It was advertised as an historic Drama and as an Arthouse film. It is both of those things, but it is not primarily either of them. First and foremost, it’s a Horror movie and it’s a Fantasy. Did the fact that it was presented as anything else affect its box office performance? It seems it surely couldn’t have helped it. Why did the suits-in-offices decide to veer away from an accurate displaying of the genre of the film? Was it a case of the stupid anti-Horror bigotry seen far too often, the reticence of studio types to admit that a Horror flick is, in fact, a Horror flick? Dumbass move on their part. You wanna know who showed up to see THE NORTHMAN? Robert Eggers fans. You know, the guy who created THE WITCH and THE LIGHTHOUSE? Both Horror movies.
You wanna know who showed up to see THE NORTHMAN? Fantasy fans. Genre fans. Not the snooty highfalutin crowd.
I agree wholeheartedly with what this linked article says. “Eggers made a film that should have been able to ride on the appeal of cinema’s Marvel era, rewarding audiences who have spent a decade at the altar of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and others, with an enriching experience that speaks to our need for heroes and sagas…It’s worth considering how many more viewers the film would’ve attracted from the onset if that context was embraced…[the film] is, at its very core, an R-rated version of the very genre films we’re clamoring for at the moment…”
Are you convinced yet, those of you who haven’t, to go see it?