lamb horror movie review

an image, when javascript is unavailable

‘Lamb’ Review: Noomi Rapace Adopts a Uniquely Strange Baby in Striking Motherhood Horror

A slow-burn contemporary folk horror that beds a ludicrous central twist so deep in damp Icelandic austerity you can almost believe it.

By Jessica Kiang

Jessica Kiang

‘Pierce’ Review: A Saber-Sharp Sociopathy Thriller in Which Brotherly Love Duels With Suspicion 3 weeks ago
‘Second Chance’ Review: A Soothing Mantra of Himalayan Hope and Healing 3 weeks ago
‘Our Lovely Pig Slaughter’ Review: A Rowdily Tragicomic Ode to Family Feuds and Disappearing Traditions 3 weeks ago

Splicing the dark heart of a folk-horror movie into the fluffy body of a rural Icelandic relationship drama yields unexpectedly fertile and darkly comic effects in Valdimir Jóhannsson ‘s creepy-funny-weird-sad “Lamb,” a film that proves just how far disbelief can be suspended if you’re in the hands of a director — and a cast, and an SFX/puppetry department — who really commit to the bit. Abetted by a performance of unwaveringly invested, freckled seriousness from Noomi Rapace (whose Icelandic certainly sounds convincing to a non-Nordic ear), “Lamb” is as curious a cross-breed as its central little miracle-monster, and just as much a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Way out here on this isolated hillside, something is spooking the horses. In a majestic beginning, featuring some quite brilliant animal acting (“Lamb” won a Cannes Palm Dog Grand Prix for its canine performer, but were there equivalents for equine, feline and of course ovine actors, it would surely have swept the board), the camera prowls and plods its point-of-view way through misty fields. Finally this unseen, not-human-but-not-wholly-animal entity, whose unheimlich nature we understand through the huffing and snorting of Ingvar Lunderg and Björn Viktorsson’s endlessly inventive sound design, and through the panicked fleeing of livestock at its approach, arrives at the sheep barn. Docile ewes huddle together, but one is singled out and something is done to her. The radio plays a Christmas song.

Popular on Variety

Jóhannsson is hesitant to the point of coy about showing Ada — it happens at about the 40-minute mark, long after we’ve guessed what she actually is. And the teasing of so much artful framing, so many awestruck reaction shots, so many close-ups of Rapace’s sharp features softening into fuzzy maternal fondness, can get frustrating — just show us the thing already . But once Ada is shown (an excellent combination of practical and special effects) — and it’s a novelty image that never loses its inherent ridiculousness especially after she gets big enough to wear cute waders and dungarees — the decision to delay makes more sense. By that point, we’re so embedded in the heavy, absolutely straight-faced mood that Jóhannsson summons that even the absurdity of Ada’s little person cannot dispel the atmosphere of unease.

For a time, things go well. The new parents are contented, even if Maria does display the ruthless side of her maternal instincts toward Ada’s pining birth mother. But then Ingvar’s ne’er-do-well brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), with whom Maria has some torrid romantic history, shows up in need of a place to stay, and suddenly this little “Iceland of Dr. Moreau” setup is under threat from a witness from the outside.

Pétur’s slow-blink reaction on being introduced to Ada is another masterstroke of delayed timing, here deployed for overtly humorous effect, giving the otherwise quite prodigiously unsmiling film a nice, cathartic belly laugh. But soon Pétur, too, is won over by the little tyke — the screenplay, tersely co-written by Jóhannsson and Icelandic writer, poet and lyricist Sjón (who also co-wrote Robert Eggers’ upcoming “The Northman”), hints at but never quite develops the idea of Ada’s slightly supernatural ability to make the adult humans around her fall for her. Similarly undercooked is a vaguely emergent religious analogy, with the film’s nativity-like opening — near a manger at Christmas — and Maria’s own name and occasional Madonna-like framing never really adding up to a real thesis.

Perhaps that’s because the storytelling most evoked here is pre-Christian, mythological, folkloric, the kind of discomfiting stories that were not designed to soothe children at bedtime but to threaten people — often mothers — with horrible punishments for upsetting the natural balance and grabbing more than their share of happiness from fate’s cruel, capricious claws. No matter how pure your intentions nor how real your pain, these ancient myths all teach us, debts always come due, and the chilling denouement of Jóhannsson’s dark, deliberate debut suggests that is what “Lamb” is: a modern-day take on some ancient, pre-Disneyfication fairy tale. Or, perhaps, a nursery rhyme with a sinister history encoded into its simple, spartan, sing-song melody: Maria had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow …

Reviewed in Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), July 13, 2021. Running time: 106 MIN. (Original title: "Dýrið")

Production: (Iceland-Sweden-Poland) An A24 presentation of a Go to Sheep, Spark Film & TV and Madants production, in co-production with Film I Väst, Chimney Sweden, Chimney Poland, Rabbithole Prods., Helgi Jóhannsson. (World sales: New Europe Film Sales, Warsaw). Producers: Hrönn Kristinsdóttir, Sara Nassim, Piodor Gustafsson, Erik Rydell, Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska, Jan Naszewski. Executive producers: Noomi Rapace, Béla Tarr, Håkan Petterson, Jon Mankell, Marcin Drabinski, Peter Possne, Zuzanna Hencz.
Crew: Director: Valdimar Jóhannsson. Screenplay: Sjón, Jóhannsson. Camera: Eli Arenson. Editor: Agnieszka Glinska. Music: Thórarinn Gudnason.
With: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Gudnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Ingvar Sigurdsson. (Icelandic dialogue)

More from Variety

Prince documentary is ‘dead in the water’ after four years of production due to ‘dramatic’ factual inaccuracies, why the hipgnosis drama yielded an unexpected ending, youtube and tubi are giving netflix, disney a run for their money, more from our brands, robert downey jr. to play doctor doom in two ‘avengers’ films, the new ducati panigale v4 s superbike is a polarizing powerhouse, nba players get paid to play in the olympics—just not by the usopc, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, superman & lois video: how did bitsie tulloch feel about having her real-life husband direct ‘lovey-dovey’ scenes with tyler hoechlin.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

80% Deadpool & Wolverine Link to Deadpool & Wolverine
95% Dìdi Link to Dìdi
76% Twisters Link to Twisters

New TV Tonight

90% A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Season 1
-- Batman: Caped Crusader: Season 1
-- Futurama: Season 12
-- Women in Blue: Season 1
-- Unstable: Season 2
-- Hotel Portofino: Season 3
-- Betrayal: The Perfect Husband: Season 2
-- Unsolved Mysteries: Season 4
-- Cowboy Cartel: Season 1

Where to Watch

Rent Lamb on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Darkly imaginative and brought to life by a pair of striking central performances, Lamb shears expectations with its singularly wooly chills.

Lamb has an intriguing setup, but you'll need plenty of patience to get the most out of this slow-building story.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Valdimar Jóhannsson

Noomi Rapace

Hilmir Snær Guðnason

Björn Hlynur Haraldsson

Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson

Man on Television

Related Movie News

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors.

In the Icelandic pastoral thriller “ Lamb ,” director Valdimar Jóhannsson ’s grippingly assured directorial debut that ruminates on parenthood, family and nature, Maria ( Noomi Rapace ) and Ingvar ( Hilmir Snær Guðnason ) are noticeably unhappy. Living on a remote, mountainous landscape that looks to be frozen in time, the rural farmers barely exchange words or crack a smile. Stern faced and muscularly poised, the hardworking couple just go about their day, plowing their land, harvesting their crop and tending to their livestock of lambs, ewes and horses with the same serious yet joyless dedication. You can sniff a sense of loss in the atmosphere that penetrates this otherwise tranquil scenery of quietly sharp colors, icy skies, and intimidating soundscapes. There is Christmas music on the radio, but none of the customary holiday cheer in the air. And somewhere out there in the wild, an insidious brute is making its rounds around the couple’s barn.

It’s on the heels of this silent misery that the duo’s happiness finally arrives in the most what-the-f**k-is-this form imaginable, the WTF-ness of which a late-entering character also reacts to in one of the film’s various moments of subtle deadpan comedy. A shocking sight for the viewer to receive and accept, it’s a reveal that also presents an immense writing challenge for any critic attempting to do justice to the film’s pacing through its secrets. While the adorably unnerving creature that blesses the household of Maria and Ingvar is very much the premise of “Lamb,” co-writers Jóhannsson and Sjón (also a poet and an author) conceal her identity and expose her visage in such a studiously slow fashion that one thinks twice before describing her and possibly ruining the experience for the readers. In that regard, it’s best to go completely cold into “Lamb,” which increasingly becomes a mongrel of a folkloric psychodrama and chamber horror, with preoccupations and a mood that fall somewhere between Robert Eggers ’ “ The Witch ” and Ari Aster ’s “ Midsommar ” even when the film can’t sustain its raw appeal all the way through unlike these aforesaid titles. That said, continue reading on only if you aren’t all too concerned about spoilers.

Those who are still with me: meet Ada, a half lamb-half human sweetie-pie believably created with the help of some CGI puppetry as well as real animals and young actors. Maria and Ingvar welcome her into their modest home so warmly and casually that you wonder whether they are able to see what the rest of us do. They feed her, bathe her, and tuck her in like everything is extremely normal with this cuddly creature, supposedly a gift that nature has bestowed upon them. What throws their newfound contentment off is the arrival of Ingvar’s brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), a sibling evidently close with Ingvar, and perhaps closer than he needs to be with his sister-in-law.

The rivalrous dynamic Jóhannsson establishes within the household is both fiendishly fun to follow, and one that wears thin fast with not much to expand on. The same could be said about the film’s overarching concerns about parenthood, grief and mankind’s greedy domination of nature to protect their immediate and selfish interests by any means necessary. (Those who are extremely sensitive towards animal suffering and casualty should especially beware the company of these people who want to have their lamb and eat it too.) It’s not so much that co-writers Jóhannsson and Sjón lack deep ideas around these themes. But “Lamb” puts them all on an obscure backburner for far too long, prioritizing its skillful aesthetics and tone over a meaningful exploration of the anxieties at its heart.

Still, a fierce sense of originality you won’t be able to shake and look away from nearly makes up for the film’s relative lack of depth. Seen through the spooky, foggy lens of cinematographer Eli Erenson that recalls the enigmatic style of Béla Tarr (it can’t be a coincidence that Tarr is an executive producer here), the visual world of “Lamb” is immersive and soulful, qualities matched by Rapace’s expressive presence at every turn. While it’s not a thoroughly satisfying stew of style and substance—plus, it could’ve used some sharper scares—“Lamb” nonetheless leaves a unique enough aftertaste for one to crave more of the same distinctive weirdness from Jóhannsson in the future.

Available in theaters on October 8.

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

Now playing

Simon Abrams

The Secret Art of Human Flight

Monica castillo.

Peyton Robinson

Great Absence

Brian tallerico.

Mother, Couch!

Robert daniels, film credits.

Lamb (2021)

Rated R for some bloody violent images and sexuality/nudity.

106 minutes

Valdimar Jóhannsson

Cinematographer

Eli Arenson
Agnieszka Glinska

Latest blog posts

Retrospective: Jean-Pierre Melville and the Cinematic Hitman

Netflix's The Decameron Sinks to New Lows

Silents Synced Pairs Silent Classics with '90s Alt-Rock (It’s a Gen-X Thing)

Time Bandits Offers a Fun Summer Diversion

Cast & crew
User reviews

Hilmir Snær Guðnason and Noomi Rapace in Lamb (2021)

A childless couple discovers a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland. A childless couple discovers a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland. A childless couple discovers a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland.

Valdimar Jóhannsson
Noomi Rapace
Hilmir Snær Guðnason
Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
343 User reviews
214 Critic reviews
68 Metascore
24 wins & 33 nominations

Top cast 10

Man on Television

(as Ester Bíbí Ásgeirsdóttir)
Truck Driver
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia Lamb is the first film where Noomi Rapace speaks in Icelandic, a language she learned while living in Iceland as a child.
Goofs All entries contain spoilers
Connections Featured in Half in the Bag: 2021 Movie Catch-Up (part 1 of 2) (2022)
Soundtracks So Young Music and lyrics by Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan (as Klemens Hannigan) Performed by Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan (as Klemens Hannigan) and Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson

User reviews 343

Oct 20, 2021

Every A24 Horror Movie, Ranked by IMDb Rating

How long is Lamb? Powered by Alexa
October 8, 2021 (United States)
Official site
Iceland (2019)
Black Spark Film & TV
Chimney Poland
Chimney Sweden
See more company credits at IMDbPro
Oct 10, 2021

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 46 minutes
Dolby Digital

More to explore

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘lamb’ (‘dýrið’): film review | cannes 2021.

Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Gudnason play Icelandic sheep farmers who seize on a startling discovery during lambing season as a way to heal their pain in Valdimar Johannsson's first feature.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Send an Email
Show additional share options
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Share on Tumblr
Share on Whats App
Print the Article
Post a Comment

A sheep-farming couple in rugged rural Iceland receive what they interpret to be an unexpected gift from nature to soothe the pain of a lingering loss in Lamb . But nature sees things differently in Valdimar Johannsson’s wild and weird folkloric drama, laced with brooding genre elements that veer into horror and a vigorous jolt of WTF humor. The stunningly assured first feature will put the director on the map in ways not dissimilar to Robert Eggers’ The Witch . The two films share certain tonal elements, notably a steadily building dread conjured out of long silences, an eerie loneliness and a bold grasp of the dark mysteries of human-animal relations.

Full credits

Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard) Cast: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Gudnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Ingvar Sigurdsson Production companies: Go to Sheep, Spark Film & TV, Madants, in association with Film I Väst, Chimney Sweden, Chimney Poland, Rabbithole Productions, Helgi Jóhannsson Distribution: A24 Director: Valdimar Johannsson Screenwriters: Sjón, Valdimar Johannsson Producers: Hrönn Kristinsdóttir, Sara Nassim, Piodor Gustafsson, Erik Rydell, Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska, Jan Naszewski Executive producers: Noomi Rapace, Béla Tarr, Håkan Petterson, Jon Mankell, Marcin Drabinski, Peter Possne, Zuzanna Hencz Director of photography: Eli Arenson Production designer: Snorri Freyr Hilmarsson Costume designer: Margrét Einarsdóttir Music: Thórarinn Gudnason Editor: Agnieszka Glinska Sound designers: Ingvar Lunderg, Björn Viktorsson Visual effects supervisors: Peter Hjorth, Fredrik Nord Sales: New Europe Film Sales

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Dan aykroyd defends ‘ghostbusters’ all-female reboot starring melissa mccarthy, kristen wiig, josh hartnett says attending taylor swift’s eras tour helped him understand ‘trap’ concert audience depiction, keanu reeves thanks his mom for “life, for storytelling, for love” at comic-con, marvel reveals ‘fantastic four’ movie title at comic-con, robert downey jr. back as doctor doom for two ‘avengers’ movies, marvel unveils grand plans for ‘avengers,’ ‘fantastic four’ during super-sized comic-con panel.

‘Lamb’ Is the Sweetest, Most Touching Horror-Movie Nightmare You’ve Ever Seen

By David Fear

You know something isn’t right in Lamb, the odd, unsettling, soon-to-be-your-cult-movie-of-choice straight outta Iceland, from the moment you see the look. It’s a glance exchanged between a husband (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) and a wife ( Prometheus ‘ Noomi Rapace ). We’ve already watched them go about their daily routines on their remote farm, quietly tending to their flock of sheep, tilling soil, exchanging pleasantries and what seems like the coldest of comforts. A heaviness hangs over the couple; an empty child’s room points towards something too tragic to speak of. One winter evening, as they’re assisting a ewe with the birth of her lambs, the last of the animal’s offspring attract their attention. The weak, quiet sound its making suggests it’s the runt of the litter. Given the weather outside, the poor thing probably won’t last the night.

And that’s when the look happens. Both seem confused, concerned, but somehow awakened from a slumber. There is a distinct shift in their dynamic. They wrap up the tiny creature in a blanket, take it into the house, and the wife feeds it with a bottle. Later, we see her swaddling the lamb, cradling it in her arms as she walks in circles, whispering a lullaby into its ear and lulling it to sleep. A viewer, at this point, is likely to wonder what, exactly is going on. Why are they so attached to this lamb? Why are they treating it like a baby? What’s up with the sheep standing outside their door, bleating angrily at them, giving them the livestock stink-eye?

Director Valdimar Jóhannsson is toying with us, keeping things cryptic, dropping tiny bits of information here and there, just enough to keep folks one half-step behind everything. Eventually, he lets down the curtain so we get a better picture of what’s going on — at which point his debut feature somehow becomes a hundred times creepier, and a thousand times more poignant. It’s a horror movie, to be sure, and one with a particularly disturbing visual at the center of it. (A hearty congratulations to the VFX team that worked on this.) No matter how many times it repeats or slightly varies, that image remains the key to what makes Lamb tick, as well as what makes it so moving. What felt like an unusual metaphor for how parenting taps into an inherent need to nurture suddenly swerves into Grimms’ fairy-tale territory. It’s the sweetest, most touching waking nightmare you’ve ever experienced.

Editor’s picks

Every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history.

That isn’t to say that the rest of the elements — the other ingredients in Lamb ‘s stew — aren’t wonderful (Rapace is particularly on point, even when the story dips headfirst into the weird, and then the even-weirder), or that they don’t contribute to the exact combination of tender and disturbing Jóhannsson is chasing. Another person eventually joins this trio, a louche, leather-jacketed hipster (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), who turns out to be the husband’s brother. He initially appears to be a potential threat to the couple’s newfound paradise, then possibly an ally, and eventually someone who, along with his fellow humans, may have to answer for what has happened. To say more would itself be a crime. It’s a movie that demands you experience it on its own terms. But it bears mentioning that Lamb does remind us that it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature. That matriarchal force has a way of pushing back, hard.

Star Trek: See Trailer for 'Discovery' Spinoff Movie 'Section 31' Starring Michelle Yeoh

By Daniel Kreps

Dan Aykroyd Looks Back: Making 'The Blues Brothers,' Hiding John Belushi's Cocaine, and More

By Brian Hiatt

Robert Downey Jr. to Play Doctor Doom in Two ‘Avengers’ Films

By Althea Legaspi

'Didi' Captures the Pain, Confusion and Adrenaline Rush of Being 13 All Too Well

MOVIE REVIEW

Jeremy Allen White Says He and Bruce Springsteen Have 'Texted' Ahead of Biopic Portrayal

Playing the Boss
By Tomás Mier

Most Popular

Ryan reynolds met madonna in person to ask if 'deadpool & wolverine' could use 'like a prayer,' and she had one 'great note' after watching the scene, just stop oil activists who threw tomato soup at van gogh's 'sunflowers' get prison time, robert downey jr. back as doctor doom for two 'avengers' movies, kaley cuoco’s daughter tildy is glowing with happiness in a doggy dress, you might also like, marvel studios just had its best weekend since ‘avengers: endgame,’ thanks to deadpool, downey and doom, left on friday unveils distinctive one-shoulder look for canada’s olympic beach volleyball team, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, marvel moves forward by going backwards, announcing robert downey jr. and the russo brothers’ return to the mcu at comic con, nba players get paid to play in the olympics—just not by the usopc.

‘Lamb’ Film Review: Chilling Icelandic Folk Horror Is a Hybrid in More Ways Than One

First-time helmer Valdimar Jóhannsson guides Noomi Rapace through a child-rearing scenario of wonder and weirdness

The convergence of the human and animal world is where the film “Lamb” bleats and bleeds, and your view of adoption may never be the same afterward. Set on a remote farm in the Icelandic tundra that could center either a horror film or a children’s fable, Valdimar Jóhannsson’s debut feature — which is sorta both — is in certain ways unexplainable, and in other ways as straightforward as a family portrait.

If that doesn’t always make for a successful experiment, at the very least it heralds a serious new movie talent with classical chops who’s also unafraid of where his ideas take him.

I’ll hold off on mentioning the movie’s fantastical leap for now, because you may need a little more information before deciding whether this is your cup of tea. The opening sequence, for example, suggests we’re in for something ominous, as heavy breathing accompanies a slowly pushed camera through a wintry frame and toward a grouping of horses that seem ready to clear a space. Then, at a sheep barn in the night, something gets the attention of its penned inhabitants. One of them falls over. The others look concerned.

In the light of the long Icelandic day, we meet sheep farmers Maria (Noomi Rapace) and husband Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason). They seem like dedicated partners in a hard, isolating operation if not exactly expressive, tender partners in a marriage. Then one day, one of their ewes begins lambing, and the look Maria gives Ingvar after the birth says it all: They’re taking this one inside to raise themselves. Not as a pet, mind you, but as their child, to be swaddled, cribbed, bottle-fed, named (Ada), and — as Maria’s subtly changed demeanor indicates — fiercely protected with an almost primal awareness to the world around her.

While this new addition brings a cautious joy to the household, they aren’t the only ones feeling something; there’s the constant bleat of the mother ewe outside the bedroom window where Ada sleeps. It’s the kind of aching, relatable (and portentous) detail — along with how Jóhannsson affords pride of close-up to the other sheep, plus the house dog and cat — that memorably imbues “Lamb” with an equality of perceived soulfulness across all its depicted creatures.

It’s an unusual and bracing dedication to animal sentience for a movie that isn’t animated and anthropomorphized. And the fact that the plaintive vocalizing unnerves Maria signifies that this new breach in the usual human-beast contract not only isn’t being readily accepted by the deprived birth mom, but also comes with guilt. Even as Ada appears to heal something in this childless couple, this unease also indicates Jóhannsson has us exactly where he wants us: mesmerized and unsettled.

Of course, if you think humans rearing a lamb like one of their own is the fantastical leap referred to earlier, that’s only the half of it. Jóhannsson’s early visual caginess about Ada — first showing only that adorable baby ovine head peeking out from a blanket — is a bit of a tell that there’s more to reveal, with the show part coming around 40 minutes in, when the depicting of Ada from thereon requires, after the initial shock, a delicate balance of CGI, puppetry, and sheep and child acting.

When Ingvar’s has-been rock star brother Petur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) makes an unannounced visit and meets Ada for the first time, his WTF face is so measuredly Scandinavian you may find her as unrealistic as does this youngest member of the family. (Which isn’t a knock on the effects team, who do a commendable job, but rather the set-up’s inherent outlandishness.)

Humor isn’t absent from the proceedings, but “Lamb” doesn’t treat its supernatural premise like a joke; the Petur sequence, which takes him from ewww to awww, seems intended to acknowledge how any of us might come to view the situation initially, then become swayed by it. But this section is also choppy and occasionally tedious, as if inserted to stretch a storybook to feature length.

When the movie re-focuses on what’s effortlessly foreboding about the scenario Jóhannsson and co-screenwriter Sjón have created, what Rapace and Guðnason seem to feel in their bones, and what cinematographer Eli Arenson renders from the crisply beautiful ruggedness of an unforgiving landscape, “Lamb” feels back on track as a fractured folktale edging closer to an unforeseen darkness in the natural world.

“Lamb” opens Friday in U.S. theaters.

Lamb Review: Noomi Rapace Shepherds A Gentle Folk Horror Film

There's a certain expectation that comes with an A24 horror film. Haunting. Creepy. Eerie. Unsettling. But while these words can be used to describe the latest A24 horror outing, "Lamb," none of them wholly encompass this strangely gentle Icelandic folk tale about motherhood. Directed and co-written by Valdimar Jóhannsson, "Lamb" is as curious a creature as the weird hybrid lamb at the center of its story, like a fantastical tale dreamed up by Jóhannsson in the odd hours of the morning.

"Lamb" unfolds quietly and slowly, following Maria (a superb Noomi Rapace) and her husband Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) as they peacefully go about life in their remote Icelandic farm. They barely speak for the first half hour of the film, but they don't need to — their lives are filled with the sounds of that farm: the braying of the sheep, the fuzzy music of the radio station that they play for their animals, the rumble of their old, wheezing tractor. Maria and Ingvar wordlessly perform both the mundane and more bloody chores — feeding hay to their sheep, helping their pregnant livestock give birth. Even in their cozy little house, little more is heard other than the clacking of their silverware. It's a borderline ASMR experience (which would be soothing apart from the surprisingly gruesome depictions of live animal births), until Ingvar happily remarks to Maria that he doesn't want anything to change. Maria only offers him a pained smile in return, giving the faintest hint of a suggest that perhaps she's not as content in this peaceful life as he is.

But change does come for this isolated couple, and it comes in the most unexpected and weirdest way. While guiding one of their sheep through a live birth, Maria and Ingvar are stunned to see the baby lamb that has landed in their laps. Immediately, Maria cradles the lamb, obscuring it from the camera while the couple take it into their house and leave the mother in the sheep shed. Jóhannsson intentionally blocks our view of this baby lamb for a decent amount of time, leaving only the head visible while Maria and Ingvar busy themselves getting the house ready for a new baby — Ingvar dusting off an old crib in their garage, Maria constantly crooning over what appears to be an ordinary animal. But a creeping dread starts to enter the film, as something doesn't seem quite right with the whole picture. Maria and Ingvar are over the moon for this animal that they treat like a human infant, and sometimes, in the corner of the frame at night, we see something with strange limbs scurry through the house. And the sheep, with their black, lightless eyes staring through the foggy Icelandic landscape, are restless.

