Film

The Juniper Tree

Name: The Juniper Tree
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Released: 1990
Cast: Björk, Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir, Valdimar Örn Flygenring, Guðrún Gísladóttir, Geirlaug Sunna Þormar

Drama

A haunting Icelandic fairy tale where two sisters arrive at a remote farmstead after their mother's execution for witchcraft, and the fragile household begins to fracture as the elder sister's own magical gifts surface. Spare, dreamlike, gorgeously composed. For lovers of folk horror and Björk's early work.

TMDb rating

3.5

If you liked this

The Witch2016

A New England family's religious isolation breeds paranoia and violence as strange things happen on their farm. Like The Juniper Tree, it uses historical witchcraft fears as a lens into family dysfunction and guilt.

But Deliberately paced and bleak, with no comfort offered. If you want resolution or catharsis, you won't find it.

Häxan1922

A visionary documentary-fantasia about the history of witchcraft, mixing performance, archival footage, and pure imagination. Shares The Juniper Tree's interest in witchcraft as folklore and psychology rather than literal evil.

But Silent, experimental, and genuinely strange. It requires patience and an openness to non-narrative film.

Let the Right One In2008

A Scandinavian genre film about isolation, childhood violence, and the supernatural as a response to human cruelty. Builds slow dread with tremendous emotional weight, exactly as The Juniper Tree does.

But Violent and disturbing. The child performances intensify rather than soften the horror.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Juniper Tree

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Caveat2021

Both are formally adventurous folklore films that prioritize atmosphere and visual composition over narrative clarity, creating dread from landscape and isolation.

An Irish folk-horror film shot in monochrome, deeply strange and structurally unusual. Like The Juniper Tree, it builds a complete mythic world from minimal budget and maximum atmosphere, trusting the audience.

But Deliberately obscure and genuinely difficult to parse. Viewer reviews split between 'genius' and 'impenetrable'.

Under the Skin2014

Hypnotic and visually strange, following a mysterious figure through Scotland. Both films use landscape, silence, and ellipsis to create unease rather than explaining everything to you.

But Deliberately obscure and plotless. If you need narrative clarity, this will frustrate you.

Nosferatu the Vampyre1979

Herzog's remake is meditative and mournful rather than thrilling—a study of cursed characters moving through gothic space. Shares The Juniper Tree's sense of doom as something quiet and inevitable.

But Slow and melancholic rather than scary. Long stretches of mood over action.

The Night Eats the World2018

A French film about a man waking in an apartment full of the undead, forced to share space with danger. Like The Juniper Tree, it explores how proximity and claustrophobia create psychological and emotional fracture.

But Conceptually interesting but emotionally distant. Some viewers find it cold.

A Cure for Wellness2017

A luxury spa hides dark rituals; pristine surfaces hide rot. It shares The Juniper Tree's interest in folk belief systems and hidden sorcery corrupting domestic spaces.

But Overlong, twisty, and occasionally silly. The ambition exceeds the execution.

Suspiria1977

A ballet student enters a German academy that is secretly a coven. Visually dazzling and rhythmically obsessive, it creates atmosphere through color and sound rather than conventional horror.

But Very 70s, very stylized. The plot is thin and the logic doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

Pyewacket2017

A grieving teenager dabbles in witchcraft during a family crisis. Atmospheric Canadian horror that treats magic as a coping mechanism and misuse of power.

But Lower budget and less visually distinguished than The Juniper Tree. Some scenes feel conventional.

My Winnipeg2008

Both films treat place itself as a haunted, almost-sentient character. The landscape and history of a location drive the emotional logic more than plot mechanics.

Guy Maddin's essay-film about his hometown, shot in black-and-white with a dreamlike, non-linear structure. Uses past and memory as characters, and treats landscape as emotional.

But Not a plot film. It's essayistic and fragmentary, more like watching someone's strange memories than a story.

The Salt of Life2011

Both films use repetition, seasonal time, and labor as the structure of emotional meaning. Neither explains its own logic—you're meant to feel it.

Brazilian experimental fiction that moves like a poem, following a woman through a salt-farming community where labor and ritual merge. Glacial pacing and hypnotic repetition create trance states.

But Very slow, very abstract. Some find it meditative; others find it insufferable.