Like David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman never set out to make a Horror/Thriller, but it’s recognizable qualities often seeped into his films. This is especially true with Hour of the Wolf, a Gothic fantasy about an artist who has disappeared, leaving only a diary; and through that diary we move into flashback to observe a classic case history of the Bergman hero haunted by darkness, demons and the creatures of his imagination until he is destroyed by them. The growth of this obsession is handled with typical virtuosity in a dazzling flow of psychological and Gothic horror. He shows quite an aptitude for it, with some of the most startling images of his career and a creepy surrealism, no doubt influenced by fellow Scandanavian Dreyer’s Vampyr. An exploration of the nature of creativity, haunted by the problem of whether the artist possesses or is possessed by his demons.
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