A Dark Fairy Tale

It doesn't take long for the suspicion to sink in: this lamb isn't what it seems. Of course, it doesn't make the revelation any less bewildering (and frankly, kind of funny) to witness: the blankets that have frequently swaddled the lamb are peeled back to reveal a creature with a lamb head and a human body, with the exception of one hoof-hand. The attention that Maria and Ingvar have lavished on the lamb is finally made clear, though it doesn't make their immediate adoration of the lamb any less discomfiting. But while "Lamb" never loses its gentle tone even with the introduction of this uncanny hybrid creature, it does inject a new off-kilter energy that makes the film feel like it's dancing on the knife's edge.

What is the creature? Where did it come from? Why did it appear like this? Questions that inevitably plague the audience's mind are completely ignored by the happy couple, creating a dissonance that lends to the film's eerie vibe, even if it never loses its tenderness. The darkness of the story dances on the fringes of this Maria and Ingvar's happy little paradise — much like those fairy tales of old. Many might forget that those fairy tales doubled as cautionary tales warning children not to venture too far out of the light and into the dark, as deep and lovely as it might seem. But in this Icelandic summer, where the sun never sets apart from a few hours a day, it's hard to tell where the dark resides.

And like many a fairy tale, a childless couple that finally gets the child they've long yearned for must be tested in some way. This test comes in the form of Ingvar's malcontent brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), who arrives late in the film as the audience surrogate: the only one to question what the hell this lamb-human hybrid is. But even he is eventually won over by the strange magic of the creature and of this isolated world that Maria and Ingvar have made for themselves.

"Lamb" is a sunny folk horror film that balances a sense of eerie dread with a gentleness that feels at odds with its "horror" label. But even while it uses the camera and tonal tricks of a horror film, I hesitate to call it an outright horror, at least in the contemporary sense. Rather, it's a dark fairy tale — not the kind that has been sanitized by Disney or even Hans Christian Anderson — but the kind that has been whispered to children by candelight for hundreds of years. It's a film better left unexplained, leaving far more of an impact in its unexplained mysteries than in its slim story.

/Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Icelandic folk horror Lamb stars Noomi Rapace as a grieving mother who adopts a mysterious newborn

Woman with whispy brown hair, wearing a brown and white patterned cardigan hangs clothes on a line against overcast landscape

The Swedish-Hollywood action star Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Prometheus) might get top billing in Valdimar Jóhannsson's creepy-comic folk horror, but it's the sheep who steal the show.

Lamb takes place on a remote farm – a sort of cabin-in-the-woods set-up transplanted to the primordial landscapes of Iceland.

It seems a malevolent presence is lurking in the remote mountain valley – a fear that is roused by the mysterious panting noises in the effectively sickening sound design, and conveyed by the faces of animals freaking out.

From the immediately entrancing opening, the assured handling of genre – and of livestock – sets nerves on edge.

Cinematographer Eli Arenson shoots at sheep height, peering right up close into the creatures' glassy eyes, while inside their barn the flock turn their heads in unison towards the camera – their panicked breaths eerily visible in the cold night air.

A mature white Icelandic sheep, with small dark horns stands alone in a grey and eerie paddock.

It's not all mere suggestion, though. While the radio pipes a Christmas hymn, a ewe – the victim of some mysterious off-screen violence – collapses to the floor, with all the gravitas of a silent cinema star.

After teasing audiences with the idea of a film inhabiting a pure animal perspective, Lamb joins the traditional realm of human drama: orbiting around the child-less couple, Maria (a steely Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), who manage the isolated farm.

But, to its credit, the film never quite relinquishes this affinity with the natural world, which appears to be dangerously alive.

The result is a lot of mannered, if anthropomorphised shots – such as a sheep who stands, bleating, outside the kitchen window again and again, like a recurring bad dream.

These sit amongst equally potent documentary-like images of farm life, with the actors' hands disappearing inside very pregnant sheep and pulling out floppy, wet newborns – authentic scenes drawn from Jóhannsson's childhood memories of helping his grandparents on their farm.

Dark-haired woman in flannelette shirt reaches into metal tub while man washes dishes in background, silhouetted by window.

At work and inside the house, few words are exchanged by the still-grieving couple, whose late daughter is represented by a simple wooden cross on a hillside.

At first, her death is obliquely hinted at – just one of the many shadowy elements hovering in the wings, which show that the first-time writer-director understands the spookiest elements are those only fleetingly glimpsed or left unseen.

So much so, that it's not until 40 minutes into the film that we finally see the creepy-cute lamb-baby born in their barn, which the couple wordlessly decide to adopt as their own.

Inventive blocking and edits ensure that she's long hidden from our sight – but even as we sense something is deeply off about the newborn, she seems to immediately promise the parents a way out of their gloom.

Woman sits nervously on the edge of a bed next to a cot, wearing a white silk nightie and bathed in cool blue light.

The film teases at the idea of her birth being a divine miracle; the couple even name the lamb-child after their late daughter, declaring "Ada is a gift, a new beginning".

Dressed in boiler suits and Icelandic knits, Rapace gives a more internalised, though no less stoic, performance than in her role as Lisbeth Salander in the original Swedish version of the Millennium trilogy.

Maternal instincts seem to bring out a softer side, as the actress sings lullabies in Icelandic (a language she learned as a kid when she lived in the country).

But despite the parents' newfound joy, a sense of supernatural dread is baked into this clammy, slow burning, seemingly made-for-A24 title (the boutique label known for distributing quirky auteur-driven drama ) which no amount of adorable gurgling baby lamb noises can entirely shake off.

Bearded man in a patterned knitted jumper clutches a lamb to his chest while dark-haired woman in rugged blue jacket yells.

The film dangles the idea that these could be strange imaginings stemming from the couple's grief.

Or they could be all-too-real visions bubbling up from the lava-pocked landscape, in which other-worldly energies seem to thrum just below the surface.

From Nietzchka Keene's medieval fairy-tale The Juniper Tree (1990) to Game of Thrones, international filmmakers have riffed off Iceland's ancient and otherworldly aura, extracting magical energy from its moody, tree-less vistas.

Though a local, Jóhannsson dips into this instantly exportable visual shorthand – shooting the couple and their sheepdog dwarfed by mountains, in heavy, foreboding mist.

The film joins a recent batch of hip, auteur-driven horror movies that flirt with paganism – from Robert Eggers' similarly dank The Witch to Ari Aster's rubbernecking Swedish cult nightmare Midsommar .

Woman with wet dark hair, wearing a navy hooded jacket and holding a shotgun is shrouded in fog and rain.

But while many of these titles take themselves frightfully seriously, Lamb, which was co-written with the playful Icelandic poet Sjón, also knows how to poke fun.

As the couple sit on the couch cradling Ada, her bleating drowns out the dialogue of the TV show they're watching; "Missed it," says Ingvar. "Something about folk tales, I think."

The dry humour and mounting horror make for a curious tonal brew, which is further confused by the comic arrival of Ingvar's brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), a one-hit-wonder electro-rocker who's gone soft in the belly.

(The troublemaker also brings about a scene of drunken revelry to make proud Jóhannsson's mentor Béla Tarr, who serves here as an executive producer.)

Pétur gawps at Ada and confronts his brother, articulating what we're all thinking: "What the f*** is this?!?"

"Happiness," Ingvar replies with a dopey grin.

Man and woman lying in a dark, cooly lit room in bed. Man looks intensely at woman in foreground and pulls sheets up around him.

When "this" is finally revealed, it's through an impressive mix of live animals, CGI and puppetry (benefiting from Johansson's past SFX work on big productions such as Rogue One) that lands squarely in the uncanny valley.

This discomfort is heightened by the actors' deadpan reactions, which lace every scene with a fine sense of the absurd – "She's not used to strangers," Ingvar says, as if to explain Ada's silence.

They also suggest the parents' wilful blindness, seeing only what they want to see – until perhaps it's too late.

Lamb is undeniably a smart and attention-grabbing debut – not for nothing did it pick up the Prize of Originality at the Cannes Film Festival.

But that clever air also gets in the way of anything truly unruly being let loose – unlike the cosmic chaos of, say, Tarr's films (Werckmeister Harmonies; Satantango) – and in the end, despite all the indelible images, breakout sheep stars and kooky thrills and spills, the surreal conceit eventually runs out of gas.

Lamb is in cinemas October 14.

X (formerly Twitter)

Midsommar serves up folk horror with humour as follow-up to demonic thriller Hereditary

A group of people in white clothes covered in colourful flowers stare mournfully into the distance.

Follow-up to 90s horror classic hits a chord in the wake of BLM, but won't get your heart rate up

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a beaten-up and soiled white shirt lurches vacantly toward the camera, framed by a lime green archway.

Arts, Culture and Entertainment
Film (Arts and Entertainment)
Horror Films
Thriller Films

Find anything you save across the site in your account

“Lamb,” Reviewed: A Horror Film Where Cleverness Is the Problem

The horror-proximate fantasy “Lamb,” which opens Friday in theatres, is the first feature by the Icelandic director Valdimar Jóhannsson (who co-wrote the script with the musician and novelist Sjón), and it plays more like a calling card, a display of professionalism, than an experience. There are only about twenty minutes of its one-and-three-quarter-hour running time that sustain any interest, thanks to a late-breaking twist of industrial-strength cleverness. The narrative trickery that sets up the story—and the sense of a setup is palpable throughout—results in a grossly oversimplified tale that reeks of cynicism. “Lamb” preens and strains to be admired even as it reduces its characters to pieces on a game board and its actors to puppets.

The subject of “Lamb” is a fantasy that’s planted with meticulous yet narrow attention to a realistic context. María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) are a young couple on a farm in a remote part of Iceland. They grow crops (most prominently, potatoes) and they raise a few dozen sheep, which live in a barn a short walk across sloping fields from their comfortable and casual little farmhouse. Their workdays involve driving a tractor, leading the sheep through fields, schlepping hay for the sheep to eat, preparing meals, helping sheep give birth, tagging and logging the new arrivals. But their regular routine is disturbed by the barking of their dog near the barn; the couple go in to see what’s up with the sheep, and, looking surprised, note that one of the sheep has given birth without help. Taking the newborn in her arms, María brings it back to the farmhouse, where, wrapped in a blanket, it lives in a metal washtub. They feed it milk with a baby bottle and raise it in the house, dragging a crib from a storage area to a space next to their own bed, where the swaddled lamb will live.

Despite glimpses of the grand, mountainous Icelandic locale and of activities in the house and on the farm, “Lamb” offers virtually no characterization, no inner life, no substance. There’s nothing wrong with a mystery filmed from the outside, in which only observation of the characters elicits clues. But “Lamb” constructs its characters solely as clue generators; their identity is limited to their function. The gap between what the characters know (or, for that matter, who they are) and what they’re shown doing is blatant and frustrating; it makes the movie resemble pages of redacted testimony on which there are more stripes of black ink than legible text. It is, for instance, only a third of the way through the film that the lamb in question is revealed to be actually a hybrid of lamb and human—her head is that of a lamb, and her right arm is a lamb’s furry foreleg, but the rest of her body is humanoid. This fact, known instantly by the couple and weighing on them like some sort of grave matter, is kept a secret from viewers.

María and Ingvar name the ovine girl Ada (pronounced “ahda”), dress her in sweaters and pants, and raise her as their daughter. A few years pass. Ada is now a calm toddler, who walks upright; she doesn’t speak, but she understands what María and Ingvar say. Then the family gets a visitor—Ingvar’s ne’er-do-well brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), a former rock musician, who is rudely dumped from the trunk of a car onto their property by a trio of people whom María and Ingvar assume are his creditors. María and Ingvar are surprised that Pétur has returned, which is to say that he used to live or visit there; it’s never made clear, but this is in any case the first time he’s been there in years, and thus the first time that he meets Ada. His skepticism about the couple’s decision to raise her takes on an especially bitter and menacing edge, for reasons that are only very belatedly and very thinly suggested to the viewer (but are instantly obvious to all three adults). María and Ingvar fear that Pétur is going to do something to harm Ada or otherwise get rid of her, and this air of fear and menace—combined with Pétur’s efforts to spark an affair with María—drives the drama.

