"Sennentuntschi" is about the most excruciatingly tedious horror movie I have ever watched, and I have seen thousands of horror movies.Nothing of any interest happens in the movie.Even if it did, you probably wouldn't notice, because everything is so drawn out and protracted that you won't be paying attention.The movie seemed to actually "begin" at about the forty five minute mark. Everything that led up to that was basically irrelevant, or could have been established in about two minutes.There were a couple of head-scratching (or face-palming) moments right at the beginning of the movie, making me think it was going to be bad, but at least entertaining. In one scene, after a girl says she saw a boy in the wilderness, police show her photos of boys on a computer, and she recognizes the one she saw. "That's impossible," the policeman says. "He went missing thirty years ago." Ooh! Mysterious. But not as mysterious, perhaps, as the question of why the policeman is showing the girl photos of boys from 30 years ago, since, if they were still alive, they'd all be well into adulthood now, and the photos would be hopelessly outdated.Shortly thereafter, a priest is found hanging by the neck. "So it's suicide, then?" asks an onlooker. Uh? Wouldn't that be perfectly obvious? The movie is apparently based on an Alpine myth about the Sennentuntschi. With that kind of ageless pedigree, with a story that would be unknown to most, from a remote region... how could it have been this dull? I guess the myth is about a created woman. That is what the movie is sort of about. It is so light on detail, and so heavy, heavy, mercilessly heavy on padding, that I don't really know and I. Don't. Care.

"Sennentuntschi" is a Swiss movie from 5 years ago and certainly one of the most famous film in recent history from the country of neutrality. Maybe because it is a horror mystery movie which is not too frequent for the German-language areas. Then again, I should be careful saying German as the Swiss accents in here are so heavy that you will not understand the dialogs even as a German native speaker. Get subtitles for that. The film got some awards recognition, especially at the Swiss Film awards and it has a bunch of experienced actors in it who all do a fairly good job. One of these is Joel Basman, who just won a German Film Award very recently. The female lead and at the same time the only female character which plays a bigger role in this film is played by Roxane Mesquida. She is really stunning and was a nice choice for the character of Sennentuntschi. She plays a young woman who shows up at a Swiss village and she seems to lack basic human abilities such as speaking for example. But that is also what makes her so appealing to the men of this village, apart from her looks of course. It is the fact that she is so different.Still, at the same time, there are always suspicions that she may be evil, a witch possibly or even the devil personified. The solution comes at the end. Until then, she gets raped by several men of the village, but thanks to a police officer who takes somehow care of her she does not get killed. Also, she is accused of being responsible for the death of several people and also maybe turns some of the village people against each other. As a whole, it was a fairly mediocre film. It definitely has a couple pretty good moments, but none of these were really great enough to let me recommend this films. I wish Michael Steiner, who wrote and directed it, could have kept it a bit more essential at 90 minutes max instead of 110. There were really quite a few scenes that added totally nothing for me. What I did like was the whole setting. The nature added some really nice atmosphere to it. But still, there are just too many uninteresting factors about this film in my opinion. Only give it a watch if you are really into horror/mystery pieces.

