Heather Santrous’s review published on Letterboxd:
It would seem that Paramount Plus has teamed up with Showtime to add the two streaming services together. I went for it since it will give me a wider choice of movies to watch. I'm glad I did because two of the movies I have yet to watch on my best horror films from 2021 are streaming there. This was one of the two. While I seem to be in the minority, again, you can see that I didn't care for this one.
I'm not going to go into the plot any since I think the less you know, the better off you will be. This is a very slow-paced film but it can be interesting in places. The film itself is beautifully shot and since it is taking place in Iceland, the location is also very beautiful. The film also does a good job with the creature that is the subject of the title. I was a little confused with the timeline though. It is hard to tell if the creature is growing fast or if enough time has passed for it to grow at a normal rate. The acting is also pretty solid as well, so what could go wrong?
The film does have a bit of a tense tone to it that made me feel like something bad was going to happen. I kept waiting, but there wasn't much to look for. I figured it would depend on the ending for me which might bump up what the rating I was thinking for it at that point. The ending is kind of interesting, but it wasn't enough to make me think more highly of the overall film. By the ending, I don't mean the very end of the film, but just before that when we get a better idea of where the creature came from.
As I said, I did find some things interesting in this film, but I didn't really enjoy the overall film that much. I don't really even get why this one gets a horror label, it is a dark fantasy drama. At least I marked off another film from the watchlist I guess.