There is nothing anywhere in the film to suggest what María and Ingvar are thinking. For the first ten minutes, they don’t say a word. When they’re shown reading or writing, the substance is neither seen nor heard. When they finally do speak to each other, it’s to exchange banalities. They say nothing of substance about their daily lives or immediate concerns—for instance, not a word to each other about Ada’s unusual form, about any practicalities that it entails, about the significance to them of her presence. Something has been out of whack in the household (hint: the crib in the storage room) but, much as it’s in the forefront of the couple’s minds, even in their activities, the information isn’t dropped in the film until very late, and then only as a virtual onscreen Post-it. (In a prime example of the director’s cagey, shticky way with information, even the protagonists’ names are dropped late into the story.)

Physical labor is dispatched in similarly emblematic ways. Do María and Ingvar sell the sheep? Butcher the sheep? It’s never shown, or even suggested. Their isolation—do they have any friends, any other relatives, any visitors who might also register surprise at Ada’s unusual form? None that are seen, and the story appears to span about five years. Pétur’s skepticism regarding the couple’s raising of Ada is similarly dispatched in a hollow sentence or two. The silences that follow the scant, merely informative dialogue are stupefying silences in which characters are conspicuously turned empty, as if by directorial fiat. Even the movie’s images are stultifyingly retentive, offering information in serenely decorative form and even cutting the best elements—its rare closeups of Ada and of sheep—to merely indicative snippets.

In part, the frustration that “Lamb” elicits is a function of the craft that obviously went into its making. The problem is that all of the evident thought was channelled narrowly into making sure that the story sticks its landing. Far from considering the implications and possibilities opened by its story, the film’s careful organization stifles them. Without any loose ends—and without any conceptual or stylistic audacity behind its sparseness—“Lamb” appears cut off not only from its characters’ inner lives but from the inner life of its creators. Films of humanoid hybrids are having a moment: Julia Ducournau’s “ Titane ” is also currently in theatres, and the director follows the implications of its fantasy premise to wild extremes; what it lacks in the overt voicing of its characters’ subjectivity it furiously and splendidly makes up for with the director’s own teeming inner worlds and visionary imaginings. “Lamb” reduces fantasy to an excuse and imagination to a product. To my surprise, it won the Prize of Originality in the “Un Certain Regard” section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This, and its over-all acclaim, offer a grim view of the state of the art house. If awards it must get, give its twenty twisty minutes an Oscar for Best Live Action Short and be done with it.

New Yorker Favorites

How we became infected by chain e-mail .
Twelve classic movies to watch with your kids.
The secret lives of fungi .
The photographer who claimed to capture the ghost of Abraham Lincoln .
Why are Americans still uncomfortable with atheism ?
The enduring romance of the night train .
Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The Republican National Convention and the Iconography of Triumph

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

How to Talk with Kids About Violence, Crime, and War

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Common sense media reviewers.

Surreal Icelandic horror has violence, swearing, sex.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Being adaptable and taking care of those in need.

Maria and Ingvar work hard on their sheep farm. Ho

An international cast and a foreign setting with s

Bloody violence and death includes dead animals, g

Oral sex scene where one character is seen topless

Language is very occasional but includes "f--k," "

Adult characters drink alcohol in a social setting

Positive Messages

Being adaptable and taking care of those in need. Some modelling of selfish behavior. The fantasy element of the movie acts as a metaphor for processing grief, dealing with worsening mental health, and showing how loved ones can bond over tragic and unique experiences.

Positive Role Models

Maria and Ingvar work hard on their sheep farm. However, they decide to raise Ada -- a part-sheep, part-human child -- as their own, at the expense of Ada's biological sheep mother. Likewise, Petur is shown to be hardworking and compassionate, but he too can be selfish and resorts to underhand means to get what he wants.

Diverse Representations

An international cast and a foreign setting with some gender balance, but no ethnic diversity.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Bloody violence and death includes dead animals, gunshot wounds. Some blood and internal organs shown as new born lambs are delivered. Sheep's ears clipped and tagged as part of farm work. Animals shot dead off camera but with dead bodies shown. Scuffle between two characters. Character shot and bleeds from the neck. Elements of fantasy horror as a human-sheep hybrid child is shown. Someone attempts to blackmail another into having sex with them.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Oral sex scene where one character is seen topless. Character shown in the bath from bare shoulders up. Minotaur-like creature shown naked from behind.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language is very occasional but includes "f--k," "crap," "goddamn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adult characters drink alcohol in a social setting. Some drunkenness results in characters becoming poorly coordinated. Some smoking of cigarettes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Lamb is an Icelandic horror movie with disturbing fantasy imagery, violence, and occasional sex and nudity. The story, which has a bleak and sometimes comedic tone, centers around Maria ( Noomi Rapace ) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), who one day on their sheep farm are surprised to birth Ada, a child with a lamb's head and arm. Maria and Ingvar's decision to take in Ava and raise it as their part-sheep child causes some tension with Ingvar's brother Petur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), who views what they are doing as unnatural. Violence is infrequent but bloody and graphic on occasion. Animals are culled and killed with firearms. There is also some murder and death from shootings, but none of the gore is excessive. The only real blood we see is when two lambs are delivered. A scene depicting oral sex also shows a woman topless. There are also references to sex as part of an attempted blackmail by one character. Occasional swearing includes "f--k" and "s--t," and there is some smoking and drinking -- the latter to slight excess in one scene. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

Parents say
Kids say (3)

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

LAMB follows a married couple of sheep farmers in a remote part of Iceland who take in a human-sheep hybrid child.

Is It Any Good?

A horror movie with animalistic elements that's also a very human drama, this Icelandic tale is unafraid to embrace its bold premise. Lamb tells the story of a human couple who adopts a part-sheep child, and raises it as their own. So far, so unique, with Noomi Rapace giving a performance that ranges from defensive to loving, as her attempt to build a new life with a new family results in various highs and lows. Making Rapace's Maria and her husband, Ingvar -- played with quiet acceptance by Icelandic star Hilmir Snær Guðnason -- a couple still mourning the death of their biological child seems like an extra, unnecessary detail. But the disruption of their quiet, lonely lives by Ingvar's brother, Petur, adds a relatable family dynamic to the unrelenting oddness of Maria and Ingvar's new family dynamic.

While Lamb presents itself as a mood piece and a character study, it will at times test the patience of anyone who likes their movies powered by dialogue and action. This is a sparing, sparse drama with horror elements, and a finale that offers no neat resolution to a bizarre chain of events. It might also cause you to never look in a butcher's shop window quite the same way again.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about whether they found Lamb scary or not. What's the appeal of scary movies?

Discuss the film's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How was sex portrayed in the movie? Was it affectionate? Respectful? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

Talk about the isolated setting. How did it influence the story?

Discuss the movie's ending. How was it different to typical Hollywood movies? What meaning did you take from it?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 8, 2021
On DVD or streaming : October 28, 2021
Cast : Noomi Rapace , Hilmir Snær Guðnason , Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
Director : Valdimar Jóhannsson
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : A24
Genre : Horror
Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Horses and Farm Animals
Run time : 106 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : some bloody violent images and sexuality/nudity
Last updated : July 5, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Best Horror Movies

Best fantasy movies, related topics.

Magic and Fantasy
Horses and Farm Animals

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Exactly what is going on in ‘Lamb’? The director and star unpack the wild Icelandic fable

Noomi Rapace drapes her arm over the shoulder of director Valdimar Johannsson

Copy Link URL Copied!

Warning: This story contains spoilers about A24’s “Lamb.” There will be another warning before key plot points and details about the ending are divulged.

In northern Iceland, a couple struggles to move on from a devastating loss. While the birth of a mysterious creature on their remote farm seems to afford them a second chance at parenting, dark forces threaten to reclaim the source of their newfound joy.

That’s the premise behind A24’s “Lamb,” director Valdimar Jóhannsson’s feature debut from a script he co-wrote with the Icelandic poet Sjón, which stars Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason.

Now playing in theaters nationwide, the film snagged the prize of originality at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Its story, which blends regional Icelandic folklore with Jóhannsson’s own peculiar imaginings, was partially inspired by the director’s childhood spent with his grandparents on their sheep farm. “I’m very fascinated with sheep and lambs,” he said. “We decided from the beginning that it should be about sheep farmers. We also had the creatures in mind when me and Sjón started working together in 2009.”

Hilmir Snaer Gudnason and Noomi Rapace in the 2021 horror drama “Lamb.”

Review: Horror haunts the edges of darkly meditative Icelandic folk tale ‘Lamb’

Noomi Rapace brings a steady but feminine power to the dark Icelandic tale “Lamb,” about a couple raising a sheep as if it were their child.

Oct. 7, 2021

It took eight years to produce a finalized version of the story because “we were not in a hurry,” said Jóhannsson. “We just decided to take time to [develop] a solid script. We didn’t start writing [for five years], just talking about scenes and acting out things.”

Signing on was a quick yes for Rapace, who is Swedish but grew up in Iceland and rose to fame there. “I felt like I’ve been waiting for this film my whole life,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to come back to Iceland to reconnect with that side of myself and this movie felt like layers and layers just peeled off [of me] and I had nowhere to hide or escape.

“It was so honest, this process. All these elements came together to make it a dream project.”

The Times caught up with Jóhannsson and Rapace to answer some of the lingering questions you might have after watching “Lamb.”

Warning: Spoilers about key plot points of “Lamb” follow.

What inspired the story? Where did the idea for the lamb-human hybrid, Ada, come from?

Before he’d conceived of the script, Jóhannsson began drawing images of lamb-human hybrid creatures in a visual book he later shared with Rapace. “[Sjón and I] had a lot of paintings and photos that we basically created the story around somehow,” he said.

“A lot of the directors that I’ve worked with would start with a psychological or emotional perspective,” said Rapace. “[He] starts with a visual. So he collected images that he linked together and they created the story, basically.”

Jóhannsson brought the book, the script and a book of poems by Sjón to Rapace’s house in London when he pitched her the film. “I’m sitting there with this strange mood board book and I got lost in it,” she said. “Ada was in there looking very much like she does in the movie. There were beautiful landscape pictures and then quite dark and disturbing pictures. I could feel him just reel me into his universe and I was like ‘Holy f—, I think I need to do this film.’”

As for the origin of Ada, Jóhannsson says he’s not sure. Rapace thinks a clue can be found in an old dream diary of Jóhannsson’s that his mother brought to the Icelandic premiere. “There was a dream [he] wrote down when he was quite young with rams and the big horns and all of that,” she said. “So maybe the creature, without you knowing, is from one of your early dreams.”

“Yeah, it could be,” said Jóhannsson. “People are always asking me where it started and I have no idea.”

How much did Ada’s look change over the course of production?

“I remember at first we planned to have more of Ada,” said Jóhannsson. “She was talking and doing so many [more] things but we knew that it was not a film about Ada. So in the end we took so much out and it somehow made her stronger and was much better for the story.”

“She’s very much a vehicle and a canvas,” Rapace explained. “She’s the blank space you fill with what you need her to be. She’s a perfect balance where it’s enough for people to connect with her but she doesn’t have too much of her own personality.”

“Yeah, you as an audience [member] have to create her by yourself,” said Jóhannsson. “Some people think she’s evil in the beginning or think she’s planning to do something, but other people just love her right away when they see her and think she’s very cute.”

How many of the film’s threads originated in regional myths and lore?

While Sjón is a specialist in Icelandic folktales and mythical stories, nothing about the creatures originated in folklore.

“It was more about the Christmas theme,” said Rapace, who moved to Iceland when she was around 5 years old. “Everyone was like, ‘You have to be a nice girl and behave otherwise Grýla, who is this horrific Icelandic witch, will take you and eat you,’” she said. “Or one of her 13 sons, [the Yule Lads], which are the Santa Clauses in Iceland who are all evil and really mean, will come and snatch you or do bad things to you. Or, we have a Christmas cat that’ll come and eat you. It’s strange how Christmas has a lot of these kind of dark forces surrounding the event.”

“Religious [myths] and folk tales, they are so related,” said Jóhannsson.

What was it like working with all those animals?

“It was strange at first,” said Rapace. “I was like, ‘Oh God, how’s this gonna work?’ I’ve worked with animals before, I’ve worked with kids before, but not in the same movie. I was like, ‘This is everything I don’t prefer.’ But strangely enough we got into this rhythm where I felt like I was part of something bigger. You just surrender into a different, nonverbal rhythm.”

There’s a scene where Rapace sits outside in the grass with a lamb and adorns her with a flower crown. “We’re sitting really close, face-to-face, and she all of a sudden becomes super still,” the actor remembered. “And she starts breathing [in tandem] with me. And I had this [sensation] where I felt like I knew what she was thinking. She was looking at me and moving with me — I was breathing out and she was breathing [in] my air. It was this magical moment and he didn’t say ‘Cut!’”

“It was amazing so I just wanted to keep on [going],” said Jóhannsson.

