Thale is a 2012 Norwegian horror film about two men, Leo and Elvis, who are contracted to clear away the remains of bodies of people whose corpses were either not discovered before serious decomposing has set in or had died violent messy deaths. While on a job at a remote forest cabin they discover hidden rooms in the building’s basement and a mysterious young woman, nude and mute.

I struggle to accurately name Thale a horror film in part because for so much of the movie’s run time very little occurs. Now, I am not one who lacks patience for a ‘slow burn’ of a horror film, in fact a well crafts slow burn is my favorite style of horror film making but Thale seems to lack enough plot for its scant 76-minute running time which honestly felt much long. As a short feature, 30 minutes or so in length it would have packed a much more powerful punch but over an hour with its extremely limited plot the film drags. The story draws on Scandinavian folklore and had the filmmakers leaned more into that aspect of the tale they might have achieved, even on their quite limited budget, a more effective film. This film is not clumsily made, and it is well shot and well-staged and for some it may act as a curious diversion but for me the film failed to lift off and merely taxied to its runway without every taking flight.

Thale is currently streaming on Shudder.

My SF/Noir Vulcan’s Forge is available from Amazon and all booksellers. The novel is dark, cynical, and packed with movie references,