Directed by Thordur Palsson, The Damned is an Irish horror drama that unfolds in the 19th century at an isolated fishing post. The cinematography, the characterization, as well as the suspenseful build-up, deserve appreciation, and the ambiguous ending leaves room for speculation. Eva, a young widow, owned a fish station, and after her husband’s death, she was responsible for running the place. In the cold, harsh winter, when the fishermen gathered at her post, she took it upon herself to ensure the men did not suffer. Her opinion contradicted Ragnar’s, the helmsman, who believed the men should only focus on the catch; after all, they had agreed to live in the brutal cold for the sake of earning some extra money. The catch was not impressive that year, but for Eva, as long as the fishermen were alive and well, she was content. Things soon took a dramatic turn when a ship of foreign fishermen ended up at the rocky inlet of the bay known as ‘the Teeth.’ Eva and the fishermen had to decide whether they must help the strangers or not.
Spoiler Alert
What was the aftermath of the shipwreck?
After the death of her husband, Magnus, many assumed Eva would sell the fish station, but she later explained that she had nothing left apart from the establishment, and even though the cold was brutal, she chose to continue the work her husband did. Magnus had died at ‘the Teeth’; the rocky waters were almost a death trap, and when the fishermen saw an approaching ship getting stuck there, they immediately knew that there would be no survivors. The question was—should Eva and the fishermen help the strangers, or should they prioritize their well-being? While many were ready to risk their lives thinking that they too could’ve been in the same position and would’ve appreciated if help came their way, both Eva and Ragnar opposed their idea. It was a noble decision, but it involved great risk. Eva aimed to ensure the fishermen survived, and sailing to ‘the Teeth’ was almost like sending an invitation to the Grim Reaper. They watched the shipwreck right before their eyes, and unexpectedly Eva stumbled upon a barrel full of meat the next morning. It was assumed that the barrel belonged to the foreigners who had drowned in the sea the previous day. The sudden discovery of food had them yearning for more, and to grab resources, Eva and Ragnar decided to head to ‘the Teeth’ with the other fishermen.
Soon after reaching the spot, the fishermen realized there were a few survivors; spotting a boat approaching, the foreigners attempted to board it.. The boat would have toppled if the men were allowed to take a seat, and Ragnar and his group of fishermen had no choice but to forcefully push away the helpless and desperate survivors. Eva was horrified when one of the survivors was stabbed in his eye to keep him from climbing into the boat. They managed to return to the fish station, but in the process, they lost their helmsman, Ragnar. They’d gathered a few bottles of lamp oil and some brandy, and it was certainly not worth the risk they took. Eva felt guilty for risking the lives of the fishermen, and she readily chose Daniel as the new helmsman. She had developed a liking for him and thought he was eligible to take on the challenging role.
What was Helga’s theory?
The bodies of the foreigners who attempted to climb into their boat were discovered on the shore the next morning. They died in the cold water in complete despair. One of the men, Aron, attempted to steal a watch from a corpse, but Eva stopped and asked him to put it back. The bodies were loaded in caskets, and Eva’s maid, Helga, advised the men to bind the bodies of the corpses with ropes because she was afraid that the strangers would return in the form of draugur, undead creatures found in the folklore of Nordic countries. Unlike spirits, they were thought of as revenants and assumed to possess a corpse-like body. Helga had asked the men to follow old rituals to ensure that they never encountered draugurs, but they dismissed it, thinking it was just old wives’ tales. Immediately after learning about draugurs, Eva started to feel as if she was being followed by a strange supernatural creature. Daniel believed it was simply the harsh weather that had affected Eva’s mind, and he advised her to keep Magnus’ rifle close to her in case she faced actual danger. Daniel taught Eva to use the rifle, and that brought them closer together.
Were the men truly tormented by a draugur?
Eva often caught herself thinking about the man who was stabbed in the eye, and there was a deep sense of regret along with the fear of encountering the man in the form of a draugur, even though she did not want to believe in the supernatural. With a lack of catch and the death of their helmsman, even after the tragedy that had unfolded, the fishermen had no choice but to continue hunting for food. Eva was startled when she came across a piece of wood with a compass carved into it placed above a door. Helga explained that it was for the hateful draugur to find and it apparently protected the house from evil. Helga believed that it was important they stop the creature before it started manipulating them, and the only way to completely destroy a draugur was to burn it down.