“It humbles you because we’re so convinced that the social media and technology is our reality but if you really go to the core of yourself, we’re animals too,” said Rapace. “And the primal side of me, the animal instincts came out and I felt like I spoke less and less [and began to pick up nonverbal cues more and more].”

But not every scene she shared with an animal was as idyllic. “The cat was the worst,” she said. “He was like the diva on set. Never did what we wanted.”

In one scene, the cat is meant to jump up on the bed and interact with a sleeping María. “The cat caretaker is throwing cat candy on me so I’m there [flinching every time it lands], trying to pretend that the candy is not hitting me. And the cat is sitting next to the camera just [watching]. And then it’s like ‘Cut, cut, cut.’ And then the cat jumps up and eats the candy.”

Warning: Major spoilers about the ending of “Lamb” follow.

What should we take away from the ending?

“I think everyone should decide for themselves,” said Jóhannsson.

“It was interesting, when we shot that ending we didn’t really decide what was going to happen,” said Rapace. “I came running up that hill ... and then we did various shots and takes. For me, I think it’s that life is beautiful somehow. Our willpower and our determination to stand up again and to keep on going is so strong and I think that for me in a strange way there’s hope in the ending. A painful hope.”

Where does Ada’s father take her and what is he?

“I don’t know where they live, but he can stand for so many things,” said Jóhannsson.

“Is he nature?” said Rapace. “Or the devil? Or karma? I mean, the [human characters] do take something that is not theirs to have. [Ada] doesn’t belong to them. We basically steal her and I shoot her mom! I think María knows that that happiness is a short chapter, that it’s borrowed time. That’s why she didn’t run after [Ada] — she knew that she had it coming somehow.”

What happens after the movie ends?

“I think a new chapter starts in her life,” said Rapace. “When Ada is gone and Ingvar dies in her arms, María still can find [the grit to know that] life will go on. There’s a decision to survive and to live.”

“We got a pitch the other day like, ‘What happens in “Lamb 2: María Goes to Ram Land?”’” she added with a laugh. “Who knows? I think the beauty of us humans is we have the amazing ability to heal. But you can only start the mending and healing process if you allow yourself to feel the pain. And I think in the beginning of the film her life’s on hold, she’s blocked. And by the end she’s wide open. So it will be the beginning of something new.”

Review: ‘Longlegs’ walks in with a wintry moodiness, and its thrills are just getting started

July 19, 2024

This image released by Neon shows Maika Monroe in a scene from "Longlegs." (Neon via AP)

‘Despicable Me 4,’ ‘Longlegs’ lead box office to another strong weekend

July 14, 2024

A woman touches a man's chin in a kitchen.

Review: In ‘Touch,’ a kitchen, curiosity and some bridges that can’t be crossed

July 12, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Sonaiya Kelley is an entertainment reporter at the Los Angeles Times. The Bronx, N.Y., native has previously contributed to Essence, Allure and Keyframe Magazine. An alumna of Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism and the Bronx High School of Science, you can find her on Twitter @sonaiyak and on Instagram @sonaiya_k.

More From the Los Angeles Times

20 years after its release, ‘A Day Without a Mexican’ is as relevant as ever

July 27, 2024

Review: In ‘Great Absence,’ a son puzzles out the dad he misunderstood, now fading into dementia

July 26, 2024

Review: ‘The Fabulous Four’ once again tests the bonds of frenemies in a tropical locale

Tyler Perry poses in slate gray jacket at the doors of his 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta

Tyler Perry calls out ‘highbrow’ critics, defends his fans: ‘Don’t discount these people’

This Haunting A24 Horror Movie Subverts Everything You Know About Folktales

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

The Big Picture

A24's Lamb subverts the fairytale trope of stealing children, painting the aggressors as sympathetic while condemning their actions.
The film references folktales about animal-human transformations, blurring the inversion of natural symbols by reclaiming nature's order.
Lamb is filmed like a classical novel, with atmospheric cinematography that emphasizes the hollow quality of the characters' picturesque lifestyle.

The quiet and thoughtful A24 horror movie, 2021's Lamb , is a literature or folk student’s dream. The film envelops us into a twisted fairytale world that feels like it was conjured straight out of a classical folk novel. Its chilling storyline revolves around two classic folktale staples, stealing children and the amalgamation of a human and an animal , further referenced in a delightfully literary way by using intertextuality. Awe-inspiring Icelandic landscapes and pared-back frames are wrapped around this macabre tale, allowing each haunting beat to echo in the hollowness of the film's atmosphere. But these natural connotations don't stop at the film's visuals, with nature and motherhood becoming rivaling presences in this folktale. Director Valdimar Jóhannsson 's feature debut is as outrageous and jaw-dropping as it is eerie, weaving fantastical elements into the traditional framework of a simple folktale while delivering a visually stunning piece that lends itself to a deep literary analysis.

A childless couple discovers a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland.

A24's 'Lamb' Subverts the Fairytale Trope of Stealing Children

Following a couple who adopts a half-ram newborn (well, steals her from her mother), Lamb’s storyline is reminiscent of traditional folktales. Maria ( Noomi Rapace ) and her husband Ingvar ( Hilmir Snær Guðnason ) live on an isolated sheep farm in Iceland, where they are currently aiding the birth of lambs. One such newborn ends up being a human and lamb hybrid, which they decide to take home and nurture, essentially abducting the child from its mother . This idea of stealing children is present in many traditional folktales , typically used as cautionary tales to keep children in line. However, this didactic trope is subverted in Lamb , as it isn't necessarily a monster that steals the child, but rather the two human protagonists.

Interestingly, the film frames the parents in a sympathetic light, almost as if it was more humane for them to abduct the child from the more animalistic lifestyle. The bulk of the film follows their seemingly idyllic life with Ada (whose bleats and whimpers are voiced by Lára Björk Hall ), as they continue their farm work and raise the child as their own. When Ingvar's brother Pétur ( Björn Hlynur Haraldsson ) arrives at the farm and ridicules their decision to raise Ada, even he begins to change his tune, as his attempt to kill her turns into a twisted bonding moment instead. We also discover that the couple had lost a daughter a year ago , also named Ada, and thus this sordid tale of abduction is almost rendered as a hopeful second chance at parenting. The family dynamics, though portrayed as sweet, are entirely unsettling with the kidnapping hanging over them, amplified by the fact that Maria had also killed Ada's biological mother.

Your Favorite A24 Horror Films Wouldn’t Exist Without This Folk Horror Trilogy

A24's horror output has been defined by experimental sensibilities, but they were clearly inspired by these three folk-horror classics.

Though the film subverts the traditionally moralistic message of this particular folk trope, it slightly returns to it in the karmic ending. Without spoiling too much, the film closes out with a haunting shot of Maria standing against the cloudy sky, distressed yet resigned, suggesting she has accepted her fate, but also rendering her powerless in the face of the grand natural order. Lamb engages with this folk staple in a nuanced way, painting the aggressors as sympathetic while simultaneously condemning their actions. It still features the simplicity of a fairytale storyline , but its execution makes the film feel thoughtful and delicate, allowing for this nuance of sin and grief alongside the dark trope of stealing children.

'Lamb' References Folktales About Animal-Human Transformations

This dark fairytale storyline is also embellished with intertextual references that are pertinent to the idea of humans and animals transforming into one another, associated with Ada's hybrid state. During the film, we see Maria reading the novel Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov , a Soviet-era satire that revolves around a man trying to make his dog more human-like via surgery — a feat that only causes more distress. Though the main discourse in the novel is around the political environment of Russia at the time, there are also implications of what happens when humans intervene with nature. Similarly, Maria's intervention in the mother-daughter relationship between Ada and her mother becomes unnatural and violent. Both works also speak to humans giving into their human nature: Where Heart of a Dog 's protagonist indulges in the human craving for progression and mastering science, Maria sinks into her desperate maternal instinct, justifying her actions with it.

We also see Ingvar reciting the Icelandic fairytale of The Story of Dimmalimm by Gudmundur Thorsteinsson , where Princess Dimmalimm befriends a swan which causes the curse placed upon it to break, revealing its true form as a prince . Variations of animals transforming into humans have been around for eons, from 1698's The White Cat by French writer Madam d'Aubrey to the more recent renditions of Disney's The Princess and the Frog . Usually, these become didactic tales of kindness for children that use the inversion of the natural order to facilitate their message. As such, Lamb demonstrates a similar undermining of natural symbols through Ada being a hybrid but blurs the traditional inversion by purporting that Ada is natural, and it is Maria and Ingvar that become unnatural. In Lamb , the transformative subject isn't supposed to be with humans and instead is reclaimed by nature — dictating the natural order in this world.

'Lamb' Is Filmed Like a Classical Novel

Lamb creates a moody and dread-laden atmosphere that leaves us with a heavy heart as we watch Maria and Ingvar play house with Ada. The brooding soundtracks are almost indiscernible, allowing us to unconsciously recognize the more sinister undertones at play without fully realizing them. This is doubled down by the distinct lack of dialogue and the chilly hues chosen for the shots, rendering everything we see on screen slightly more bleak and lifeless. It is unlike what we would expect from such a rich natural landscape. Where we would expect to see vibrancy, instead we see muted tones, even in the shot of Maria and Ada in a field of yellow flowers — a yellow that feels faded and drained of vitality. It's as if nature cannot uplift itself in the face of this twisted show of motherhood .

However, it is the atmospheric cinematography that has the greatest impact, as it frequently pans out to the Icelandic landscapes of looming mountains and sparse plains. These wide shots create a sense of emptiness and isolation, making the remote farm the ideal setting for these fantastical elements. This sense of nothingness is amplified by the often pared-back or foggy backdrops behind characters in most of the scenes. The empty vastness behind them gives their seemingly picturesque lifestyle a hollow quality, emphasizing how it is sort of make-believe to go against the natural order. But the novel-esque quality of the film is amplified by the camera lingering at every shot it makes, holding onto each visual for a tad longer than necessary, reminiscent of the long florid descriptions you would find in a novel. It is almost as if the camera is delicately caressing the scene, echoing Maria's longing to capture each moment of her motherhood while it lasts, as well as further emphasizing the pantomime quality of their manufactured life together.

What Are the Main Themes of A24's 'Lamb'?

Lamb portrays a clashing representation of motherhood, where the ewe's maternal instinct is to find and protect her biological child, while Maria's motherhood is wrought with grief and desperation , deforming it into something sinister. Of course, her treatment of Ada completely juxtaposes this, as Maria strives to become the perfect mother now that she has granted herself a second chance. But it is how her motherhood twists her humanity that makes it malevolent. It's hard not to perceive the folktale as being an allegory for humans pillaging the natural world for their selfish needs, with the finale perhaps tying into natural disasters becoming some sort of karmic retribution. But with these allusions to a natural order and a twisted fairytale structure, Lamb delivers a haunting piece with ample symbolism and stylistic elements that any appreciator of the arts would eagerly dive into.

Lamb is available to buy now on Amazon in the U.S.

BUY ON AMAZON

Movie Features

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy . We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

‘Lamb’: How the Nordic Folk Horror Film Pulled Off Its Outlandish Special Effects Twist

Ryan lattanzio, deputy editor, film.

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Share on LinkedIn
Show more sharing options
Submit to Reddit
Post to Tumblr
Print This Page
Share on WhatsApp

[Editor’s note: This interview contains major spoilers for the film “ Lamb .”]

The latest entry in A24 ‘s evolving canon of European folk horror is “Lamb,” the feature directorial debut of Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson. In the vein of “The Witch” and a more dour “Midsommar,” Jóhannsson brings a moody sensibility to this disturbing fairy tale about a pair of shepherds, Maria and Ingvar ( Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason), who make a startling discovery in their barn one day: a half-human, half-lamb hybrid child.

The film is a visual effects feat as the baby is performed partly by actual children, with the VFX-engineered head of a lamb and puppeteers working in tandem. IndieWire spoke to the filmmaker and Stockholm-based visual effects supervisor Fredrik Nord about bringing this strange creature to life.

The film, as even Johannsson would argue, is far closer to a drama than outright horror, and that comes from the director’s own cinematic DNA. Before working as a special effects technician on films like “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and as an electrician on Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah,” Jóhannsson studied filmmaking under Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr (“Satantango”). It’s a similarly austere, Eastern European aesthetic rigor Jóhannsson brings to “Lamb,” but with a special effects twist.

First, the story had to be sculpted courtesy of Icelandic poet, Oscar-nominated lyricist (“Dancer in the Dark”) and “The Northman” screenwriter Sjón, whom Jóhannsson said brought “mythical” elements of “folklore” to the film. Together, Jóhannsson and Sjón worked to keep the reveal of the lamb child a mystery (Ada, as she’s called, doesn’t appear until about a third of the way through the film), ultimately opting to show less of her in the final feature than in their initial drafts of the script.

