Haunted House Party

October, Halloween month.  Thinking of setting the mood with a little horror cinema?

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Johan Borg (Max von Sydow) has come with his wife Alma (Liv Ullmann) to the Frisian island Baltrum.  Johan is an artist, a painter, and he looks in the need of rest.  Borg's insomnia keeps Alma awake beside him, long into the night. There are also his (possible) hallucinations of persons, which Borg relates with names, such as the Bird Man and the Insects.  As for Veronica Vogler (Ingrid Thulin), Borg doesn't share with Alma that he is obsessed too with thoughts of Vogler, a lover from his past.

Alma and Johan are invited to parties, at an island castle that proves to be a bit of a haunted house.  The first party serves as appetizer for a second.  Hosted by the Von Merkens (Erland Josephson and Gertrud Fridh), the guests sneer at Johan's identity as artist.  Irony bristles and takes on a cutting edge.

The second party leads to the conclusion of Ingmar Bergman's Hour Of The Wolf (1968).  Bergman's nightmare images are now more direct in their horror.  Johan is presented for example a naked corpse of Veronica Vogler, beneath a sheet on a table. Those same guests from the first party hover meanwhile, laughing at Borg's expense.

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Sound like a screening for your Halloween party?  Unlike some horror films, Hour Of The Wolf won't have you worrying about unwelcome guests, in the basement.