DRAUG (Karin Engman & Klas Persson - Sweden / 2019)
There are just a few but interesting genre movies coming out from Sweden (see the early silent masterpiece HAXAN and later films like EVIL ED, FROSTBITE and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) and here we have an independent production from two new filmmakers. It's the 11th century AD and a Viking team that was escorting a Christian missionary disappears in the forest of Odmarden, which is located on the east coast of Sweden. The local king brings together a small group, whith himself as a leader and including his stepdaughter, Nanna. Their group goes to the forest to look for the lost escort team, but they encounter enemies much worse than the ones they expected, because the forest is haunted by a small horde of living dead, who were created by black magic and have something to do with deeds from the heroes' past. The group must fight to survive the supernatural threat and the girl must use her special powers, before the final act of divine judgement arrives.
The movie could easily fit in the horror genre but to my eyes it also fits it the sword n'sorcery genre, since it has supernatural elements (zombie-like wraiths, who are called Draugr and they are based on Scandinavian folklore and legends about runic sorcery), but it emphasizes on the adventure element. The main idea is good and the two directors utilize the natural scenery of Odmarden forest in an ideal way (the forest is a real place) and we also have outbursts of horror and pagan sorcery, that mostly appear towards the final act. The horror moments include the shrouded Draugr creatures, which are very unique creations and the movie rewards viewers with blood and gore, while the special effects (handled by Engman, who has also worked as a make up effects artist in other projects for movies and TV) are basically practical and well-done, with only subtle touches of CGI. The imposing movie
of Vampire Bytes fits the movie perfectly and showcases influences from Scandinavian folk music (we should not forget the tradition of Sweden in the dark ambient genre, if we remember the bands of Cold Meat Industry label, plus interesting pagan folk bands like Garmarna and Forndom) and the actors play well, despite the fact that none of them is famous. Just keep in mind that the film's budget is low (it would not even cover the catering costs for the GAME OF THRONES TV series) and that restrains a more epic representation of the era, more extensive battles or massive hordes of the undead. However, if one considers the small resources Engman and Persson had at their disposal, the final result is indeed commendable, the period atmosphere is convincing and I wish they will continue their efforts in the future. More pictures and information about the movie you can find here : http://draugmovie.com/
DARK TALES FROM THE NORTH:
KARIN ENGMAN&KLAS PERSSON INTERVIEW
Since DRAUG was a pleasant surprise for Swedish fantastic cinema and our zine supports new and independent filmakers, we were lucky to have its creators to answer a few of our questions. The interview was done through e-mail communication between the editor of Shock and Karin Engman, who handled the answers representing both of the directors, that is including Klas Persson.
How did you get interested in cinema - and horror/fantasy cinema in particular - and were there any movies that made you love the genre?
Since we remembered we have always had a big interest in stories. Books, film and TV and mostly fantasy and or horror. We spent many days and nights discussing the latest book read or film seen in our late teens. The films of Peter Jackson is a huge inspiration for both of us, from his very first Bad Taste. Evil Dead II is one of Klas all time favorite and for Karin Bram Stokers Dracula and Interview with a vampire. The devils backbone is one of the best horror films out there, and of course Jaws! And Alien! This is a very hard question, I could spend the entire day talking about great movies!
Both of you collaborated (under the banner of Odmarden Filmporuktion) as directors and producers of a Swedish web TV series called THE GREAT DYING. Can you tell us some information about it?
The Great Dying was our first production from our company Ödmården Filmproduction. It was one of Swedens first webseries in Drama and fiction and we are very proud of that. It was also filmed here in Bollnäs, Sweden where we live with our four kids. It came out around the same time as The Walking Dead, which was a good thing for us, we won a few awards and got distribution in France and a few more French speaking countries. We wanted it to be our way of putting us out on the market so to speak and we think we succeeded.
Since we remembered we have always had a big interest in stories. Books, film and TV and mostly fantasy and or horror. We spent many days and nights discussing the latest book read or film seen in our late teens. The films of Peter Jackson is a huge inspiration for both of us, from his very first Bad Taste. Evil Dead II is one of Klas all time favorite and for Karin Bram Stokers Dracula and Interview with a vampire. The devils backbone is one of the best horror films out there, and of course Jaws! And Alien! This is a very hard question, I could spend the entire day talking about great movies!