“I had about 200 shots in my mind, but we had to cut it down to 70. It went even lower in the editing of the film,” said Jóhannsson. Originally, he imaged Ada as becoming increasingly verbal and testing her boundaries. But she is, after all, not the main character.

Still, an ambitious technical feint went into crafting Ada, including the hiring of at least 10 child actors of various age ranges, two puppeteers, and multiple visual effects professionals.

“This team did amazing things. When we were shooting, we started with puppets. Then we did the scene again with children. We worked with 10 children and four lambs. It was very time-consuming doing scenes that Ada was supposed to be in because we had to shoot so many elements,” Jóhannsson said.

In a given scene, the child actor would wear something best described as a green-screen swim cap (or, in other cases, more like a helmet, depending on the age of the actor), as in the finished movie, it’s mostly Ada’s lamb head we see on top of a small human body. In terms of casting the child stand-ins, Jóhannsson recruited children in ages ranging between six and 12 months and two to three years, with many children cast out of the Northern Iceland region where the film was shot.

As for the puppeteers, they’d find crafty places to hide. “For example, in the bedroom, they were under the crib,” Jóhannsson said.

“There were a lot of attempts to do puppets and real lamb composite shots, but it’s just a handful of shots. The majority, 90 or 100 shots or something, is CG,” said Fredrik Nord, who’s worked on films including “Her” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” That’s partly because wrangling the children involved adhering not only to child labor laws — most can only work a handful of hours in the day — but also because of things like naptime and getting easily distracted.

“In the beginning, the idea was for [Ada] to speak slightly. She wasn’t supposed to be fluent or anything, but she was trying to be, with whatever a lamb can be, and later on it was an artistic decision to have her silent during the movie,” Nord said. “We had to do a lot with the eyes and nostrils to show if she was agitated or scared.”

Another key element of the film audiences might not notice at first, though it’s certainly one that lends to the overall sense of prickly ominous portent wafting through the movie, is that every scene takes place in the daytime. That’s because at this particular time of year (“Lamb” shot in summer 2019), Iceland only has about two short hours of darkness a day.

“My [director of photography] and I spent so much time on set, sometimes we just slept there, because we were fighting the most beautiful light. Some of the scenes we did after midnight because you have this magical light, so soft and beautiful,” Jóhannsson said. “I like that when they are going to bed, it’s usually bright outside. When you come home, you come to bed, it’s also bright outside. Sometimes it’s just like a dream because you are so tired, but it’s always bright outside. It can be very weird.”

Jóhannsson said that shooting the film at this time of year was by design, as he wanted to subvert the visual style of most horror movies, where it’s so dark you can’t see very much. “The [daylight] can be more scary, when everybody can see you, and you can almost see everything,” he said.

An A24 release, “Lamb” is now playing in theaters.

As new movies open in theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic, IndieWire will continue to review them whenever possible. We encourage readers to follow the safety precautions provided by CDC and health authorities. Additionally, our coverage will provide alternative viewing options whenever they are available.

Most Popular

Lamb ending explained: Director reveals the chilling truth behind his A24 horror hit

Confused by the ending of Lamb ? Director Valdimar Jóhannsson and lead Noomi Rapace reveal what the film’s final moments are all about.

Few movies this year are as quietly captivating as Valdimar Jóhannsson’s minimalist supernatural horror movie Lamb , released in the U.S. by famed indie studio A24.

With more animals seen onscreen than human actors, Jóhannsson’s debut feature film explores parental grief and loss amidst vast Icelandic farmlands. And it’s in these wide-open fields of dull greenery that something terrifying stalks the human characters.

“It can stand for so many things,” Jóhannsson tells Inverse about his movie’s ending. “Even I’ve changed my mind after watching the film so often. But it can stand for nature; it can stand for so many things. I feel everybody has to take their own understanding of it.”

He adds, “I think it’s not interesting to know what I think about it.”

In Lamb , Noomi Rapace ( Prometheus, Bright ) stars as sheep farmer Maria, who, with her husband Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), is grieving the loss of their child. When a baby lamb is born with disturbing half-human physiology, Maria and Ingvar choose to raise the child on their own, all while refusing to acknowledge that the child, named “Ada,” is not their own.

In an interview with Inverse , Jóhannsson and Rapace discuss the making of Lamb , which includes the live births of real sheep on camera, and the meaning of the movie’s shocking, nightmarish ending.

Warning: Spoilers for Lamb ahead.

Lamb ending: The “Ram Man” revealed

Noomi Rapace (right) and Hilmir Snær Guðnason (left) star in Lamb , directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson.

At the end of Lamb , the true “father” of six-month-old Ada is revealed: A towering, menacing half-human, half-ram. This “Ram Man,” as the filmmakers call him, appears and shoots Ingvar dead with his own hunting rifle and takes Ada back with him to live in the wild.

When Maria discovers Ingvar’s body, she mourns before silently accepting what just transpired.

It’s a strange ending, with relatively little said by the characters. But at a post-screening Q&A (which Inverse participated in) at New York’s Scandinavian House, as well as a separate interview with Inverse , Rapace elaborates on what the ending reveals about Maria.

Lamb ending: What does the “Ram Man” represent?

Maria (Noomi Rapace) in Lamb .

“I think [Maria] always thought that Ada wouldn’t stay,” Rapace said at the Q&A.

“When we meet her, she’s not living. She’s surviving. When Ada is born, it becomes a gift, like oxygen for her body and soul,” Rapace said. “She knows [Ada will] only be there for as long as she needs. She somehow always knew the Ram Man [was there] and that Ada will be taken away from her.”

Rapace adds that the “Ram Man” represents nature's wrath and its anger towards humans who exploit the earth for greedy purposes. The Ram Man was born out of Jóhannsson’s imagination, who said at the Q&A that he once had a nightmare about a giant ram.

“It’s not a joke,” Jóhannsson said at the Q&A. Before embarking on the Lamb press tour in the U.S., his mother dropped off a book in which a young Jóhannsson documented his dreams. “I went through one, and it was about huge rams eating polar bears.”

Lamb has no polar bear slaughters, but the monster of Jóhannsson’s dreams manifests through anger in the film. It’s not necessarily evil; it’s simply seeking justice for itself.

“[Maria] takes something that is not hers because she needs to heal,” Rapace said, “She doesn’t see him, but she knows. That’s why in the end, her pain is released. She’s breathing again; she’s alive. It’s the beginning of a new chapter. It’s extremely painful, but she is there.”

In Lamb , Maria (Noomi Rapace) raises a hybrid sheep baby as her own. But the baby doesn’t belong to her, as she eventually finds out the hard way.

In a separate interview with Inverse , which took place the day after the Q&A, Rapace elaborated on how Maria is “freed” at the end of Lamb. Rapace herself was raised on a farm in Iceland, where her grandmother imparted folk wisdom to her.

“My grandma always said, ‘Don’t provoke the elves.’ We have to be respectful to all creatures, even ones we don’t see,” Rapace explains. “I was always aware of things that are not there. And if you cross that line and take something that is not yours to have, nature will hit back. They will avenge you and come after you.”

She adds that Maria lives with Ada “on borrowed time.”

“It’s almost like a love story or summer fling. You know it’s going to be over when fall comes,” she says. “She knows that. That’s why at the end, she doesn’t come after the Ram Man. She doesn’t run to find Ada. She knows this was supposed to be. She is back alive and awake.”

How Lamb brought Noomi Rapace back to her roots

The production of Lamb included more animals than there were onscreen actors.

The terrifying “Ram Man” isn’t the only surprising thing in Lamb .

Filmed during the last week of lambing season in Iceland, the movie features real animals, from sheep to dogs and cats, who appear onscreen with human behaviors like confusion, suspicion, anger, and pain. Jóhannsson credits his many farmers and animal handlers on set to help him “direct” the animals.

“That’s the reason why they’re so believable,” Jóhannsson tells Inverse . “They’re just [being] totally themselves, feeling safe.”

“Animals have a strong intuition,” Rapace says. “If they feel threatened or stressed, they start behaving not like themselves. There was things we wanted to do, but we couldn’t push them.”

Rapace and Jóhannsson both describe a “mother sheep” that got “wired up,” which caused the set to take a long break for the sheep to cool down. “That’s what I’m going to start doing from now on,” Rapace jokes.

Rapace also delivered real lambs from pregnant sheep on camera. She had never delivered before despite growing up on a real farm in Iceland. “It’s all real, happened in real-time,” she says. “I delivered two lambs [for the movie], I saw them stand and open their eyes for the first time. It was magical and scary. It was intense. You see life begin.”

Despite the eerie, isolating world in Lamb , the Icelandic set was comforting for Rapace, who felt like she’d come home after a long journey across the globe.

“I felt like I went back to my roots, to the old Noomi. It was quite magical how the Noomi I am today reconnected with child Noomi, where my life began, and where I found myself,” she says. “I felt like an orphan. Iceland became a parent to me. I felt like I belonged.”

Lamb is now playing in theaters.

This article was originally published on Oct. 8, 2021

Screen Rant

Alice in terrorland: i knew alice in wonderland was meant to be a horror movie, and this proves me right.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Alice In Wonderland: The Dark Secret Meaning Of Alice Growing You Probably Missed

Wesley snipes reveals his blade return came together with "a call from ryan reynolds out of the blue after 20 years", 10 best movies like land of bad.

Alice in Terrorland uncovers a dark, unsettling take on Lewis Carroll's classic story beyond Disney's adaptations.
The horror elements of Carroll's characters in the film stay close to the source material, creating a chilling effect.
The movie stands out in examining the true frights within children's stories - a trend we'd like more of in the future.

Welcome to Alice in Terrorland , how Lewis Carroll originally envisioned his classic children's novel Alice in Wonderland before scandalized readers forced him to rein in the more grotesque moments. Maybe. Probably not. But Alice in Terrorland was made all the same, never mind what Carroll, Walt Disney, or even Tim Burton may think. I've seen (or Wikipedia'd) many adaptations of Carroll's famous novels, and I've never seen any quite like Alice in Terrorland , directed by Richard John Taylor.

Alice in Terrorlan d , released in 2023, finds Alice (Lizzy Willis) arriving at her grandmother Ruth's (Rula Lenska) estate after Alice's parents die in a house fire. There Alice begins to have strange and horrifying dreams where the characters from Carroll's story take the forms of sinister humans who expose Alice to an even greater evil in her new home. The movie has an abysmal 4% on Rotten Tomatoes , but these films are bulletproof when it comes to reviews, and I think it managed to uncover an interesting angle on the story .

An image of Alice looking shocked while eating cookies in Alice in Wonderland

Disney's animated classic Alice in Wonderland is known for its trippy, surreal images and storylines, including Alice's growing. What does it mean?

Alice In Terrorland Plays Up The Horror Elements In Lewis Carroll's Classic Story

Adaptations of alice in wonderland have already proven it's a frightening story.

Alice in Terrorland is a pretty horrific movie with vile characters like the Walrus, who seems more like a child predator than a pinniped hungry for oysters, or the Mad Hatter who lives up to the moniker. The thing is, those over-the-top depictions of Carroll's character are not too far from the source material, as the many adaptations have shown. Even after Disney's Alice in Wonderland pulled back the creepiness , the film they made still scared me as a kid (and a teen... and now, whatever, leave me alone).

The 1951 Disney adaptation does an unnerving job of portraying just how lonely Alice is.

The 1951 Disney adaptation does an unnerving job of portraying just how lonely Alice is. The scene of the broom-faced dog erasing Alice's road home never fails to upset me. It's so depressing and hopeless. Even the nasty creatures in the forest start weeping for her. Tim Burton's live-action adaptations don't focus on those bleak aspects of the story, but they are certainly frightening. Johnny Depp in chalk-white makeup might be the friendliest face there. The Jabberwocky, the Red Queen, and the Cheshire cat are all frightful or at least disquieting.

Alice in Wonderland is about a little girl who gets lost in the woods. No one helps her and then a Queen tries to chop off her head, it's pretty scary. For everything I could fault Alice in Terrorland with, it does examine those legitimate hair-raising aspects of the tale . I have to hand it to them. Some children's movie remakes shove the horror in, but Alice in Terrorland realized what was already there in terms of frights, and used them to its advantage.

Alice in Murderland came out in 2010 and is a similarly low-budget horror spin on Lewis Carroll's book.

How Alice In Terrorland Compares To Other Fairy Tale & Disney-esque Horror Movies

Alice in terrorland investigates it's source material more.

