Ran across this on Netflix and was very pleasantly surprised by it. So much so that I looked up the Norwegian myth. I was especially entertained by the character of Leo and very impressed by the actor who played him so perfectly. Leo is this incredibly cool fellow. He is obviously aware that there is something uncanny going on but there is absolutely nothing that can ruffle his feathers. He carries that to a degree I found hilarious. Far from being uncaring though. It all shows in his placid eyes. Great character!I liked this so much I got my husband to watch it with me. He loved it too.

. . . but it is Scandanavian, so what can you expect? After all, these are the people known for having Nazi zombies pop out of the snow and little girls on the monkey bars turning out to be dominatrix Vampiresses. Maybe the CGI for the spider women here is a lot lower budget and tackier looking than it would be for a Harry Potter movie, but having Kaja Fjellberg on the cello with Liv Ulvik doing vocals sort of makes up for it. This sort of reminded me of a Canadian zombie movie I saw recently called something like GROUND ZERO, in which an amoral crime scene cleaning crew is hired to tidy up what turns out to be Patient Zero in World War Z. THALE opens the same way, with the "cleaners" assigned by unseen supervisors occasionally heard on their two-way radio to "deal with" a little more than anyone has bargained for at an isolated spot. As was the case with the Canadian movie, the THALE writing staff could not come up with a plausible explanation as to what got the ball rolling here, so they dispense with the origin story and open in the middle of something never fully explained. There is probably a lot to be said for this new Head Scratcher School of Cinema, but I've said enough already.

I was encouraged to buy this DVD on the back of some of the reviews I'd read here and at amazon.com. I also really enjoyed Troll Hunter which compared to this "effort" is an Oscar Winner.I found Thale to be a total disappointment. The "special effects" are not special and look like they cost less than £500. The plot which is incredibly slow and at times hard to understand must have been written on the back of a cigarette packet. The characters, apart from Thale, speak and move at a snail's pace adding to the shear frustration felt in trying to follow the story. My advice is not to waste the 1 hour 15 minutes of your life in watching it.

Based on a popular norse legend about a type of mermaid of the forests, "Thale" is, unfortunately, a little short of his enormous potential, because I believe that this folklore legend had the potential to yield a little more power and suspense to this movie, nevertheless, this fantasy product of Aleksander Nordaas is pretty good. He managed to create, with a limited budget, a slightly curious film that benefits a lot from the strong performances of the small but talented cast. The two main male actors, Erlend Nervold and Jon Sigve Skard, have to great performance, but the most mesmerizing performance in this movie belongs to one of the most promising stars of nordic cinema, Silje Reinåmo, which, without speeches or many screen time, was able to give her curious character a lot of energy and enigma. Unfortunately, Thale it is not given much space or time to grow and shine within a median plot that, apart from being practically free of active or violent sequences, unfolds, virtually in its entirety, within a basement, where Leo and Elvis try to learn more about Thale and realize what secrets and dangers hide behind this beautiful creature. The interactions between the three actors are a bit limited and, at the end of the film, we get the feeling that we didn't get to know very well the mysterious Thale or their violent "sisters" but, at least, we are given an good characterization of these mythological creatures that begin and end up a mystery to all of us, even though the movie give us a small explanation of its origin and some glimpses of their strength and real nature. It's true that the minimalist plot of "Thale" doesn't stand out the full potential of the legend that is in the core of the film, but it can't be said that this movie is a weak fiction/fantasy product, because it manages to entertain the audience and emerge us in a fantastic and tense world with some surprises. It's true that the plot should have focused a little more on Thale and should have also instilled a bit of suspense and action to this production but, taking into account the limitations and the essence of the film, I consider this "Thale" a reasonable cinematic product.