When Animals Dream

Marie is sixteen and lives in a coastal town with nowt to do, no friends and a mother with a mysterious debilitating illness. The local doctor seems to take a lot of interest in Marie's condition especially when she starts to grow thick body hair and she would like to know why.

Now she gets a job at the local fish factory, where she is not exactly made to feel welcome. She makes a connection with Daniel, a kindly soul who is also a good looking man whom she takes a shine too. The thing is she starts to feel that she has not been told everything about her 'illness' and soon she will find out the hard way.

Now this is a slow burner but one that is fairly intense at the same time. There are some sterling performances especially from Lars Mikkelsen – brother of Mads but everyone is actually good even Gustav Dyekjær Giese who has a small role playing a nasty type here and was in the rather good 'Northwest'. It is short at 81 minutes and that includes the run off credits, but it does not do much wasting of screen time and is better for it. For lovers of 'horror' this may be lacking as it is a coming of age tale and a relationship story as much as the horror part and that makes it a more rounded film – recommended.

When Animals Dream has a lot of similarities with the Swedish masterpiece Let The Right One In. While one movie deals with Vampires and the other with Werewolves, both share a brilliant atmosphere along with sympathetic situations. When Animals Dream isn't so much about Werewolves as such, but about a family struggling to cope with hereditary illness. The power of a young female caring for her ill mother and depressed father. The whole situation is hopeless and portrays a very depressing story, but strangely at the same time, a story of beauty. The story is simplistic, but its the rich flavour that keeps the movie afloat. While Let The Right One In is a better film, When Animals Dream is yet another very memorable Scandinavian horror/drama. Highly recommended!

WHEN ANIMALS DREAM is a deceptively quiet film. Very quiet. At least at first. Marie (Sonia Suhl) spends most of her free time tending to the needs of her mother (Sonja Richter), who is physically frozen from some unknown condition. Marie's father (Lars Mikkelsen) and the family doctor are extremely secretive about it all, especially when Marie begins showing odd symtoms of her own.

Marie's job is difficult and not at all glamorous. Making matters worse, her coworkers continue to haze her in vile ways. When Marie is finally told what is going on at home, her life begins to change drastically.

This is a totally different sort of werewolf movie. It's far more subtle than most, and the cold, grey somberness of it is palpable. Some have compared it to LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, and that's appropriate when it comes to atmosphere. It also has a bit of GINGER SNAPS going on, though this is not a satire by any stretch, like GS certainly is. It is a coming-of-age film, using horror to show the awkwardness, frustration, and pain involved.

If you're a strict horror fan, have no fear, there are some gruesome surprises to be found. Ms. Suhl plays Marie as a seemingly-shy girl with an edge. A sharp edge.

An effective twist on the genre, with a satisfying finale...

It's not as exploitative as some may think (especially considering the English title), but more Art-house. So while this is a different beast (no pun intended) than "Let the right one in" (your dreams?), this still has a similar feeling to it. Not to mention a female character in the center of it. A really good movie (coming of age and other things that is) if you like your drama spiced.

Acting wise this is great and it may need some time to get rolling, but when it does there seems to be no stopping. Many people can also identify with the main actress/character, the way she feels and is being treated. There is more than a connection (though it does stop there of course ... hopefully) and that is being exploited, if anything.

Wow. What a pleasant surprise. Carefully-paced, artfully composed with some beautiful cinematography and direction, and some strong acting. The fact that it's the director's feature film debut is highly impressive, and it actually reminds me of Let The Right One In in some aspects. It's definitely a horror film, but definitely a coming-of-age drama in other ways. Definitely recommend this little gem, and further proof that 2014 was actually a good year for horror (among others like Under The Skin, Coherence, The Babadook, Honeymoon). I hope people try to seek this one out because it's definitely worth the time to, especially among sure dire horrors these days.