The Swiss are hardly noted for their thriving film industry, but viewers shouldn't let that affect their pre-conceptions about Sennentuntschi: Curse Of The Alps. This wonderfully atmospheric chiller from Swiss director Michael Steiner manages to be a real surprise. That is to say: creepy, mysterious and ingenious in equal measure. Steiner takes a piece of ancient Alpine folklore and fashions it into an absorbing 1970s-set thriller, boosted in no small part by its vast, lonely mountain locale, as well as a clutch of memorable performances by the main actors.The story moves – perhaps too ambitiously – along three fronts. It opens in the present with an intriguing sequence in which a young girl uncovers a long-lost corpse in alpine woodland, guided to its resting place by a ghostly apparition. The second segment shows a long flashback describing a series of unnerving events which brought fear and superstition to the region in 1975. Following the shocking suicide of a priest in a remote Swiss community, the villagers suddenly find their superstitions brought to a head when a young mute girl (Roxanne Mesquida) turns up. Everyone assumes that her inexplicable appearance is somehow connected to the priest's death, except for village cop Sebastian Reusch (Nicholas Ofczarek) who isn't prepared to explain away the puzzling mystery with talk of ghosts and ghouls. The locals express concern that something may also have happened to a trio of herdsmen who live and work high on the mountain behind their village, and urge Reusch to go up to make sure they are safe and well. He does, but when he reaches their high alpine farm there is no-one there. Reusch simply assumes they are out hunting and returns to the village. The third thread of the story, presented as a flashback within a flashback, recounts the story of the three shepherds (Carlos Leal, Andrea Zogg and Joel Basman). Drunk, lonely and frustrated, their decision to make a 'Sennentuntschi' (a woman of straw, given life by the devil) has grave consequences for everyone.Steiner skilfully blurs the chronology of his story, creating a fragmentary narrative which keeps audiences guessing right to the very end. This disjointed rearrangement of narrative and time threatens to become irritating in the early stages, but Steiner quickly wins over the audience with his uniquely unsettling style. Mystery is piled upon mystery, intrigue upon intrigue, drawing the viewer into a labyrinth of perverted fairy-tale and superstitious frenzy The performances are pitch-perfect, with Mesquida in particular giving a riveting turn as the titular creature. Is she a minion of the devil or just the innocent victim of irrational backwoods beliefs? Her wordless portrayal of the 'Sennentuntschi' is absolutely central to the success of the whole film, and she is, in a word, excellent. To convey such a range of emotion solely through eye contact and body language is no mean feat. Ofczarek, Leal, Zogg and Basman all add memorable characterisations of their own, while Ueli Jaeggi rounds things off impressively as a fanatical priest with murky ulterior motives. Sennentuntschi: Curse Of The Alps is a beautiful-looking, cleverly crafted horror film with much to admire. If it is indicative of the future of Swiss movie-making, then audiences have a lot of good stuff to look forward to!

It is said (or at least was at the screening attended) that Sennentuntschi is Switzerland's first genre film. One hope that they make more, for its quite a cracker. It draws upon a little used myth (I can think of maybe one other film that makes use of it) of lonely Alpine shepherds who sew a lady companion out of straw and cloth. By and by the lady comes to life, loves them and keeps their home, until she falls out of favours and takes her vengeance. Things are a bit more complicated than that here though, with a strange and silent lady (Roxanne Mesquida) coming to a village from the mountains and immediately arousing superstitions. Local inspector Reusch is on her side, but something bad is afoot, and events in the village are parallelled by the affairs of a moutainside shepherd, his son and a city man who joins them. The film is quite a slow burner, focused on the slowly boiling drama of its characters and the tensions between superstition and reason, religion and modernity, man and woman, primal and tamed. Set in 1975 when there were still places in the Alps caught in older times, there's a convincing sense of removal from reality and rustic unease, quiet disquiet that works well with the sublime locations, crisply shot by Pascal Walder. Solid performances across the board give the film an effective dramatic tone, Nicholas Ofczarek giving the character of Reusch a sense of earnest dedication tinged with affecting romantic, longing, Andrea Zogg bringing righteous fire to his powerful priest character and Roxanne Mesquida especially good in her silent role as the rumoured Sennentuntschi, conveying feral grace and danger with an edge of primal humanity. Things come to a head in nicely intense and fairly shocking fashion with a cruelly punching final block, although a slightly tricksy approach to the narrative dilutes the ultimate effect. All in all its a quality and worthwhile watch, though not as potent as it could be. It takes a little too long to really come aflame I think, while things are ultimately satisfying there isn't so much suspense in earlier scenes. And for all the interesting oppositions the film brings up with its narrative, it doesn't really end up saying anything particularly interesting, though never less than satisfying entertainment its standard genre film mechanics do slightly sap its underlying interest. Still recommended though, 7/10