BREEDER (2021) is a Danish horror movie that does not hold back when it comes to blood and violence. Particularly violence towards women – though men will also bleed (and deserve it) in this movie. Read our full Breeder movie review here!
BREEDER (2021) is a new horror movie from Denmark. Being a native Dane myself, I am always happy to see our movies “making it” internationally. However, I must admit that I am not a fan of this one. At all. Having said that, I am not going to trash-talk this Danish horror movie.
After all, a cast and crew worked hard to create this and I respect that. So, I’ll do my best to focus on the positive while also making sure that I make it known why I don’t like it.
Continue reading our Breeder movie review below, if you’re still curious about my take on this horror movie.
Peeing, vomiting, and bleeding
Let it be said upfront, that this is essentially the kind of horror movie that utilizes blood and violence more than anything. And, in this case, women are being subjected to violence. For the most part anyway. If you’re not in the mood for blood, vomit, and urine, then you might want to skip this one.
The same goes for anyone who just cannot handle anything with dead babies. Consider yourself warned!
Before getting into what I don’t really like, let me be quick to state that I did enjoy the performance of Sara Hjort Ditlevsen (Held for Ransom). She’s the star of Breeder and should be commended for her portrayal of a woman who has to go through so very much.
The same goes for Signe Egholm Olsen who dishes out a lot of the pain – more in the psychological area than the direct physical violence. She plays a scientist without a shred of empathy, which all her actions make very clear. You might know Signe Egholm Olsen from Sean Penn’s Into the Wild or the Borgen TV series.
MORE WITH SIGNE EGHOLM OLSEN
Also, I have to mention that I am not in the least surprised that the scientist portrayed by Signe Egholm Olsen was originally written as male. Everything about this character just screams misogynist. Then again, this woman is amazing at portraying villains so it makes sense that they’d want to cast her and “genderswap” the character.
Breeder is Danish torture porn
This Danish horror movie definitely belongs in the “torture porn” niche. And while I can appreciate movies that are well-made in this niche, I also loathe (yes, I said “loathe”!) movies that only use the torture element for shock. The story just has to work. Preferably, a little touch of “kitsch” should also be part of it in some sense.
You just need the kitsch vibe (like Hostel) and the morale of the story needs to be hammered home (like in Saw). Particularly Hostel appears to be an inspiration in terms of the visual style. Not a bad choice – even if it does feel very unoriginal.
Alternatively, if you want to go the truly dark route of human cruelty, then make it even rawer with psychological brutalities as seen in Martyrs. However, Breeder is way too theatrical to hit that kind of tone of voice.
Actually, my main issue with the Danish torture porn horror movie is probably the combination of bloody violence with a very theatrical vibe. Instead of the kitsch or raw approach, which would have worked much better for me.
Watch Breeder on Digital now!
Jens Dahl is the director of Breeder, which is his second feature film as a director. His first time directing was the 2017 thriller 3 Things starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. For that movie, he also wrote the script which makes perfect sense. After all, he started as a screenplay writer before moving into directing as well.
In fact, he wrote the 1996 movie Pusher (starring Mads Mikkelsen and Kim Bodnia) 1996) with the director of the movie, Nicolas Winding Refn. For Breeder, the screenplay writer is Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen. While I’m always happy to see women creating horror movies, I cannot for the life of me sense it in this movie.
And yeah, sure, that might seem like a compliment. However, in this case, the story feels very much like one conceived by a man. Maybe that has more to do with the directing than the script, but that’s the vibe I get. All in all, I just have to recognize that Breeder simply was not for me.
That does not mean I won’t recommend that you check it out. I just wish that I had enjoyed watching this Danish horror movie and wanted to watch it again. Then again, surely there’s an audience out there that will get everything from this movie that the filmmakers intended. I’m just not it!
BREEDER will be released on Digital on January 11, 2022.
Details
Director: Jens Dahl
Writer: Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen
Stars: Sara Hjort Ditlevsen, Signe Egholm Olsen, Morten Holst, Anders Heinrichsen
Plot
BREEDER sees women being abducted for bio-hacking experiments. One of the women, Mia, begins to work out the truth – can she escape from this nightmare?
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