About

Welcome to NordicFantasy.info, the internet’s only website specializing in movie news and reviews of Nordic genre movies. Here you will find information about science fiction, horror, fantasy and exploitation films and TV from Europe’s northernmost countries.

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What
NordicFantasy.info is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of a certain part of the cultural history of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland (the Nordic countries). The website aims to inform about films, video and TV within the science fiction, fantasy, exploitation and horror genres, as these genres are the smallest up here, and deserve more attention. NordicFantasy.info does not cover crime movies, thrillers, action films or comedies.

NordicFantasy.info receives no funding or formal support from any private or government entity. We are independent, both in terms of execution and in editorial content.

Art from Lake of the Dead (1958).

Why
So why this special attention to genre movies from icy Northern Europe? In spite of the five Nordic countries being close neighbours and culturally similar, fantastical movies are the least produced genre up here (Westerns and Martial Arts notwithstanding, due to natural reasons), thanks to domestic markets being small and the expenses for such movies being high. Unlike bigger countries, especially English speaking countries, it is difficult to export movies to foreign markets, and when that happens, it’s usually not on a wide scale. Nordic movies are mostly known for being very artistic (from directors like Ingmar Bergman or Lars von Trier) or very mainstream, like crime thrillers, comedies and children’s movies. In fact, sci-fi has never been an important part of Nordic cinema, and horror emerged only in the 90s and 00s as a genre to depend on, albeit still small.

I discovered that there is no single, good resource on the net that collects information, news and reviews specifically on the topic of Nordic speculative cinema. And when something does not exist, one creates it! Unless otherwise proven wrong, I belive this website is the first and only website that focuses only on sci-fi, horror and fantasy movies from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.

Staff
Chief editor Glenn Folkvord (b. 1974) is a Norwegian journalist by education, critic, editor and media development entrepeneur whose previous project was the world’s first combined online shop & magazine for sci-fi movies. He has worked in radio, schools and been self employed, and has founded three companies within the media field. His DVD collection counts about 3500 titles from many genres; sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, martial arts, westerns, historical epics, exploitation, war movies, crime mysteries, thrillers, animated movies and TV series.

Dag Blomberg, Steinar Larsen and Marie H. are also onboard as contributors and consultants.

NordicFantasy.info is not just another blog with personal opinions written by film fans; it’s an online magazine that observes and uses the ethical and journalistic tools of “real” media. The blog just happens to be the format of publication.

Our rating scale
We review films on a scale ranging from 1 – 10. The ratings are defined like this:

10 – All time classic, one of the best movies ever made
9 – One of the best movies of its decade
8 – One of the best movies of its year
7 – A good movie
6 – Above average, but not a masterpiece
5 – Average (not good, but not bad either)
4 – Could have been average with minor adjustments
3 – Poor, but has potential
2 – Very bad, few positive things can be said
1 – As bad as it gets

Each rating is a summary of the “quality” of the movie, whatever that means. A review does not necessarily include all judgements made to reach a particular rating. We do not give ratings to home made “amateur” movies made on very low budgets, or movies with no professional ambitions, as that is unfair for many reasons. Reviews are closed for comments as we’re not going to debate judgements. Unless otherwise noted, reviews are written by Glenn Folkvord.

Our 1 – 10 scale is from September 23rd 2015 visualized by the iconic troll art of Theodor Kittelsen (1857 – 1914), one of Norway’s most popular classic artists. Kittelsen was famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially trolls. It is his 1906 Forest Troll that indicates a movie’s rating. “How many trolls did it get on Nordic Fantasy? It got 8 of 10 trolls!”

Credits
Thanks to Sarah Giercksky and Xander Turian @ Bloody Fierce Productions, Marius Olsen @ Another World, Anne Moeslund @ SBS Discovery DK, Nordic Genre Movies, Movieboosters, Kultkongen, Kenny Wang, Pria Produksjon, Thea and Morten @ Nordisk Film, Eric @ Tordenfilm, team Everywhen (Jens & Jarand), Yesbox Productions, Johanna and Ebba @ Njuta Films, Vestnorsk Filmsenter, Daniel Ström, Lars Erik Lie, Lars Mjøen, Tom Young @ KLM Fanklubb, Fred Andersson, Julius Kemp, Leelene Karlsson, Vidar Vikingson, Pidde Andersson, Kjetil Kolbjørnsrud, Ben Hopkins, David Jacobi @ Sick Films, Reinert Kiil, Sveinung Golimo @ Filmkameratene, Anders Hofseth @ NRK, Hilmar Sigurdsson, and Guðni Sigurðsson for their assistance and support. Also thanks to all directors, producers and actors who have answered questions, helped us doing research and established contacts.

Legal notice
All written content is copyrighted and protected by NordicFantasy.info unless otherwise noted, and can not be used without written permission. Videos and images are copyrighted and protected by their owners, and are used for critique and reporting in a journalistic context.