The Other Side ( Andra Sidan )

Sweden have a lot to offer. We have a lot of beautiful locations, we have really good food, a lot of great music bands and artists as well. But there have always been a problem in Sweden, and that is to make great horror films. There are a few that i could mention, but considering how many years it has taken to make just a few, it shows that we need directors with a passion to bring Swedish horror films back on track. I am always happy to see the few horror releases we do get, within a time period about 8 years, but with so many years between you do get the feeling that the Swedish film industry focus more on drama films and comedies. Nothing wrong with that, but if you leave out horror films then you are making a big mistake. There are plenty of talented young director´s out there all over the world, so my suggestion to Svensk Filmindustri is to give fresh film makers a bigger chance to create Swedish horror films. Now, when we think about great films in this genre from the past, there is especially one film that i think is one of the best among Swedish horror films. And that is the 2008 horror drama film known as Let The Right One In ( Låt Den Rätte Komma In ). Directed by Swedish director Thomas Alfredsson, this film tells the story of bully victim Oskar ( Kåre Hedebrandt ), a 12-year-old boy who does not have any friends, and spend a lot of time on his own. One night he meets the new neighbor girl known as Eli ( Lina Leandersson ) who is odd, but seems very nice. They become friends and spend time together, but since Eli can´t be out during daytime, they have to meet in night time. When Oskar finds out she is a vampire, he accepts that since she is his friend. Let The Right One In is a very powerful story on friendship, sadness, and dealing with personal issues. A must see if you have not seen this one. Late in October last year a new Swedish film managed to get shown in cinemas called Andra Sidan ( The Other Side ). Since i did not want to take any risks, i waited for this film to be released on VOD instead. So i was lucky to find out Swedish TV channel SVT released this film on their web page for free, so of course i had to see it. Is this one of the better Swedish horror films in recent years, or am i running out of hope for this genre in my country?

Shirin ( Dilan Gwyn ) and her partner Fredrik ( Linus Wahlgren ) move in to a semi-detatched house, together with Fredrik´s son Lucas. A fresh start and at first everything seems fine, until Shiri start hearing strange noices and seeing Lucas talking to someone who is not there. Lucas claims that he have a new friend, and Shirin still can´t see this boy. Is there something wrong with Lucas, or is there another explanation to all the strange noices?

Sweden, we finally did it. We have a great Swedish horror film here, and it is actually better than i expected. Is it as good as Let The Right One In? No, but considering how many of the horror releases that have been pretty boring over the last 10 years, i have to say that Andra Sidan ( The Other Side ) is definetely a step in the right direction. Imagine if you combined Insidious, The Grudge and many similar films together, and you have a film that definetely will please you. There is especially one thing that this film does right, and that is to find a creepy atmosphere. Especially when you see the human deformed creature, that crawls in a very creepy way. This is actually something you don´t see very often in Swedish horror films, a film that actually takes it´s horror influences seriously. And this clearly shows that directors Tord Danielsson and Oskar Mellander have taken this project seriously, and tried to give Swedish horror a bit of respect. I am grateful that they actually took some time and actually created a horror film that may find a larger audience, thanks to the influences that they combine into the story. How about the acting? I would say that most of the actors does ok, but the strongest acting comes from actress Dilan Gwyn as the character Shirin. She manage to bring out a performance that match well with the fear she is feeling, especially towards Fredrik's son Lucas being attacked by something evil. The Other Side ( Andra Sidan ) may not bring anything original to the table, but it works well as a creepy horror film. We have a reason to be proud Sweden, we finally have a horror film that should be seen worldwide, especially for fans of horror.

Rating: DDD

If you want to see the film and know the language Swedish, you can watch the film for free on SVT Play right now, i will give you the link down below:

https://www.svtplay.se/video/30046514/andra-sidan