The 1952 Finnish movie The White Reindeer is one of the great lost classics of folk horror. Although it won prizes at Cannes and the Golden Globes in its day, it was largely forgotten until a gorgeous 4K restoration started doing the rounds in 2017. It’s an eerie, utterly otherworldly dark fairy tale set on the desolate, snowbound fells of Sápmi (the Arctic region sometimes known as Lapland, though the native Sámi people consider that name pejorative).
In a haunting prologue, it is foretold that a newborn Sámi girl will become a witch; she grows into Piriti (Mirjami Kuosmanen), a spirited woman who chafes against her lonely existence as the wife of a roaming reindeer herder. She seeks relief from a local shaman, but perhaps due to her innate magic, his love ritual goes wrong and transforms her into a vampiric shape-shifter, cursed to hunt and consume men in the form of a white reindeer.
Kuosmanen wrote the film with her husband, director and cinematographer Erik Blomberg. He combines stunning documentary footage of Sámi life on this lunar landscape with intense stylization that recalls silent-movie expressionists like F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. Shot in black and white and almost entirely on location in the wilderness, The White Reindeer contrasts the blinding whiteout of the snow with pitch-black Gothic tableaux, and moves between them via the liminal half-light of the low Arctic sun.
Although the story is simple and the action is plainly laid out, The White Reindeer remains ambiguous and dreamlike. It’s not clear exactly when in history it’s taking place. The logic of the characters’ behavior can be obscure, and the figures appear cut adrift, isolated in the vast negative space of their surroundings. It’s also that rare breed of monster movie that keeps its focus squarely and compassionately on the monster as its point-of-view character. Kuosmanen channels the silent greats in a performance wracked with sexual frustration and a fierce hunger she doesn’t fully understand.
In spite of its brief 68-minute runtime, The White Reindeer can feel slow, thanks to its sparse storytelling style. But Kuosmanen’s vivid performance, Blomberg’s incredible visuals, and the movie’s haunting allegory for the way a repressive society can demonize female desire will linger in your mind for a long time.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder, Tubi, Hoopla, and similar services, and to rent or buy on Amazon Video. (If you have a multi-region Blu-ray player, there’s also an excellent physical edition available from Eureka in the U.K.)
Polygon’s annual Halloween Countdown is a 31-day run of short recommendations of the best horror movies, shows, TV episodes, and online specials to stream for the Halloween season. You can find the entire calendar here.
