About

When I see 'Hour of the Wolf' today, I understand that it is about a deep-seated division within me, both hidden and carefully monitored, visible in both my earlier and later work…

While Bergman would often explore the harrowing insights found within his characters' hearts, Hour of the Wolf was the Swedish director's only true horror film. When Johan (Max von Sydow), an artist, travels to an island with his pregnant wife (Liv Ullmann), he finds himself haunted by horrific nightmares and growing dread. The psychological torment of Johan and his wife laps up against the incursion of increasingly vivid surreal and supernatural imagery.

Bergman was reportedly inspired by Tod Browning's Dracula 1931 and, perhaps fittingly for a film named after the period of time between night and dawn, Hour of the Wolf is cloaked in the darkness of gothic shadows. This is a superior nightmare from the master of portraying the shadows within the human mind.

PG | Medium level violence, Adult themes, Nudity