ATTACHMENT on Shudder is a new Danish horror movie that works on most levels. Especially when it comes to the acting. However, it’s hardly surprising when Josephine Park, Sofie Gråbøl, and David Dencik play key roles. Read our full Attachment movie review here, and watch it on Shudder!
ATTACHMENT is a new Danish horror movie on Shudder (org. title: Natten har øjne). It’s a feature film debut by director and screenwriter Gabriel Bier Gislason and offers a really strong story. Especially Josephine Park and Sofie Gråbøl deliver some really solid performances. From humor to grim horror, the two are at the center of it all!
And yes, there are supernatural elements, so we’re nowhere near another recent Danish Shudder horror movie, Speak No Evil, where the evil was very much of the man-made variety.
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Also, this movie isn’t the “slow-burn” horror that Speak No Evil was. On the other hand, both genre and tempo do change quite a bit along the way – not least once the horror takes hold. And it actually does that quite early on – if you’re just paying attention to the details.
Read our full Attachment horror movie review here and watch it on Shudder from February 9, 2023!
Josephine Park is just amazing
These years, Josephine Park’s career is going full speed ahead, and it’s very much a success she deserves! Even in films and series that are not terribly good, she is the constant bright spot. Both a scene stealer and someone who always brings intensity and heart to whatever she does.
And yes, now she’s playing an LGBTQ character for the second time in two years. In 2021, Josephine Park played one of the main roles in The Venus Effect, which received very nice (and well-deserved) words along the way. Especially when it came to the performance of Josephine Park. She’s also the star of the Netflix series Baby Fever (org. title: Skruk).
In Attachment, Maja (Josephine Park) falls head over heels for the British girl, Leah (Ellie Kendrick), while she’s staying in Denmark rather briefly. In a classic (stereotypical but also somewhat true) U-haul move, the two become inseparable immediately.
At home in England, however, Leah’s Danish mother, with whom she still lives, is waiting. Or rather, they have separate apartments in the same building, but mom sometimes forgets that the daughter has her own domain.
The always excellent Sofie Gråbøl
The mother is played by the always excellent Sofie Gråbøl (The Undoing). Her character lives as an Orthodox Jew in her British home and still struggles to be accepted by the local community as an immigrant.
One of those in the community is Lev, played by David Dencik (Chernobyl, The Chestnut Man). He is not Danish (or Swedish) in this film, and with his fantastic ear for the language, it doesn’t sound that way either.
At first, you might think that there is a clash between the lesbian couple and the orthodox Jewish mother, but that is not where we are at. Not at all. It’s something much more sinister at work.
Something you can neither talk your way out of nor compromise with. Unfortunately, it is a bit too late for the girls to realize that the mother-in-law may not be as bad as she first appears. She is overly protective in a way that seems almost possessive, but everything will be explained.
Watch Attachment on Shudder!
The new Danish horror movie is written and directed by Gabriel Bier Gislason, who makes his feature film debut here. He is, as the surnames indicate, the son of the talented and successful Danish director Susanne Bier (Bird Box), and the Danish documentary film director Tómas Gislason.
Although Gabriel Bier Gislason certainly has his own style, the apple does not fall far from the tree when we’re talking talent. As a horror movie, it’s very strong with a doom and gloom vibe while having a love story that feels extremely organic. I also loved how much of the horror is something that the characters (and the audience as a result) almost imagine.
I have to mention that Sofie Gråbøl also played the mother of Josephine Park’s girlfriend in the previously mentioned The Venus Effect, so that constellation clearly means luck for films now. Both films have been hugely successful. Even though I actually think Attachment is a stronger movie before the supernatural element comes into play.
That’s the only reason we don’t give it 4 out of 5 stars and clearly has to do with my personal horror preference.
So, this is not something that applies specifically to this Danish horror movie. In general, horror movies work best for me when I don’t quite know what the danger is (or where it’s coming from). As soon as it is identified, the whole thing becomes a little more tangible and thus less creepy for me. Yes, even if it is supernatural.
ATTACHMENT is out on Shudder from February 9, 2023.
Details
Director: Gabriel Bier Gislason
Writer: Gabriel Bier Gislason
Cast: Josephine Park, Ellie Kendrick, Sofie Gråbøl, David Dencik
Plot
Maja, a Danish has-been actress, falls in love with Leah, an academic from London. After Leah suffers from a mysterious seizure Maja returns with her to her childhood home. There, she meets Leah’s overbearing mother, Chana, a woman who could hold dark secrets.
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