Pooh in Winnie-The-Pooh Blood and Honey wearing overalls and a flannel shirt

Alice in Terrorland is not the only Disney classic or fairy tale story that has been turned into an adult horror movie. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey had the yellow bear murdering folks the same year. Blood and Honey is much more graphically violent than Alice in Terrorland but the latter has the former beat in terms of psychological terror. Even compared to similar horror movies like The Mean One ( How the Grinch Stole Christmas ) and Mary Had a Little Lamb (self-explanatory), Alice in Terrorland feels slightly more mature.

Notable Fairy Tale Horror Movies

(2023)
(2022)
(2023)
(2021)
(2024)

It's lower budget than those films but I like that it's trying to investigate something dark that's actually present in the text. I say keep it up — I want more films like Alice in Terrorland . Let's look at the dark underbelly of other unnerving childhood films. I want Dumbo's Pink Elephant Nightmare , Snow White and the Seven Serial Killers , and 101 Mean Dalmatians . That last one may only be relevant to an experience I once had.

Community News
National News
International News
Local Sports
High School Sports
Sports Columns
Ohio Sports
National Sports
Burton Cole
Patty Kimerer
Classifieds
Letters to the Editor
Guest columnists
Brenda J. Linert
Submit News
Statement of Values
Terms of Service
Browse notices
Place a notice

Today's Paper

Subscribe Today

Review: audiences will like mtc’s ‘spam’ a lot.

WHAT: Millennial Theatre Company — “Monty Python’s Spamalot”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 4

WHERE: Youngstown Playhouse, 600 Playhouse Lane, Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $20 to $27 and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-788-8739.

YOUNGSTOWN — Fans of musical comedy can find their grail at Youngstown Playhouse through Aug. 4.

Millennial Theatre Company is staging “Monty Python’s Spamalot” there, and it’s difficult to say which works better, the music or the comedy.

I’ve seen the show a couple of times before, but it’s been more than a decade, and I’m not one of those who regularly listens to cast recordings. I’d kind of forgotten just how good the score is. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it borrows and embraces the best elements of the musical theater wheel and turns them into the perfect delivery system for Monty Python’s absurdist humor.

There are no sacred cows in the Python universe — after all, “Spamalot” includes a bovine cannonball — but the songs by Eric Idle and John Du Prez spoof musicals with affection.

For those who only know “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the 1975 film that is the show’s primary inspiration, “Spamalot” contains most of the moments that comedy nerds have been quoting for nearly 50 years — “It’s just a flesh wound,” the Knights Who Say “Ni,” the killer rabbit — as well as a couple other memorable Python bits, such as the “Spam” song and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.”

MTC is doing the recent Broadway revival script of the musical, which updates some of the pop culture references, and the local company has added some of their own, including a very recent viral sensation.

The show will play best with those who love Python’s comedy, but there’s plenty for musical fans to enjoy, even those who’ve never tried to perfect their silly walk. Director Joe Asente strikes the right balance, never letting the comedy overwhelm the appealing songs or vice versa.

King Arthur in “Spamalot” may be the role Nate Beagle was born to play. He’s a gifted comedic actor.with a commanding, well-trained voice capable of singing songs like “Find Your Grail” and “I’m All Alone” that are written to echo those classic Broadway showstoppers. The fun he’s having with the character is infectious.

The same could be said of Brandy Johanntges as the Lady of the Lake. It’s a role that requires singing for laughs — mimicking the vocal tics of other stars and musical theater in general — but those songs also require a big voice with an extensive range. Johanntges delivers throughout.

But there isn’t a weak link in the cast, which includes Ryan Lamb, George Maillis, Edward Bazzell, Ben Doss, Tom Kijauskas, Ty Hanes, Andy Scott, Jillian Hibbard, Aubrey Verno, Rebecca Williams, Sydney Campbell, Sammie Gurd, Hannah Sinclair, Steve Millsap, Josh Cummings, Daniel Chiaberta, Sam Campbell, Ethan Blevis, Roz Blystone, Michelle Jalbert and Paula Stehphenson.

The vocals impress (credit to music director Cari Auth), and the choreography (Danielle Mentzer) is energetic and fun, often amplifying the humor. The costumes by Daniel Chiberta and Ty Hanes also are multi-functional. They not only convey the Arthurian times, but in scenes like the Black Knight, they play an integral role in the effectiveness of the joke. And with many actors playing multiple roles, the costumers’ work had to allow for rapid changes.

In the preview story, Asente (who also is scenic designer) said he used every bit of the Playhouse’s fly system for the production, and no one will doubt him after seeing the show. The sheer volume of scene changes and special props needed — i.e a Trojan Rabbit — makes “Spamalot” a challenge.

It’s one that Millennial Theatre Company meets and surpasses at every step.

Have an interesting story? Contact Andy Gray by email at [email protected]. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Daily Newsletter
Breaking News

WHAT: Millennial Theatre Company — “Monty Python’s Spamalot” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 ...

Steward Health Care to close two hospitals in Massachusetts

BOSTON — Steward Health Care announced Friday it is closing two hospitals in Massachusetts because it ...

Garden fundraiser brings an Italian flair to Fellows Riverside Gardens

YOUNGSTOWN — If a single saying could encapsulate this year’s fundraiser — and add a key ingredient to it ...

Two Rulli-sponsored bills signed into state law

Gov. Mike DeWine signed two bills into law that Michael Rulli sponsored when he was a state senator: providing ...

Horror movie prepares shoot at Royal Oaks

On the record hubbard township.

WHAT: Township trustees July 9 meeting PRESENT: William Colletta, Rick Hernandez and Jason ...

Starting at $2.99/week.

Search Please fill out this field.
Newsletters
Sweepstakes

2024 Emmy winner predictions: Who will win in the main acting categories

Our picks for who will (and should) win best lead and supporting actor and actress in comedy, drama, and limited series.

Kristen Baldwin is the TV critic for EW

Do you hear that, TV fans? That's the sound of Emmy-nominated performers stampeding to do as many interviews as humanly possibly between now and August 26, when final-round voting for the 76th Emmy Awards closes.

After staying quiet through last awards season due to the strikes , the actors and actresses in the running are back on the campaign trail ahead of 2024 Emmys, which will air Sunday, Sept. 15 on ABC. Who has the best shot of taking home the Lead and Supporting awards in Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series? Our picks are below — but a lot can happen between now and the end of final-round voting in August, so check back for updates.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist , featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Hulu; Netflix

Jennifer Aniston , The Morning Show Carrie Coon , The Gilded Age Maya Erskine , Mr. & Mrs. Smith Anna Sawai, Shōgun Imelda Staunton, The Crown Reese Witherspoon , The Morning Show

Who will/should win: Anna Sawai First-time nominee Anna Sawai is currently in the lead for her controlled yet deeply felt performance as Mariko on FX's Shōgun . On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that voters will say goodbye to The Crown without awarding its final Queen Elizabeth, Imelda Staunton, with an Emmy of her own. For now, these two regal women will have to battle it out on the campaign trail. (Side note: I also wouldn't be mad if Maya Erskine earned an upset win for her deadpan brilliance on Mr. & Mrs. Smith .)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Hulu; Amazon

Idris Elba , Hijack Donald Glover , Mr. & Mrs. Smith Walton Goggins , Fallout Gary Oldman , Slow Horses Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōgun Dominic West , The Crown

Who will win : Hiroyuki Sanada Long live Lord Toranaga! Even after switching to the more competitive drama category, Shōgun and its cast has the momentum right now. One potential spoiler: Gary Oldman, whose performance as Slow Horses ' grumpy, gassy Jackson Lamb is a real crowd pleaser.

Who should (also) win: Walton Goggins In a perfect world, Sanada would tie with Fallout 's creepy and charismatic Ghoul, Walton Goggins, and they'd each get 30 seconds for an acceptance speech.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

FX; ABC; Amazon

Quinta Brunson , Abbott Elementary Ayo Edebiri , The Bear Selena Gomez , Only Murders in the Building Maya Rudolph , Loot Jean Smart , Hacks Kristen Wiig , Palm Royale

Who will/should win: Jean Smart It's going to be a close, three-way race, but Jean Smart will likely beat out last year's winner, Quinta Brunson, and last year's winner in the Supporting Actress category, Ayo Edebiri.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Matt Berry, What We Do in the Shadows Larry David , Curb Your Enthusiasm Steve Martin , Only Murders in the Building Martin Short , Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White , The Bear D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Reservation Dogs

Who will win: Jeremy Allen White Expect back-to-back wins for Jeremy Allen White, who helped make season 2 of The Bear so extraordinary.

Who should win: D'Pharoah Woon-A-Tai White is deserving, but he a) already has an Emmy for this role and b) will have more opportunities to win with seasons 3 and 4. So how about honoring a different Bear: D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, whose ineffable charm and genuine heart as Reservation Dogs ' Bear cannot be celebrated enough, especially for his first (and last for this role) nomination.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Netflix; HBO

Christine Baranski , The Gilded Age Nicole Beharie , The Morning Show Elizabeth Debicki , The Crown Greta Lee, The Morning Show Lesley Manville, The Crown Karen Pittman, The Morning Show Holland Taylor , The Morning Show

Who will/should win: Elizabeth Debicki There's no doubt this award should go to Elizabeth Debicki, who brought such bittersweet longing and humor to her performance as Princess Diana on The Crown , I can't even think about it without getting a little misty. All of that said, can we please take a moment to enjoy The Gilded Age 's Christine Baranski earning her first Drama nomination in nearly a decade? Don't make us wait us so long next time, Emmy voters.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Tadanobu Asano, Shōgun Billy Crudup , The Morning Show Mark Duplass , The Morning Show Jon Hamm , The Morning Show Takehiro Hira, Shōgun Jack Lowden, Slow Horses Jonathan Pryce , The Crown

Who will/should win: Tadanobu Asano Billy Crudup, also an Emmy favorite, already took home this award in 2020. But this is the year of Shōgun , and voters cannot go wrong with Tadanobu Asano, so hilarious and scary as the scheming, unstable Yabushige.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Carol Burnett , Palm Royale Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Janelle James, Abbott Elementary Sheryl Lee Ralph , Abbott Elementary Meryl Streep , Only Murders in the Building

Who will/should win: Hannah Einbinder Now that Ayo Edebiri has graduated to Lead Actress, Hannah Einbinder — who gets better every year as Hacks ' Ava — is the one to beat. (Of course, there's a chance voters may be physically incapable of skipping over Meryl Streep's name when presented with it on an awards ballot, but I have to believe that common sense will prevail.)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Lionel Boyce, The Bear Paul W. Downs, Hacks Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear Paul Rudd , Only Murders in the Building Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary Bowen Yang , Saturday Night Live

Who will/should win: Ebon Moss-Bachrach Start belting out the Taylor Swift , folks, because The Bear 's Ebon Moss-Bachrach is going to add another Emmy to his collection.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Jodie Foster , True Detective: Night Country Brie Larson , Lessons in Chemistry Juno Temple , Fargo Sofia Vergara , Griselda Naomi Watts , Feud: Capote vs. the Swans

Who will/should win: Jodie Foster Despite her long career (including a lot of TV work as a child actor), Jodie Foster has never been nominated for a Primetime Emmy in an acting category. (She earned a directing nomination in 2014 for Orange Is the New Black and a producing nod for Showtime 's TV movie The Baby Dance in 1999.) Now that she's finally given modern voters a chance to honor her, there's little chance they'll ignore her fierce and funny turn as Ennis, Alaska police chief Liz Danvers.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Matt Bomer , Fellow Travelers Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer Jon Hamm , Fargo Tom Hollander, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Andrew Scott , Ripley

Who will win: Richard Gadd As of this moment, the writer and star of Baby Reindeer has the edge, but it's close.

Who should win: Andrew Scott Fargo has the most nominations (15), but all the limited series races will come down to word-of-mouth hit Baby Reindeer (11 noms) vs. black-and-white wonder Ripley (13). With Reindeer the favorite to win in the show category, voters may very well reward the Talented Mr. Andrew Scott here.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Dakota Fanning , Ripley Lily Gladstone , Under the Bridge Jessica Gunning , Baby Reindeer Aja Naomi King, Lessons in Chemistry Diane Lane , Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Nava Mau, Baby Reindeer Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country

Who will/should win: Jessica Gunning Hooray for Nava Mau and Kali Reis' barrier-breaking nominations for Baby Reindeer and True Detective , respectively. But it's another first-time nominee, the wonderful Jessica Gunning, who will take home the prize. (Go check her out in The Outlaws , too!)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

HBO; Showtime

Jonathan Bailey , Fellow Travelers Robert Downey Jr. , The Sympathizer Tom Goodman-Hill, Baby Reindeer John Hawkes , True Detective: Night Country Lamorne Morris , Fargo Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry Treat Williams, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans

Who will/should win: Jonathan Bailey It would be easy for voters to award the biggest star on the ballot — and to be fair, RDJ played five (!) characters in The Sympathizer — but Jonathan Bailey's star continues to rise (he's currently filming the latest Jurassic Park sequel and costars in the upcoming Wicked films), and he was simply too heartbreaking as Fellow Travelers ' Tim Laughlin to be ignored.

