Spoiler-Free Review: “The Damned” (Tribeca)
Tribeca usually premieres features that land on my “top 10 horror films of the year” lists, and Icelandic director Thordur Palsson’s The Damned (UK, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium; 2024) has kept that streak alive, as it has certainly cemented a spot on my list already. The film deftly blends psychological, folk, and survival horror elements in a gripping work of dread. Set in a harsh winter during the 19th century, The Damned finds widow Eva (Odessa Young) in charge of an isolated fishing outpost. Her crew is near starvation, doing their best to keep their spirits up even as they begin resorting to eating the fish they use as bait to survive. When Eva and her crew catch sight of a sinking ship one day, they must decide whether to try and rescue survivors or to put their own survival ahead of saving strangers. After a chilling discovery is made, the inhabitants of the outpost begin to exhibit horrifying behaviors as
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