The White Reindeer (1952) - Erik Blomberg

​A beautifully composed ethnographic horror film that is quite singular in the way it integrates geographic and cultural specificity into more general folk horror sensibilities. The White Reindeer's aesthetic and formal design is familiar yet distinct, yet I found the film's underlying thematic relevance to be quite fascinating, being tenuously tailored around a deeply patriarchal way of life that is ripe for revisionist interpretation and investigation. An act of emotional desperation from a woman, driven by loneliness and emotional destitution as a housewife, brings great peril to the small community. Evil forces brought out by this act of individualistic desperation ultimately lead to communal horror, personal regret, and inevitable tragedy - a somewhat familiar motif, yet one that is interesting from the lens of feminism. One could interpret this story as either an implicit work of feminism or one deeply embedded with traditional patriarchal values. The denouement is one of devastation, not only for her but the man she loves, one that is arguably as much one of his creation due to neglect. For those interested in the subtext, White Reindeer is bountiful, not only in this regard but also as it relates to communal vs. individual desire, but make no mistake the film's text itself is also worthy of plenty of praise, being a beautifully constructed atmospheric piece of folk horror