Dallas Film Now.

Odessa Young and Joe Cole star in a true chiller.  

In the dead of winter, Eva must make a choice. Her decision has fatal consequences. 

Directed by Thordur Palsson, The Damned opens as Eva (Odessa Young, in a precise and authentic performance) strides through snow to enter a cabin that is home base for the remote fishing station she owns in Iceland. Her crew drinks and sings, because it is the 19th century and they are snowed in for the winter, far from anyone else. 

Or so they think. In the morning, they prepare to head out for another day of fishing when they see that, overnight, a large sailing vessel has run aground on the rocks nearby. A decision must be made. Certainly they could look for survivors. Yet their limited resources have been carefully calculated so that their small group can survive until spring.

As station master, Eva must make the decision, which leads to another fateful decision later, and then another, as the entire crew must then confront the horrors of what they have done. 

The men, including the younger and comforting Daniel (Joe Cole, pictured above with Odessa Young), all listen respectfully to Eva’s orders. They came to work for her husband, who died in a fishing incident the previous spring; the fact that she returned instead of selling the station makes them respect her even more. 

What happens with the crew of the sailing vessel brings everyone into deep turmoil, however, and those feelings are exacerbated by Helga (Siobhan Finneran), the only other woman at the station, who tells tales of a mysterious presence, a legendary spirit, or a monster. Whatever it is, it is intent on destroying all of them. 

Jamie Hannigan’s screenplay features terse dialogue and lays the groundwork for the chilly, snowy setting to envelop the narrative. It’s based on a story by Thordur Palsson, who makes his feature directorial debut after helming several shorts and creating serial killer series The Valhalla Murders, for which he directed four episodes. 

The film’s pace is slow, steady, and increasingly gripping. With very little evidence that there is any kind of supernatural presence afoot, Eva sees that the fishermen are starting to turn on each other, driven by their masculine egos and suspicions of The Other.

A supernatural presence might be easier to comprehend or explain why these longtime coworkers and friends lose their trust in one another. Is it just the evil that resides in men’s souls, or is it something that is even more perilous?

Without spelling everything out, The Damned relies on sturdy production values and the cover of shadows and snow to imply and suggest, making for an unsettling experience that concludes with a startling stinger. 

The film opens Friday, January 3, in select area theaters, including AMC Northpark and Cinemark 17, via Vertical Entertainment.  For more information about the film, visit the official site.