At a camp site outside Stockholm somebody is brutally murdering tourists at full moon when they sleep in their tents. The murders are executed in a ritualistic manner. The killer is wearing an African Moon God mask and he is chopping the victims with a large machete. He films the brutal acts and - whether on purpose or not - lets the police find the films.
Månguden has had a cult status for a long time, much due to it being almost impossible to get and also due to the rumors that it is damn scary. It is quite unbelievable that it took 22 years before they released it.
Quite unexpectedly, this film has more elements from Giallo than from a Slasher. It has striking similarities with films like Profondo Rosso. Yet there are elements that are not typical Giallo. Månguden is actually a found footage film, which should make it the second after Cannibal Holocaust I believe. But the similarities with CH stops there. The film is inspired a bit by a real event in Appojaure (Northern Sweden, above the polar circle) in 1984 when a Dutch couple hiking in the area was brutally murdered in their tent.
As for scariness I do admit the film was scary (however, I think the real events are much scarier) It should be said that Månguden isn't scary in the common sense. There are virtually no jump scares, etc. One thing I found scary was the similarities in shape and silhouettes with one of the characters and the Moon God. Nothing is said about it, it is something you just perceive. Some films don't scare you so much when you see them as afterward, when your brain has started to process it. The murders are solved in Månguden, but still there are some open ends that when processed later might leave some people sleepless. The lighting in the murder footage has the same greenish texture as the bedroom scenes in Paranormal Activity. I wonder if there is something with that kind of lighting?
Not everything is positive though. The dialog and the film editing could have been better. It is sometimes hard to follow the plot and there are many sudden cuts. I'm sure many people will dislike the film because of this, especially if they are obsessed with plot logics. But maybe this is the way to create a scary film? Giving you pieces and let you glue them together yourself, rather than spoon-feeding you a complete, well-polished 'film opus'? The incompleteness might actually be a reason it stays in peoples minds.
Finally some in the cast also performed in 'Sommarens tolv månader' the same year, which I also recommend. As you all know it is my favorite film And if you want to try something else by Jonas Cornell, I recommend his adaption of Stig Trenters 'Träff i Helfigur' (1987). There is a pale scary 'moonface' chasing people in the woods in that film. I wonder if it is a coincidence that it came out the year before Månguden....
Trying to give Månguden a fair rating I end up on 8.5/10 for now. Let's see how it ages....