Both of you collaborated (under the banner of Odmarden Filmporuktion) as directors and producers of a Swedish web TV series called THE GREAT DYING. Can you tell us some information about it?
The Great Dying was our first production from our company Ödmården Filmproduction. It was one of Swedens first webseries in Drama and fiction and we are very proud of that. It was also filmed here in Bollnäs, Sweden where we live with our four kids. It came out around the same time as The Walking Dead, which was a good thing for us, we won a few awards and got distribution in France and a few more French speaking countries. We wanted it to be our way of putting us out on the market so to speak and we think we succeeded.
Karin also worked as a special effects artist in the American horror film THE CABIN. How did this chance come up and did the experience tempt you to leave Sweden at some point and work in the USA?
The cabin was filmed right after we finished our principal photography for Draug and we know Johan Bodell, the director of The Cabin as we grew up in the same small town. As it was, we needed to shoot some pick up scenes and asked if we could borrow Johans sound recorder and as a return favor I came out to their set and did some make up. It was a one day job, and I was surprised (and happy) to see the end credits with my name on the Special FX make up. I have been working with make up for 20 years, and that is how I eventually came to be a producer/director. I love the make up part but am very pleased to have moved forward in to production, as that is more rewarding for me personally. But I still take make up jobs now and then mostly for fun.
Is there an interest in horror in Sweden-meaning horror fans, film festivals, magazines or fanzines?
The Swedish horror society absolutely exists, even if it is fairly small compared to other countries. We are a small country but the fans are dedicated and loyal. There is not a huge amount of Swedish independent horror movies, but hopefully that will change. As we have the Swedish Film Institute who have not traditionally been very positive toward genre film it has been hard to get the horror movies done. But as I said, change is coming! We are screening Draug on a horror film festival in Sweden in November, and have been asked to attend a few others, so there sure are fans that are thirsty for Swedish horror.
Your movie DRAUG was screened throughout 2018 and 2019 and it has a very interesting story, mixing elements of Viking adventure with runic sorcery, fantasy and horror elements. How did the idea about the movie occur?
Klas is a viking nerd you might say. Both of us are interested in history and the part of Sweden we live in is full of stories and myths from the viking era so it felt natural for us to write about something close to home. We had three different viking ideas when we started and so we asked ourselves which one of those we most wanted to see. So Draug it was. It was not the easiest of the three, but our thought was, eather do it or don't. So we did! Since we are parents our stories tend to circle around that and mixed in with a little history and horror and we had Draug. The character of Hel is a mix between the norse goddess of Hel and the Sumerian goddess Ereshkigal. That comes from our interest of history and the history of religion. Also, a missionary was actually murdered in our woods for real at the same time the movie is set, but the Draug was not involved in that. (That we know ;-))
The cabin was filmed right after we finished our principal photography for Draug and we know Johan Bodell, the director of The Cabin as we grew up in the same small town. As it was, we needed to shoot some pick up scenes and asked if we could borrow Johans sound recorder and as a return favor I came out to their set and did some make up. It was a one day job, and I was surprised (and happy) to see the end credits with my name on the Special FX make up. I have been working with make up for 20 years, and that is how I eventually came to be a producer/director. I love the make up part but am very pleased to have moved forward in to production, as that is more rewarding for me personally. But I still take make up jobs now and then mostly for fun.
Is there an interest in horror in Sweden-meaning horror fans, film festivals, magazines or fanzines?
The Swedish horror society absolutely exists, even if it is fairly small compared to other countries. We are a small country but the fans are dedicated and loyal. There is not a huge amount of Swedish independent horror movies, but hopefully that will change. As we have the Swedish Film Institute who have not traditionally been very positive toward genre film it has been hard to get the horror movies done. But as I said, change is coming! We are screening Draug on a horror film festival in Sweden in November, and have been asked to attend a few others, so there sure are fans that are thirsty for Swedish horror.
