seeing the first series before seeing this. These two makes up a series you don't wanna miss.

You know you are not alone at not loving something when at the end of the first episode of it, Lars shows up telling to the audience that "next episode will be better". This one is such a boring and ridiculous story that made me want to go and return the DVD and forget about giving me my money back....just get this stupid and boring story out of my life! I really don't understand the people that rate it so high. The characters are unlikeable, empty and full of absurd reactions, not to mention the production mistakes that fill the series. May God have mercy on all the people that bought this hoping to get something worth their money for! And I really envy the ones that found something worthy on this one!

The Kingdom (Riget I) is quite simply a classic work of modern cinema. It's creepy, it's funny, it's emotional...and so much more. It grabs the viewer and does not let go until the end of each episode. Then, you want to view the next episode right away! It is like a great book which keeps you turning the pages one after another, after another...

I first saw The Kingdom on video and was blown away by the odd characters and the peculiar script of ideas. The story gets even more bizarre and twisted in Riget II, which has never been officially released in North America...but is available as an import for those interested. The full series is something I feel the urge to view again on a regular basis. In fact, I enjoy it so much that I've owned four subsequent editions on VHS and DVD. The official released 4-DVD import set from Denmark is the best, containing the full uncut versions of Riget 1 & 2.

The choice of the actors and actresses turned out perfect for the series, it is these performances that make The Kingdom work so flawlessly well. Ernst-Hugo Järegård & Kirsten Rolffes are the two most memorable roles in the series, and it is sad that they've both passed away. This is unfortunate as there would have been a Riget III to finish off the complete tales of The Kingdom, according to the words of Von Trier at least. It looks like that a Part 3 will never happen though, since two of the best leads of the project are gone forever.

The way The Kingdom was filmed has a stylish look that is very organic, believable, and creepy when it needs to be. They tried many things to get a deliberate "dirty look" for the series, and I think they hit the mark dead on.

Stephen King also happens to be a fan of The Kingdom, and is currently working on a longer North American version of the series. I've heard it will be fully over 20 hours, but that could be just a wild rumor. I am skeptical that this will work, but we'll just have to wait and see what it's like. Perhaps Part 3 of the story will finally get completed in this version. I'm sure I will always enjoy Von Trier's original the most, but it would be nice simply to know how the unfinished story of Part 3 evolves and is concluded...