Norway Has Found Its Monster, and the First ‘Kraken’ Trailer Proves the Ocean Was Always Hiding It
Scandinavian horror has carved out a deeply respected corner of the genre in recent years, with films like ‘Troll’ proving that Nordic folklore translates into genuinely unsettling cinema on a global stage. Now, a new entry is ready to drag audiences beneath the surface, drawing from one of the most enduring legends the region has ever produced. The Norwegian creature feature ‘Kraken’ is surfacing for American audiences this summer, and it arrives with a mythology that feels like it was always waiting for its own film.
Directed by Pål Øie, the filmmaker behind the Norwegian disaster thriller ‘The Tunnel’, ‘Kraken’ centers on marine biologist Johanne, played by Sara Khorami, who begins investigating a series of disturbing occurrences while conducting research at a fish farm in the quiet fjord community of Vangsnes. ‘Kraken’ marks Øie’s first proper horror feature since ‘Dark Woods II’ back in 2015, making it a long-awaited return to the genre for a director who clearly knows how to work with tension and landscape.
What begins as unexplained behavior in wild salmon quickly escalates after the brutal deaths of two local teenagers, and all evidence points toward Norway’s deepest fjord, where something enormous has been dormant for centuries. According to the film’s official synopsis, an ancient multi-armed monster has awakened, and it is ready to crush everything that moves or makes a sound. The trailer, which Dread Central was among the first to cover, delivers on that premise with murky underwater visuals, monstrous limbs, and a dread-soaked atmosphere that leans hard into the environmental horror angle woven through the script.
The kraken legend originated with Norwegian sailors, who most likely encountered giant squid during their voyages and transformed those terrifying sightings into myth. Despite that, this is notably the first feature film to treat the Kraken as its sole, central monster rather than a supporting creature or cameo threat. The screenplay was written by Natasha Arthur, Vilde Eide, and Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, working from a story conceived by Øie alongside cinematographer Sjur Aarthun, who co-directs the film and makes his feature debut behind the camera here.
The production team behind ‘Kraken’ includes producers John Einar Hagen and Einar Loftesnes, both of whom previously worked on ‘The Tunnel’, alongside producer Vindhya Sagar, known for the critically acclaimed ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’. The film was acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films for North American distribution following a deal struck at the Berlin European Film Market, signaling early industry confidence in the project’s appeal outside Scandinavia.
The film premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival and had already opened in Norwegian cinemas before making its way to American audiences. Samuel Goldwyn Films will release ‘Kraken’ in select theaters and on digital platforms on June 12. The cast also includes Mikkel Bratt Silset, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Øyvind Brandtzæg, and Jenny Evensen, rounding out a Norwegian-language ensemble that grounds the mythology in something lived-in and local.
For genre fans who feel the creature feature has grown stale under the weight of franchise sequels and familiar settings, ‘Kraken’ offers a genuinely different proposition, a mythological predator rooted in real cultural history, set against fjords that look like they were designed by nature to hide something massive.
Whether it delivers the kind of slow-burn dread that made Scandinavian horror such a force or leans into full-throttle monster mayhem is something only June 12 will confirm, so share your thoughts on whether ‘Kraken’ looks like the creature feature comeback the genre has been waiting for.
