Insane (2010)

Swedish slashers is rare and lousy, from Blödaren till Strandvaskaren and everything in-between. Nothing to see, move along please! So, do we need a Swedish slasher? Of course we do, especially because the rest of Scandinavia churns out genre production and we’re still walking around on the same boring, bloodless ground. Insane is directed by Anders Jacobsson and Tomas Sandquist, which makes a lot out of a small budget. Anders is most famous here in Sweden for directing the semi-classic Evil Ed and also was cinematographer behind the underrated Det Okända.

Anyway, this is the story about David, a weird man who runs his hotel without much disturbance. He sits in his office, painting toys and hopes that a nice woman will check in – which they do, and most of the times it ends up with them being dead at the end of the night. A person in a black coat, gasmask and a huge knife is killing them one by one… One day a woman comes by, she’s looking for her sister, and this could be her last night too…

I guess the obvious Psycho-references is a part of the plan, because much of the time it feels like a remake of Psycho, but with a couple of more twists and a slightly different killer of course. David (played by an excellent Lars Bethke) echoes Anthony Perkins a lot, and the story about the sister and the nearby lake is also very similar to Psycho. In a small part there’s also a copy which reminds me of Dr Loomis in Halloween, and the killer himself feels like the baddie from My Bloody Valentine! But this has always been a part of the Anders Jacobsson-legacy, some nods here and there to famous horror movies and I’ll accept that!

Gore and blood? Yes, it’s a gory show. Maybe not as graphic as I thought it would be, but we’re treated to some nasty splatter scenes (a crushed head, a nice knife thru head and a fun ripped off jaw is the highlights). Everything is very well done and fits the tone of the movie. Shot digital, this is a stylish and handsome production. It feels very Swedish, very IKEA. Simple and stripped sets and locations, not so much details. The important stuff is in the foreground.

Insane is a very ambitious slasher/horror movie (it’s shot in English by the way, but without the awkward accents) which in a way feels a bit too generic for my taste, but still holds my attention with some good chase scenes, impressive camera work and graphic violence. But I still can recommend it to 100 %. I will watch it again, and I hope for a sequel (please, can I play a victim?).