Martin, a law student, takes up a job as a nightwatchman at a mortuary to fund his studies. But the mortuary harbours a dark secret, and he has to find the truth before he is implicated in a serial murder case.
Direction
Bornedal squeezes maximum tension from empty corridors.
Acting
Coster-Waldau's desperate everyman energy before he became Kingslayer.
Cinematography
Fluorescent-lit morgue becomes a character itself.
Director
Ole Bornedal
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This Danish original was so effective that Hollywood rushed out a shot-for-shot remake in 1997 with Ewan McGregor — which Bornedal also directed, reportedly for the paycheck.
The morgue was an actual working facility; crew had to pause filming when real bodies arrived. Coster-Waldau later said he never shook the smell.
DK
