{ "id": "ep9ywdjh83", "slug": "hour-of-the-wolf", "title": "Hour of the Wolf", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.psychological-horror-films", "label": "Psychological horror films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.psychological-horror-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.psychological-horror-films.psychological-horror-films-1960s-to-1980", "label": "Psychological horror films, 1960s to 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.psychological-horror-films.psychological-horror-films-1960s-to-1980" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen) is Ingmar Bergman's 1968 Swedish black-and-white Gothic horror-drama, premiered 19 February 1968 in Stockholm, starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, shot at Hovs Hallar, from the shelved 1964 script The Cannibals.", "snippet": "Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen) is Ingmar Bergman's 1968 Swedish black-and-white Gothic horror-drama, premiered 19 February 1968 in Stockholm, starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, shot at Hovs Hallar, from the shelved 1964 script The Cannibals.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.psychological-horror-films.psychological-horror-films-1960s-to-1980", "markdown": "# Hour of the Wolf\n\n**Hour of the Wolf** (Swedish: *Vargtimmen*) is a 1968 Swedish black-and-white drama-horror film written and directed by [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman), in which a reclusive painter living on an isolated island with his pregnant wife is destroyed by nightmares, demons, and the aristocratic neighbors who feed on his unraveling mind. It premiered on 19 February 1968 at the Röda Kvarn cinema in Stockholm and is commonly described as the only horror film in Bergman's career, though some critics dispute even that label.[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [2](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/bergmans-hour-of-the-wolf-another-look-at-an-underrated-masterpiece)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Premiere | 19 February 1968, Röda Kvarn, Stockholm, at 87 minutes; original length listed as 90 minutes[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) |\n| Director and writer | Ingmar Bergman; producer Lars-Owe Carlberg; production company Svensk Filmindustri[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hour_of_the_wolf) |\n| Lead cast | Max von Sydow as painter Johan Borg, Liv Ullmann as Alma, with Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin, Gertrud Fridh, and Georg Rydeberg[4](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/17162) |\n| Origin | Grew out of a 1964 screenplay titled *The Cannibals* (*Människoätarna*), shelved when Bergman fell ill with pneumonia in spring 1965[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) |\n| Format | Black and white, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, optical mono sound, photographed by Sven Nykvist[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/technical/) |\n| Awards | Best Director from the National Society of Film Critics; Best Actress for Ullmann from the National Board of Review[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf) |\n| Critical scores | 92% Tomatometer from 26 reviews and 86% Popcornmeter from 5,000+ ratings on Rotten Tomatoes[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hour_of_the_wolf) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and structure\n\nThe painter Johan Borg ([Max von Sydow](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-von-sydow)) and his wife Alma ([Liv Ullmann](https://www.edgepedia.org/liv-ullmann)) have retreated to a small island to find peace after seven years together. Johan is reclusive and insomniac, and lately he has been plagued by nightmares. In his sketchbook he draws the demons of his dreams: a homosexual bird-man, an old woman who can remove her head, flesh-eaters, school magistrates, and chattering women with metallic hair.[7](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/vargtimmen)\n\nThe film is framed as a recollection. Under the opening credits, Alma sits at a table and tells the story of the end of their life together; an old woman who claims to be 216 years old, or perhaps 76, urges Alma to read Johan's diary, which he keeps in a black bag under the bed. From the diary Alma learns of Veronica Vogler (Ingrid Thulin), a woman from Johan's past with whom he had a self-destructive relationship that ended in scandal and breakdown.[7](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/vargtimmen) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf)\n\nThe title is explained in the opening credits: \"The hour of the wolf is the hour between night and dawn. It is the hour when most people die, when sleep is the deepest, when nightmares feel most real. It is the hour when the demons are most powerful. The hour of the wolf is also the hour when most children are born.\"[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) During that hour Johan tells Alma his most painful memories.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/plotsummary/)\n\nThe nightmare hardens into the film's central episode when the couple are invited to a nearby castle for dinner. Its inhabitants, a baron and a menagerie of sinister aristocrats led by Baron von Merkens (Erland Josephson), flock hungrily around the painter, and the evening, which includes a puppet-theater presentation of Mozart's *The Magic Flute*, hastens Johan's psychological collapse.