Movielook: Sauna A dark gem in the Horrorgenre.

“Sauna – Wash your Sins” is a Finnish Horrorproduction from 2008. It is not very well known and the reception is mixed, if we look at IMDb. A real shame in my opinion, because it is one of my favorite Horrormovies of all time, but I can understand it. It is a very different movie, that doesn't rely on Jumpscares or blood and one could even argue, that it is not even very suspenseful - a great sin if you want to spook your audience.

This will not really a review, but more a analysis. Because the greatest strength of “Sauna” is the story. I had actually philosophical discussions, after watching it with friends and that is something that not very Horrormovies can do.

So, what is the plot of this?

After decades of war the kingdoms of Sweden and Russia agreed to sign a piece treaty in 1595. Two commissions were then ordered to draw the new border, by walking from village to village in the Finnish regions. In one of these commissions are the two brothers Erik and Knut. One a war veteran and one a intellectual. One with a sinful past, one with sinful thoughts. After commuting one last crime, they travel into a vast swamp, were they find a tiny, forgotten village and a mysterious Sauna.

All of this plays with the myth, that one can wash his sins away in a sauna. As if things can be that simple right?

Erik and Knut are not nice or moral protagonists. They both have their burden and this burden brings them to a place, that one could call hell. But it is not a place of eternal suffering and pain. No. One of the side characters talks about how hell is just a place were God is absent - dirty, filthy and dark.

It all plays with the thoughts of what a place may be like, if God wasn't there and with things that God could not even bear to look at. Of course you can not visual show something like that to normal, earthly beings. These are concepts that humans can not understand. The people in the movie may use words like God and Hell to get the events into some kind of form, but it is most likely so much more than these human concepts.

The sauna itself is like an anomaly, that doesn't belong in this place and time. White, rectangular and alien in the filth of the swamp. Nobody knows were it came from or who/what build it. I am not kidding, this movies actually manages to make a sauna unnerving.

In its core it is like a trap. If someone with a great sin walks into the swamp, the sauna will use the souls of the dead to lure then in. Then it will open up the old wounds and start to mindfuck everyone. Remember, the movie is called “Sauna – Wash your Sins” and not “Wash your Sins away”. The sauna is not evil or good and it doesn't need bloodthirsty monsters. There is a grotesque being at he very end, but it has little to do with Erik and Knut. The movie is built around their personalities and sins. The concept and the horror works with their characters and that is in my opinion a great achievement. The force is unnatural, even lovecraftian is some regards, but it is still connected with the protagonists and uses their own minds against them.

I admit, there are some cheap scares in some places and the second half is a little bit rushed is some bits. But the overall idea, the cryptic dialogues and symbols give an endless pool for discussions.

And the movie has a great cinematography too, with the desolate Finnish backlands. If you know “Walhalla Rising” you will get a general idea of the aesthetics. Especially the costums are to die for. I really need the trenchcoat of Erik someday. That things has style! The music is a feast too.

Overall, I can see some people fall asleep when watching this. It is mostly a very quiet movie, that tries to creep you with its premise, the slowly laying out of all the mysteries and the fear of the unknown and unseen. It may not make click with everyone and when I was younger I could not appreciate it at first too. But now I am fully immersed every time a watch it.

So it may take time and multiple watches, but I highly encourage to give “Sauna – Wash your Sins” a try.

I hope this little text made you interested.

Thank you for reading.

Art: https://manoalada.deviantart.com/art/Wash-your-sins-274506421