A few weeks ago as my sweetie-wife and I relaxed watching Travel Man, an amusing show that spends 48 hours in various cities and well worth a watch on Hulu, I came across a tweet suggesting that people need to watch this older Finnish film about a woman that becomes a were-reindeer luring men to deaths. I shared the information with my sweetie-wife who instantly wanted to see it. (She has a love of things Finnish.) Searching failed to find any site hosting The White Reindeer for streaming and because my own curiosity grew quite elevated and I ordered a Blu-ray of the film from Germany. (It’s a joy owning a region free Blu-ray player and being able to view discs from literally anywhere in the world.)

Several weeks later The White Reindeer arrived in our mailbox.

With a running time just over an hour The White Reindeer fits nicely into the sort of time slot that from the period would have been a ‘B’ picture but its quality is in no way associated with that ter. Starring and co-written by Mirjami Kuosmanen The White Reindeer’s protagonist is Pirita a young woman who find her newly married life to reindeer hunter Aslak more dull than she had expected as he is required to spend significant time on distant expeditions. In desperation she turns to a local wizard for magical help to make her irresistible but due to either the unusual nature of her birth or the malicious actions of the stone god that grants the power Pirita becomes a shapeshifter transforming in a rare white reindeer that no hunter can resist chasing to their doom.

The director Erik Blomberg avoids the typical transformation effects of the age and instead of lapse dissolves uses clever edits and cuts to suggest the change and promotes the fantastic feel of the film far better than if we had watched Pirita become the reindeer.

The White Reindeer won Best Fairy tale Film at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1956.

More closely related to horror cinema that fantasy with clear mirroring of Universal’s The Wolf-Man without being derivative The White Reindeer is essential viewing for lovers of international horror films.