The other side

This year again, the Gérardmer festival will have allowed us to (re)discover that horrific cinema has no borders and that even if most of the films of this genre come from the United States, other countries are also capable of making us sweat and really scare us. After having directed several episodes of Swedish series the duo Tord Danielsson and Oskar Mellander present us with The other side a promising beginning by signing both the script and the direction.

A father moves into a new house with his son and his girlfriend. While working out of town, their son makes a new friend next door to their house and little by little supernatural events occur. Watching this film, one will think of Poltergeist (1982) and Mama (2013) through the supernatural presence of a monstrous creature who seems to want to steal the son of this young couple. In spite of several ideas that seem to come from these films, The Other side (Andra sidan), although not completely original, proves to be rather effective, thanks to the solid interpretations of the main actors, notably the actress Dilan Gwyn who will do anything to protect her adopted son and who seems to lose her mind in the summer and as the story unfolds before our eyes.

We will also appreciate the work done as much on the careful photography of the film as on its sound aspect. The sound effects play an important part in developing and highlighting the numerous jump scare linked to the appearance of the creature. Of course the special effects cannot compete with the American films, which require a large budget, but they are careful enough to reinforce the anguish side of this film. Until the end our attention remains as strong as ever and we can only take sides with this mother trying to understand how to deal with this creature.

Finally, due to the lack of closed movie theaters in France, this movie will be available in VOD & Digital Purchase on April 1st and in DVD & Blu-ray on April 7th. It is distributed in France by the publisher Wild Side and we can only encourage you to discover it...

The Other side (Andra sidan)
Written and directed by Tord Danielsson, Oskar Mellander
Produced by Gila Bergqvist Ulfung
Starring Dilan Gwyn, Eddie Eriksson Dominguez, Linus Wahlgren, Troy James, Sander Falk, Karin Lithman, Henrik Norlén
Music by Jonas Wikstrand
Cinematography Andres Rignell, Henrik Johansson
Edited by Joakim Ekström Tessert
Distributed by First International Production
Release date: October 23,2020 (Sweden)
Running time: 87 minutes

Seen on January 28, 2021 (Gerardmer Festival)

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