Your movie DRAUG was screened throughout 2018 and 2019 and it has a very interesting story, mixing elements of Viking adventure with runic sorcery, fantasy and horror elements. How did the idea about the movie occur?
Klas is a viking nerd you might say. Both of us are interested in history and the part of Sweden we live in is full of stories and myths from the viking era so it felt natural for us to write about something close to home. We had three different viking ideas when we started and so we asked ourselves which one of those we most wanted to see. So Draug it was. It was not the easiest of the three, but our thought was, eather do it or don't. So we did! Since we are parents our stories tend to circle around that and mixed in with a little history and horror and we had Draug. The character of Hel is a mix between the norse goddess of Hel and the Sumerian goddess Ereshkigal. That comes from our interest of history and the history of religion. Also, a missionary was actually murdered in our woods for real at the same time the movie is set, but the Draug was not involved in that. (That we know ;-))
How much did the movie cost and did you have any financial support to make the movie or was all the money from your production company?
As I mentioned, it is hard to get funding for genre film in Sweden so we decided early on to finance it on our own. We had a tiny bit of financially support from our region, but the film is basically financed by us. The budget was 42000 euro. That is as low as you can get if you want to be able to pay people, and as we own most of our equipment and were able to get housing for the actors and team for free it saved us a little money.
DRAUG is accompanied by a very impressive music score. Who is behind Vampire Bytes?
Vampire Bytes is our film score project, and though I sing a little in the film, Draug's score is entirely Klas doing. He is a musician since childhood and a part from Saturn by Gustav Holst and the little Hårga tune at the very end of the credits, it is all Klas.
The movie was screened in Scream Fest in the USA. How about other festivals and did you travel anywhere to promote the movie?
We have screened the film in a few festivals around the globe, and we actually went to Hollywood for the Screamfest LA. It was an amazing festival and we saw some very good people. It also had a screening at Women in Horror Stockholm were I attended also.
Is DRAUG available on DVD or video on demand in Sweden or other countries?
Draug is available on VOD by Amazon, so far only English speaking countries but hopefully soon to be the rest of the world. In Sweden it is available both online and on BluRay.
As I mentioned, it is hard to get funding for genre film in Sweden so we decided early on to finance it on our own. We had a tiny bit of financially support from our region, but the film is basically financed by us. The budget was 42000 euro. That is as low as you can get if you want to be able to pay people, and as we own most of our equipment and were able to get housing for the actors and team for free it saved us a little money.
DRAUG is accompanied by a very impressive music score. Who is behind Vampire Bytes?
Vampire Bytes is our film score project, and though I sing a little in the film, Draug's score is entirely Klas doing. He is a musician since childhood and a part from Saturn by Gustav Holst and the little Hårga tune at the very end of the credits, it is all Klas.
The movie was screened in Scream Fest in the USA. How about other festivals and did you travel anywhere to promote the movie?
We have screened the film in a few festivals around the globe, and we actually went to Hollywood for the Screamfest LA. It was an amazing festival and we saw some very good people. It also had a screening at Women in Horror Stockholm were I attended also.
Is DRAUG available on DVD or video on demand in Sweden or other countries?
Draug is available on VOD by Amazon, so far only English speaking countries but hopefully soon to be the rest of the world. In Sweden it is available both online and on BluRay.
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| behind the scenes of DRAUG |
How did you chose the actors for the movie?
We made an ad to find the actors except Elna Karlsson who did a wonderful job in the first promo trailer we made. She is a lovely person and we never wanted anyone else for the part of Nanna. The rest of the actors we had auditions with, some of them we met during the Production of The Great Dying, others were new. Thomas came from a tip from our production designer and we are very happy about that off course. All the actors were amazing, we truly became a family on set.
DRAUG showcases several scenes with special effects. Do you prefer working with practical or digital FX and why?
