Compelling enough to reel in a good-sized cult following.
Comment
09/23/07
The Kingdom - Series One (1994)
90 %
Reviews Counted: 21 Fresh: 19 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7/10
Runtime: 4 hrs 25 mins
Synopsis: Director Lars von Trier puts his mischievous mind to work once again, this time creating a bizarre, humorous, and suspenseful tale about a Danish hospital that is haunted by ancient spirits. Copenhagen's largest hospital is nicknamed the Kingdom, and there are many odd things happening... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, Kirsten Rolffes, Ghita Norby, Udo Kier
Director: Lars von Trier
Composer: Joachim Holbek
Producer: Ole Reim
Story: Niels Vorsel, Lars von Trier
Screenwriter: Tomas Gislason, Lars von Trier
Composer: Joachim Holbek
Producer: Ole Reim
Story: Niels Vorsel, Lars von Trier
Screenwriter: Tomas Gislason, Lars von Trier
Reviews
Top Critic
A compulsive, bizzarely plausible witches' brew of interweaving storylines, conspiracy theories and paranoiac visions, held together by manic conviction right up to its Grand Guignol finale.
06/24/06
Top Critic
A lunatic, Twin Peaks-like meld of black-comedy soap and Z-grade horror flick that looks like an instant cult item.
09/12/07
Top Critic
By deliberately blurring the distinction between highbrow and trash movies, the director mocks his own inclinations toward a Wellesian grandiosity. The strategy allows him to flaunt a liberated cinematic imagination with nose-thumbing glee.
08/30/04
Top Critic
Ghostly little girls, doomed romance, haunted ambulances, exorcism, medical malpractice, mongoloid seers, demon dogs, heads in lockers, unearthly pregnancy and Udo Kier: Who could ask for anything more?
07/30/03
Most of the time, the movie is just plain weird, and it defies description in any other way.
06/18/02
The show is very well acted and produced, cleverly written for the most part and generally quite entertaining.
02/21/01
A mouthful to swallow. Its presentation is flustered. The taste is bitter.
02/21/01
This might be more fun on TV once a week, which is what it was designed for.
02/21/01
While its sheer length makes The Kingdom demanding, it is not only as rewarding as many other ambitious screen odysseys but a lot more fun.
02/21/01
Top Critic
A sumptuous feast of the sublime and the bizarre, both darkly comic and deeply disturbing.
02/21/01
Clips along because of the intimate interplay among a handful of fascinating characters.
02/21/01
After nearly five hours in the dark with weird Scandinavians and an even weirder story, I stumbled out into the Georgetown streets wondering if I'd ever seen anything as strange -- yet oddly rewarding -- as this.
02/21/01
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