After reading marvels about this one, considered a norwegian classic by some, I expected great things, but I think my expectations were over the top.First off, my lack of knowledge on norwegian cinema is... complete. This was nominated the 4th best norwegian film of all time. I can't make any judgments on that. I'm very far from knowing enough movies from Norway to say anything at all, although I do believe it "may" be one of the best from that country. But it's certainly far from being one of the best movies ever.For a horror movie and from what I read, I expected a scary or at least a tense movie with some atmosphere. I'm sorry, but the truth is that this movie hardly has any suspense at all, let alone scariness and real terror/horror. It lacks real atmosphere, being mostly about a group of adult people spending time with each other in an isolated but beautiful place where they experiment a few but brief tense moments. There is some gorgeous norwegian cinematography - the forests and the big lake which look stunning even in black and white.

Dødes tjern,de is considered to be a Norwegian classic. It tells the story of a group of young people staying in an isolated cabin situated in a forest. I have seen this film more than once as it is a regular on Norwegian TV. Its fun in a way to watch Norwegian movies. Not too may are made and the ones that are, are usually very bad. This one is an exception. The story in itself is quite good, but as usual, to anyone not Norwegian it is an amateur attempt at film making. Norwegians do not have film actors, only theater actors, something that is obvious when watching the film. The actors overact, the camera lingers much too long on certain shots and the dialog is spoken in a way no Norwegian would speak. In spite of this criticism one cannot help but be intrigued by its ghostly story. Each time I have watched it I am in turn embarrassed that we cannot make a better film from a good manuscript, and the enjoyment I get from laughing at the exaggerated character acting. Perhaps my criticisms will not be so obvious to a non Norwegian as they'll be to busy reading the subtitles to notice the aforementioned faults. I make no excuses for it being made in 1958. Casablanca was made long before and it is as watchable today as it was when it was made.I'd love to see this film remade today by an American studio. It could be a box office success.

This is the only movie that have scared me so much that I had to stop watching. Not many will find a norwegian black&white movie to be interesting, but this movie makes all those sucky american horror movies look just like sucky american horror movies. Enough said.

For younger generations of Norwegian film enthusiasts, Andre Bjerkes "De dødes tjern" is held to be one of the best Norwegian films ever to be made. This film-noir is a "must see" for everybody with a liking for classic cinema!My vote: 10 out of 10