What’s it About
During one eternally bright summer in Norway, a young girl named Ida (Flottoum) lives with her parents and autistic older sister Anna (Ramstad) in a modern housing development. There she meets two new friends roughly her age, the moody Ben (Ashraf) and sweet Aisha (Asheim). The four kids become a pack, but then Ben starts showing a sadistic streak. Worse, it seems he has dangerous telekinetic powers, which his new friends sense and try to avoid. Events escalate from there. Can Ben be stopped?
Why we love it
This atmospheric, slow-burn shocker from Norway harkens back to older classics like “The Bad Seed” in portraying an evil child, while the telekinesis plot element is reminiscent of Brian de Palma’s immortal “Carrie.” Regardless, this unnerving entry stands very much on its own, as a mounting sense of dread culminates in gruesome death and destruction. The young cast is uniformly terrific, particularly Flottum as the eerily watchful Ida, and Ashraf as the increasingly isolated, disturbed Ben. An intentionally strange and effectively creepy film, horror fans in particular should seek out “The Innocents.”