150 Word Review: 'Hour Of The Wolf' (1968)
Dead of night
One should never, ever accept an invitation to a party hosted by fashionable aging aristocrats in a castle on the other side of the island, is one of the many lessons in director Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf, often described as the master filmmaker’s “only” horror movie. It transcends the genre, though; it is a dream, a vision of marriage and desire that slowly melts into a cold, sweaty nightmare.
Max von Sydow is Johan, a philandering painter with a secret and the captivating Liv Ullmann is his devoted, pregnant, wife. Her heart is full, his is empty. They live an impoverished life on a remote , haunted island. Never marry an artist is another lesson. Hour of the Wolf glows with life; the close-ups are stunning. There are unforgettable, surreal moments: an eyeball dropped in a wine glass. A cuckold standing on the celing. Why is everyone grinning?
Peak Bergman.