The fishermen celebrated after a successful day at sea, but to Eva’s dismay, even at the cheerful party, she felt the draugur was staring at her from the corner of the room. The next morning, she woke up to the noise of the fishermen arguing. She discovered that the catch, along with the bait from the previous day, was all gone. It was an unnatural turn of events, to say the least. Eva started to lean towards a supernatural explanation about the whole ordeal. The fishermen were convinced that it was Helga who had stolen their catch, since she was missing. They came across a portion of their catch scattered in the open, half-consumed. Eva and the fishermen even came across Helga’s charm on the way to the caskets they had arranged by the shore. Eva insisted they check the inside of the caskets, and to their surprise, one of the caskets was open, and a body was missing. They followed the rituals that Helga had previously mentioned in the hopes of not coming across another supernatural occurrence. Soon, one of the fishermen, Hakon, was down with a fever, and he started to see things, possibly the draugur. Daniel tried to calm him down, but Hakon warned him that he too would not be spared. Hakon suddenly attacked Daniel and attempted to choke him, and Aron had no option but to strike Hakon with a hammer. Hakon died instantly, and Eva was traumatized seeing the turn of events, and started wondering if Helga had been right all along.
Soon after the incident, Daniel too started to show symptoms. He complained about a voice at the back of his head, and he too could not stop thinking about the helpless man he’d had to kill at ‘the Teeth.’ He was afraid that the undead were after them, and he feared it more than the spirits of the dead. The fishermen suffered immense guilt for turning a blind eye to the suffering of the strangers who died in the shipwreck and for denying help to those who survived. In an attempt to cope with the guilt, a fisherman proposed they build a holy cross on the headland. It was an ambitious project, given that the fishermen had been starving for days. Jonas decided to build the cross alone when no one agreed to join him. It was his way of seeking redemption.
Meanwhile, Daniel fell on the ice and injured his face. Eva stitched the wound, but his temperature was still high. Skuli explained how Daniel had gone to hunt seals, but when he returned, it was almost as if he had seen death in the eye, and that was when he slipped and fell on the ice. Skuli remembered seeing only a silhouette of a man in the thick mist. The following morning, when Eva entered Daniel’s room, he attempted to stab her, and all she could do was beg him to stop. He ended up slitting his own throat, and he collapsed to the ground. Daniel’s death convinced the remaining fishermen and Eva that the draugur was after them, and they wondered if there truly was any way for them to escape it. The only option they had was to destroy it, and Eva suggested that they try to find the creature near the grave, but in the process, Skuli fell off the cliff and died. Eva eventually came across Helga’s frozen corpse, and it was evident that the draugur had gotten to her head just like Helga had predicted.
Was The Draugur Real?
During The Damned’s ending, Eva heard the draugur enter her room. She hastily hid herself under her bed, but the undead found her. She attempted to escape and managed to grab hold of a knife to keep the creature at bay. She pointed her rifle in his direction and pulled the trigger, stating that she would not let him get in her head. Eva proceeded to burn the cabin to destroy the draugur, as Helga had advised her. Eva felt a sense of relief as she walked out of the cabin, screaming out loud that it was finally over.
Up until now, it seemed that the draugur was the reason behind the torment and suffering of the fishermen, the only other logical explanation was that the cold, hunger, isolation, and their close encounter with death were why they had started to hallucinate. They felt extremely guilty and bought into the story of the draugur coming to punish them. Deep within, they believed they deserved to be tortured for not helping the men stranded at ‘the Teeth’.
The Damned’s ending scene adds more to the conflicting thoughts that you might have had regarding the draugur. While Eva watched the cabin burn, she had a flashback in which instead of the draugur, there was a man in her room. He was a foreigner who claimed to be a fisherman, and he explained that he had lost everything in the shipwreck. He apologized for stealing their food (this explained the disappearance of their catch from the storage room). He believed it was his anger and drive for vengeance that made him react a certain way. He had lost his brother in the shipwreck, the one who had the fancy watch that Aron had noticed, and all he wanted was their boat to head back home. There is a high possibility that an actual human being had been lingering among them all along, and they’d assumed it was the spirit of the undead, which resulted in their mind playing tricks on them, and ultimately their deaths. Maybe the man had realized that the fishermen were hallucinating and simply tricked them to his advantage. Going by this theory, he possibly had removed his brother’s corpse from the casket, drowned him at sea, and kept his watch. Maybe he wanted his brother’s spirit to be free instead of being trapped in an isolated fish station, or perhaps he intended to take his body home, and that was why he kept the body away. The man did not seem to be entirely honest, because he had every intention of attacking Eva had she not pulled the trigger. He had been eyeing the knife and would have attacked her and run away with the boat. The other possible theory is that he was indeed the draugur. Instead of the monstrous creature, Eva saw the dead man for who he was in the end. Maybe as the undead, he was still unaware that he had no way to return and was trapped in a strange reality. The uncertain ending leaves enough room for guessing, and that somewhat makes it all the more interesting.
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