[9](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/1870) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf) Roger Ebert, the film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times* from 1967 until his death in 2013 and winner of the 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism, wrote that Bergman handles the development in a surreal manner in which the viewer is never quite sure what is happening and what is only imagined, and that if the audience accepts the horror story instead of questioning it, the film \"works magnificently.\"[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hour-of-the-wolf-1968)\n\n## Production\n\n**From The Cannibals to Vargtimmen.** By autumn 1964 Bergman had completed a screenplay titled *The Cannibals*; an archive manuscript also records an early title, *The Demons* (*Demonerna*), dated Djursholm, 3 August 1964. In the spring of 1965 he fell ill with pneumonia and the project was shelved. On his recovery he made *Persona* in the late summer of 1965, and various themes from *The Cannibals* were then incorporated into *Hour of the Wolf*, shot in 1966 from the end of May until late September. By the time of the 1968 premiere, his next feature, *Shame*, had already been completed.[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [11](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf-0) In a 1968 interview Bergman connected the discarded title to the film's content: the painter Johan Borg is tortured by demons that he once or twice in the film calls \"cannibals.\"[12](https://cinemarchives.com.br/magazines/movie/issues/no-16/pages/4)\n\n**Locations and photography.** For the exterior photography, the cast and crew worked chiefly along the coastline of Halland, a county in southern Sweden, at Hovs Hallar, the location where the well-known sequence in *The Seventh Seal* in which Death plays chess with a knight had earlier been shot. Interior work was done at Filmstaden, Råsunda. Sven Nykvist served as cinematographer.[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [13](https://www.bergmaniskane.se/hour-of-the-wolf/)\n\n**The deleted prologue.** The first version of the film opened with a prologue of roughly nine minutes, plus a short epilogue, in which Bergman himself appeared on a bed explaining the origins of the film to Ullmann and von Sydow, showing them pictures of the people they were to portray, and directing the opening sequence on set. Bergman said in a January 1968 interview that he deleted these sequences because they distanced the viewer from the actual film; in the released version the prologue is replaced by three silent explanatory titles, with the noise of the studio still on the soundtrack.[14](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/vargtimmen-prolog/)\n\n## Sources and themes\n\nBergman modeled the film on *The Sandman* by the German fantasy writer [E. T. A. Hoffmann](https://www.edgepedia.org/e-t-a-hoffmann), a story in which an artist of questionable talent grows insane from his own delusions; a German retrospective also calls the film an unmistakable homage to Hoffmann.[15](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1995/10/5/bergmans-fantasies-live-on-at-the/) • [16](https://www.ofdb.de/anniversaryecke/21923%2C5432/) Bergman acknowledged that the [Tod Browning](https://www.edgepedia.org/tod-browning) *Dracula* (1931) with [Bela Lugosi](https://www.edgepedia.org/bela-lugosi) was a major influence, and the castle neighbors behave like the vampires of Bram Stoker's novel as they close in on the painter at dinner.[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf) The Swedish folklore researcher Bengt af Klintberg has observed that everything points to the word \"vargtimmen\" itself having been invented by Bergman, together with its definition of the hour.[17](https://www.svd.se/a/39c6e1e7-e810-369a-a35f-e0260729e67c/timmen-da-angesten-harjar-fritt)\n\nThe film is a study of the artist as a haunted man. In *Bergman on Bergman*, the director explained that Johan Borg regards his own artistry as an affliction: \"He can't escape it. There's no question, that is, of a gift from on high. No other-worldly relationship. It's just there. A disease. A perversion. A five-legged calf.\"[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) Time Out's review reads the film as an exploration of whether the artist possesses or is possessed by his demons, and calls it a companion piece to *Persona*.[18](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hour-of-the-wolf) The film is also the first of three in which Max von Sydow plays Bergman's alter ego, an artist in retreat to an island; the others are *[Shame](https://www.edgepedia.org/shame-1968-film)* (1968) and *[The Passion of Anna](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-passion-of-anna)* (1969).[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf)\n\nThe soundtrack uses the Saraband from Bach's Partita No. 3 in [A minor](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-minor) and \"O ewige Nacht!\" from Mozart's *The Magic Flute*, and a scholarly analysis treats the film as a key piece in Bergman's evolution in the use of music, noise, and voice to structure the story's metaphorical enunciation.[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [19](https://www.arteyciudad.com/revista/ayc/en/article/view/musica-ruido-y-tratamiento-de-la-voz-utilizacion)\n\n## Reception\n\nSwedish reactions were mixed. Carl Henrik Svenstedt in *Svenska Dagbladet* wrote that what made the film mute and impenetrable was Bergman's dictatorial proclamation of his message, and Mauritz Edström in *Dagens Nyheter* wrote that despite objections to the director's manner, one is forced to take his images at face value to make any kind of contact; Lasse Bergström in *Expressen* called it a Gothic horror story \"at once both inaccessibly personal and entertainingly brilliant.\"[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [7](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/vargtimmen) International distribution was handled by [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists), and despite the mixed Swedish reception, at least two American newspapers ranked it among the ten best films of the year.[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) The National Society of Film Critics honored the film with its award for best director, while the [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review) named Ullmann best actress.[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf)\n\nRenata Adler of *The New York Times* wrote that the film \"is not one of Bergman's great films but it is unthinkable for anyone seriously interested in movies not to see it.\"[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hour_of_the_wolf) Later assessments have been divided in the same way: Time Out calls it \"a brilliant Gothic fantasy,\" while many critics have ranked it among Bergman's lesser works.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hour_of_the_wolf) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf) A later essay on the Roger Ebert website argues that calling it Bergman's only horror film is \"preposterous\" and that overlooking the film compromises the understanding of Bergman as a genre director and of the influence of his psychological horror.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/bergmans-hour-of-the-wolf-another-look-at-an-underrated-masterpiece)\n\n## Versions and runtime\n\nThe runtime varies across sources because of the deleted material. The Swedish censorship record lists an original length of 90 minutes (2,455 meters), the premiere print ran 87 minutes, and current restoration listings give 88 minutes; IMDb separately records a 99-minute original Swedish version.[1](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf) • [9](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/1870) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/technical/) The surviving prologue and epilogue footage, about nine minutes and a minute and a half respectively, has been preserved and screened separately, as at the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna.[14](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/vargtimmen-prolog/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Hour of the Wolf, Feature Film, Ingmar Bergman Foundation](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf)\n2. [Bergman's Hour of the Wolf: Another Look at an Underrated Masterpiece, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/bergmans-hour-of-the-wolf-another-look-at-an-underrated-masterpiece)\n3. [Hour of the Wolf, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hour_of_the_wolf)\n4. [Watch Hour of the Wolf, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/17162)\n5. [Hour of the Wolf (1968) Technical Specifications, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/technical/)\n6. [Hour of the Wolf by Jeff Stafford, TCM Articles](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235825/hour-of-the-wolf)\n7. [Vargtimmen, 1968, Ingmar Bergman Foundation (Swedish)](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/vargtimmen)\n8. [Hour of the Wolf (1968) Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/plotsummary/)\n9. [Janus Films — Hour of the Wolf](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/1870)\n10. [Hour of the Wolf movie review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (1968)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hour-of-the-wolf-1968)\n11. [Hour of the Wolf, Writings, Ingmar Bergman Foundation](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/hour-wolf-0)\n12. [Interview with Ingmar Bergman, Movie magazine, Winter 1968-69](https://cinemarchives.com.br/magazines/movie/issues/no-16/pages/4)\n13. [Hour of the Wolf, Bergman i Skåne](https://www.bergmaniskane.se/hour-of-the-wolf/)\n14. [Vargtimmen-Prolog, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/vargtimmen-prolog/)\n15. [Bergman's Fantasies Live On at the HFA, The Harvard Crimson (1995)](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1995/10/5/bergmans-fantasies-live-on-at-the/)\n16. [Vor 50 Jahren: Ingmar Bergmans Horrorfilm, OFDb](https://www.ofdb.de/anniversaryecke/21923%2C5432/)\n17. [Timmen då ångesten härjar fritt, Bengt af Klintberg, Svenska Dagbladet](https://www.svd.se/a/39c6e1e7-e810-369a-a35f-e0260729e67c/timmen-da-angesten-harjar-fritt)\n18. [Hour of the Wolf film review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hour-of-the-wolf)\n19. [Music, Noises and Voices in Ingmar Bergman's The Hour of the Wolf, Arte y Ciudad](https://www.arteyciudad.com/revista/ayc/en/article/view/musica-ruido-y-tratamiento-de-la-voz-utilizacion)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Psychological horror films › Psychological horror films, 1960s to 1980s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Hour of the Wolf\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Hour of the Wolf](https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf](https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Hour of the Wolf\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/hour-of-the-wolf. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Hour of the Wolf is Ingmar Bergman's 1968 Swedish black-and-white Gothic horror-drama, premiered 19 February 1968 in Stockholm, starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, shot at Hovs Hallar, from the shelved 1964 script The Cannibals." }