Being Film #18 for Hooptober 2025
Going 20 years into the future and changing from zombies to…reindeer? Just goes to show you that anything is ripe for horror, provided it’s done with care and attention. I can’t recall if I’ve seen any other classic films coming out of Finland (recent comedies and action, sure…), but The White Reindeer reinforced my desire to get better acquainted with the country’s film history. Blending folk horror with scrappy filmmaking that is both indebted to the Hollywood studio template as well as alien to it, the film has doses of magic even in its more mundane moments. After the pallor of White Zombie, it was great to have The White Reindeer bolster my enthusiasm.
THE QUICK SUMMARY: Gentlemen, beware: pay attention to your ladies! Young, beautiful Pirita was born under a cloud of prophecy, but she’s a vibrant beauty to the village and especially to the enamored Aslak, who marries her. Alas, Aslak must travel and hunt, and the growing passion in Pirita, rebuffed by a tired and working dog of a husband resorts to some magic to reinvigorate the lust in her man. But spells come at a cost, and not only does every man’s head turn at Pirita’s beauty, they soon fall victim to horrific ends. because by the light of the moon Pirita turns into a beautiful white reindeer, luring men to their death. In other words…SHE’S A WITCH!
The White Reindeer runs short – just a minute longer than White Zombie, but the difference is just how much director Erik Blomberg, working off a screenplay co-written with his wife and star Mirjami Kuosmanen accomplish in that amount of time. Characters are established, the story is laid out, and the plot races to its inevitable, tragic conclusion.
That story, simple as it is, is beautifully realized thanks to Blomberg’s greatest asset (well, next to Kuosmanen who we’ll get to in a minute): the beautiful snowscapes of Finland itself. It lends itself perfectly to the starkness of the black and white cinematography from Blomberg, who in addition was also the editor. There are eerie transitions using closeups of fire, and ominous shadows to provide a strange kind of expressionism in the absence of the traditional German darkness that spearheaded the movement.
Also, maybe it’s just because it’s such a rarity to see outside of Christmas films, but I was overjoyed at every single scene where there was reindeer. The opening sequence with a race was incredible, alive and thrilling in a way you think of a modern racing drama, but with sleds and reindeer and a lot of tumbling in the snow.
But really The White Reindeer lives and dies by its lead performance, and Mirjami Kuosmanen is (pun intended, sorry) bewitching in the role of Pirita. With most of the film working silently, her expressions and body language have to feel her passion, her despair, and her growing sense of power. She’s incredible; there are moments where her darker self comes through and it’s positively chilling. One sequence has her looking in a mirror and I swear it looks like she has some of the most realistic fangs I’ve seen on film. Just that, and the way she tilts her head gives off a vibe so evil and terrifying it makes up for what is admittedly a dearth of actual scares. No blood either – Blomberg takes the Val Lewton route of making everything off-screen.
I don’t know that I would have searched out The White Reindeer out if it weren’t for completing the country requirement for Hooptober – one more reason why this marathon is such a great way to get a wider exposure to world cinema.
Cinema Dual 
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