The special FX part is always difficult. On one hand you save time during filming if you do it digitally, but then you have to have time to make it look real in post. So we use a mix. Sometimes you have to do it digitally (we didn't shoot arrows in horses or actors for real) and sometimes you have to do it the old fashion way with make up. All the masks for the Draug are made with practical FX. But the film is so full of digitally made FX that it was basically a years work. The boat at the end did not float, so that was fixed in post, and all the day for night is a huge deal. The film was always shot during mostly daylight. A few of the swords had to look sharp as they have rounded tips and some of the blood splatter is also digital.
The zombie-like wraiths in the movie are called draugr. Where you inspired by certain Norse legends about those undead creatures?
Our Draugr are completely based on the myth from the norse sagas. We did some general research about the draugr and then made up our own version to fit the film.
I don't know if you've seen the movie MIDSOMMAR, which was released this year, but after watching it I realized there is a lot of inspiration to be drawn from Sweden's past, folklore legends or Norse mythology, in order to make special horror movies. Do you think movies like MIDSOMMAR could help put more resources for movies to be made in Sweden?
At the time of writing we have not had time to see Midsommar yet, but we will! It is shot in Hungary but the village Hårga is just a few kilometers away from where we live, I myself has spent many midsummers there as midsummer is a big celebration in Sweden. The film has started a discussion about a very important subject in Sweden as it was planned to be shot here but ended up in Hungary instead since that was a lesser cost for the production. Sweden is an expensive country and it is a good thing the Midsommar incident happened, at least for us filmmakers.
We made an ad to find the actors except Elna Karlsson who did a wonderful job in the first promo trailer we made. She is a lovely person and we never wanted anyone else for the part of Nanna. The rest of the actors we had auditions with, some of them we met during the Production of The Great Dying, others were new. Thomas came from a tip from our production designer and we are very happy about that off course. All the actors were amazing, we truly became a family on set.
DRAUG showcases several scenes with special effects. Do you prefer working with practical or digital FX and why?
The special FX part is always difficult. On one hand you save time during filming if you do it digitally, but then you have to have time to make it look real in post. So we use a mix. Sometimes you have to do it digitally (we didn't shoot arrows in horses or actors for real) and sometimes you have to do it the old fashion way with make up. All the masks for the Draug are made with practical FX. But the film is so full of digitally made FX that it was basically a years work. The boat at the end did not float, so that was fixed in post, and all the day for night is a huge deal. The film was always shot during mostly daylight. A few of the swords had to look sharp as they have rounded tips and some of the blood splatter is also digital.
The zombie-like wraiths in the movie are called draugr. Where you inspired by certain Norse legends about those undead creatures?
Our Draugr are completely based on the myth from the norse sagas. We did some general research about the draugr and then made up our own version to fit the film.
I don't know if you've seen the movie MIDSOMMAR, which was released this year, but after watching it I realized there is a lot of inspiration to be drawn from Sweden's past, folklore legends or Norse mythology, in order to make special horror movies. Do you think movies like MIDSOMMAR could help put more resources for movies to be made in Sweden?
At the time of writing we have not had time to see Midsommar yet, but we will! It is shot in Hungary but the village Hårga is just a few kilometers away from where we live, I myself has spent many midsummers there as midsummer is a big celebration in Sweden. The film has started a discussion about a very important subject in Sweden as it was planned to be shot here but ended up in Hungary instead since that was a lesser cost for the production. Sweden is an expensive country and it is a good thing the Midsommar incident happened, at least for us filmmakers.
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| shooting DRAUG |
Along with my thanks for this interview, can you tell us about your future plans and if there are any film or TV projects you would like to work on?
We are already planning our next project, and it may be more vikings or it may be a completely different era. We are still in the deciding stages... As of now, we are totally committed to our own projects, but we sure would love to work with some of the amazing film makers out there. Who knows?
Thank you for giving us the time!
We are already planning our next project, and it may be more vikings or it may be a completely different era. We are still in the deciding stages... As of now, we are totally committed to our own projects, but we sure would love to work with some of the amazing film makers out there. Who knows?
Thank you for giving us the time!
NOTE : The review of DRAUG and interview were originally published in SHOCK#49 (December 2019). The review was translated from Greek text and the interview is posted directly from the English text and my mail communication with the directors.
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