The Emmys are voted upon each year by the members of the Television Academy. The final round of voting will come to a close on Aug. 26, less than a month before the ceremony is set to air live on Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on ABC.

Michael Gallup retired NFL Dallas Cowboys

Michael Gallup Retired: What Happened to Him? NFL Contract Explained

By Elton Fernandes

Is Michael Gallup retired ? Here are the latest details. Gallup is an American football wide receiver who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders earlier this year. However, in recent news, he seems to have dropped out of the team just before their first training camp practice. Does this mean that he is retiring from the NFL ?

Let’s take a look at what exactly happened and whether ex-Dallas Cowboys player Michael Gallup has retired from football.

Is Michael Gallup retiring from the NFL?

Yes, Michael Gallup has retired from the NFL after six years with the Dallas Cowboys.

Earlier this year, in April, Michael Gallup signed a one-year contract with the Las Vegas Raiders after playing for the Dallas Cowboys for six seasons. However, on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Raiders announced that they placed their newly signed wide receiver on the Reserve/Retired list. He retired just a day before he could fight for the No.3 receiver spot during the team’s first training camp.

We have placed LB Darien Butler, G Jake Johanning, G Jackson Powers-Johnson, WR Jalen Guyton and T Kolton Miller on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Additionally we have placed WR Michael Gallup on the Reserve/Retired list. pic.twitter.com/aaPZsjaXUk — Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) July 24, 2024

As per Athlon Sports , Gallup reposted the Instagram stories of many of his well-wishers. These included his former teammate CeeDee Lamb, who posted a picture of them together and wrote, “til Infinity brada i got you…Enjoy Retirement king.”

Could Michael Gallup play football again?

According to ESPN , Michael Gallup has retired from playing football.

The average age for NFL retirements is around 27 years, and Gallup turned 28 this March. While he has yet to make a statement about his retirement, it doesn’t seem likely that he will return to the sport as a player. However, nothing can be said at the moment with absolute certainty.

As per his previous record with the Dallas Cowboys, he caught 266 passes for 3,744 yards and 21 touchdowns. Unfortunately, his relationship with the Raiders, to whom his retirement was reportedly unexpected, was quite short-lived. Additionally, the Raiders placed Darien Butler, Jake Johanning, Jackson Powers-Johnson, Jalen Guyton, and Kolton Miller on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

A gamer with a passion for music and a solid foundation in Statistics, currently thriving as an SEO Writer. 🎮🎶📊📝

MCU Galactus Actor Found for The Fantastic Four Cast

COMMENTS

'Lamb' Review: Stark, Strange Icelandic Motherhood Horror
'Lamb' Review: Noomi Rapace Adopts a Uniquely Strange Baby in Striking Motherhood Horror Reviewed in Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), July 13, 2021. Running time: 106 MIN.
Lamb (2021)
The director, Valdimar Johannsson, treats the admittedly ridiculous material with a convincing, deadpan seriousness and is supported at every step by his star performer on impeccable form. Rated ...
Lamb movie review & film summary (2021)
But "Lamb" puts them all on an obscure backburner for far too long, prioritizing its skillful aesthetics and tone over a meaningful exploration of the anxieties at its heart. Advertisement. Still, a fierce sense of originality you won't be able to shake and look away from nearly makes up for the film's relative lack of depth.
Lamb (2021)
Lamb: Directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson. With Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Ingvar Sigurdsson. A childless couple discovers a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland.
'Lamb': Film Review
July 14, 2021 1:22pm. 'Lamb' Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival. A sheep-farming couple in rugged rural Iceland receive what they interpret to be an unexpected gift from nature to soothe the pain of ...
'Lamb' Review: The Sweetest Horror-Movie Nightmare You've Ever Seen
Hilmir Snær Guðnason and Noomi Rapace in the A24 horror movie 'Lamb.' A24 You know something isn't right in Lamb, the odd, unsettling, soon-to-be-your-cult-movie-of-choice straight outta ...
'Lamb' Review: Oh No, Not My Baby!
If movies had smells, "Lamb" would reek of wet wool and dry hay, icy mist and animal breath. Bathed in the sort of unforgiving, glacial light that has actresses begging for a pink filter, this ...
'Lamb' review: Noomi Rapace stars in a quiet, ominous tale
But fundamentally, "Lamb" is a folk tale, bookended with elements of horror, typical of darker fables; legends abound in the film, whether on a TV or in "The Story of Dimmalimm," about a ...
'Lamb' Review: Noomi Rapace Stars in Ridiculous A24 Horror
OK, here goes: "Lamb" is about a young couple, María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who adopt a child with the head of a lamb as their daughter. That's right: One night ...
'Lamb' Film Review: Chilling Icelandic Folk Horror Is a Hybrid in More
'Lamb' Film Review: Chilling Icelandic Folk Horror Is a Hybrid in More Ways Than One. First-time helmer Valdimar Jóhannsson guides Noomi Rapace through a child-rearing scenario of wonder and ...
Lamb Review: Noomi Rapace Shepherds A Gentle Folk Horror Film
It's a film better left unexplained, leaving far more of an impact in its unexplained mysteries than in its slim story. /Film Rating: 7 out of 10. Noomi Rapace stars in A24's new horror film Lamb ...
In Icelandic folk horror film Lamb, a couple grieving for their
The Swedish-Hollywood action star Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Prometheus) might get top billing in Valdimar Jóhannsson's creepy-comic folk horror, but it's the sheep who steal ...
Lamb (2021 film)
Lamb (Icelandic: Dýrið, lit. 'The animal') is a 2021 folk horror film directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Sjón.The film's plot is about the birth of a human/sheep hybrid of mysterious origin and the couple who adopts the child as their own. An international co-production between Iceland, Sweden, and Poland, the film stars Noomi Rapace, and marks Valdimar ...
"Lamb," Reviewed: A Horror Film Where Cleverness Is the Problem
The horror-proximate fantasy "Lamb," which opens Friday in theatres, is the first feature by the Icelandic director Valdimar Jóhannsson (who co-wrote the script with the musician and novelist ...
Lamb Movie Review
Our review: Parents say Not yet rated Rate movie. Kids say ( 3 ): A horror movie with animalistic elements that's also a very human drama, this Icelandic tale is unafraid to embrace its bold premise. Lamb tells the story of a human couple who adopts a part-sheep child, and raises it as their own. So far, so unique, with Noomi Rapace giving a ...
'Lamb' review: A24's gorgeous new horror is its weirdest movie to date
Lamb review: A24's gorgeous new horror is its weirdest movie to date Explorations of grief, denial, and parenthood define Valdimar Jóhannsson's freshman effort distributed by A24. by Eric Francisco
Lamb Review: A24's New Horror Isn't Scary... But Is Deeply Disturbing
In concept, Lamb feels like a tribute to old folk tales, and there's an element to that in the abrupt (and admittedly shocking) ending. This film may feel too niche and reserved for hardcore horror fans, but still too disturbing and unsettling for the average viewer. Regardless, Lamb is another A24 folk horror that many won't forget any time soon.
Lamb Movie Review: Folk Horror Eventually Burns Out on Low-Boil Dread
The folk horror of Lamb means that our protagonists act rationally within the bounds of the genre, but not exactly how we would expect people to act if they actually discovered a half-human, half ...
'Lamb' ending explained: Creators answer lingering questions
Oct. 8, 2021 6:44 PM PT. Warning: This story contains spoilers about A24's "Lamb.". There will be another warning before key plot points and details about the ending are divulged. In ...
This Haunting A24 Horror Movie Subverts Everything You Know ...
The quiet and thoughtful A24 horror movie, 2021's Lamb, is a literature or folk student's dream.The film envelops us into a twisted fairytale world that feels like it was conjured straight out ...
Review: Utterly unique 'Lamb' mixes grimness and horror ...
Review: Utterly unique 'Lamb' mixes grimness and horror with deadpan Icelandic comedy. Hilmir Snaer Gudnason and Noomi Rapace star in "Lamb," a comedy that is also a supernatural thriller with overtones of horror. Photo: Courtesy A24. Among the many benefits of foreign cinema is coming to appreciate the sense of humor of the various ...
'Lamb': How the Nordic Folk Horror Film Pulled Off Its Outlandish
The latest entry in A24 's evolving canon of European folk horror is "Lamb," the feature directorial debut of Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson. In the vein of "The Witch" and a ...
'Lamb' ending explained: Director reveals the chilling ...
Few movies this year are as quietly captivating as Valdimar Jóhannsson's minimalist supernatural horror movie Lamb, released in the U.S. by famed indie studio A24.. With more animals seen ...
Alice In Terrorland: I KNEW Alice In Wonderland Was Meant To Be A
Alice in Terrorland is a pretty horrific movie with vile characters like the Walrus, who seems more like a child predator than a pinniped hungry for oysters, or the Mad Hatter who lives up to the moniker. The thing is, those over-the-top depictions of Carroll's character are not too far from the source material, as the many adaptations have shown.
REVIEW: Audiences will like MTC's 'Spam' a lot
WHAT: Millennial Theatre Company — "Monty Python's Spamalot" WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 4 WHERE: Youngstown Playhouse, 600 Playhouse Lane ...
2024 Emmy winner predictions: Who will (and should) win in the main
Horror Reality Sci-Fi Thriller ... Thriller Movies Movies. Movie Reviews Trailers Film Festivals Movie Reunions ... Gary Oldman, whose performance as Slow Horses' grumpy, gassy Jackson Lamb is a ...
Michael Gallup Retired: What Happened to Him? NFL Contract Explained
Could Michael Gallup play football again? According to ESPN, Michael Gallup has retired from playing football.. The average age for NFL retirements is around 27 years, and Gallup turned 28 this March.

‘Lamb’ Review: Noomi Rapace Adopts a Uniquely Strange Baby in Striking Motherhood Horror

Jessica Kiang

Related Stories

Popular on Variety

Reviewed in Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), July 13, 2021. Running time: 106 MIN. (Original title: "Dýrið")

More from Variety

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Where to Watch

What to Know

Critics Reviews

Related Movie News

Movie Reviews

Tomris Laffly

Now playing

Simon Abrams

The Secret Art of Human Flight

Peyton Robinson

Great Absence

Mother, Couch!

Lamb (2021)

Cinematographer

Latest blog posts

Retrospective: Jean-Pierre Melville and the Cinematic Hitman

Netflix's The Decameron Sinks to New Lows

Silents Synced Pairs Silent Classics with '90s Alt-Rock (It’s a Gen-X Thing)

Time Bandits Offers a Fun Summer Diversion

Top cast 10

More like this

Did you know

User reviews 343

Every A24 Horror Movie, Ranked by IMDb Rating

Technical specs

Related news

More to explore

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

site categories

David Rooney

Related Stories

Full credits

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘Lamb’ Is the Sweetest, Most Touching Horror-Movie Nightmare You’ve Ever Seen

Editor’s picks

Star Trek: See Trailer for 'Discovery' Spinoff Movie 'Section 31' Starring Michelle Yeoh

Dan Aykroyd Looks Back: Making 'The Blues Brothers,' Hiding John Belushi's Cocaine, and More

Robert Downey Jr. to Play Doctor Doom in Two ‘Avengers’ Films

'Didi' Captures the Pain, Confusion and Adrenaline Rush of Being 13 All Too Well

Jeremy Allen White Says He and Bruce Springsteen Have 'Texted' Ahead of Biopic Portrayal

Most Popular

‘Lamb’ Film Review: Chilling Icelandic Folk Horror Is a Hybrid in More Ways Than One

Lamb Review: Noomi Rapace Shepherds A Gentle Folk Horror Film

A Dark Fairy Tale

Icelandic folk horror Lamb stars Noomi Rapace as a grieving mother who adopts a mysterious newborn

Related Stories

Midsommar serves up folk horror with humour as follow-up to demonic thriller Hereditary

Follow-up to 90s horror classic hits a chord in the wake of BLM, but won't get your heart rate up

“Lamb,” Reviewed: A Horror Film Where Cleverness Is the Problem

New Yorker Favorites

Or browse by category:

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Common Sense Selections for Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

How to Talk with Kids About Violence, Crime, and War

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories