Stockholm Bloodbath ★★½

I WONDER what Danish audiences think of Stockholm Bloodbath.

Swedish director Mikael Håfström’s 2023 historical drama portrays the Danes in 1520 as absolute murderous bastards and his own countrymen as squeaky clean.

In fact his pulpy style of storytelling has the vicious Danish villains poking fun at all the beheadings and burnings that were actually committed during the three attempts by Danish King Christian II to become the ruler of both nations.

A title card at the start of the film tells us ‘a lot of what happens is true’ and the main characters are all based on real historical figures.

Håfström introduces each character in a freeze frame with brief written explanations of who they are.

For the villains, of whom there are several, the titles state things like ‘the scarred one’ and ‘the evil one’ which are the same descriptions used by the two women who seek vengeance upon them.

Sophie Cookson and Emily Beecham are fine as the avengers but it’s the actors playing the villains, led by Claes Bang as King Christian, who steal the film.

They were obviously all given the instruction to play over the top and looks like you’re enjoying killing people, like Alan Rickman in Die Hard, and it works quite well.

If you’re okay with history being presented in a quirky manner and don’t mind watching plenty of beheadings, give it a look.

Watched on Apple TV.