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Errementari (2017)-Timestamp Roulette

Errementari (2017, Paul Urkijo Alijo)

24/08/2025

Fae Horrors: Errementari & Draug

Our fae horror film series continues! This pairing was loosely coupled as "period pieces," which was one of the only things they had in common.

Errementari: The Blacksmith & The Devil is a 2017 film written and directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo. It's produced in the Basque language and based on a Basque folktale, which already makes it super interesting.

Basque, for the uninitiated, is a distinct cultural and ethnic group of people living at the border of France and Spain in the remote area of the Pyrenees (the mountains, not the dog), whose historic seclusion and cultural isolation meant their language developed completely independently. Apparently Basque has really nothing linguistically in common with any other language. Neat!

Anyhoo, the plot here is pretty simple: It's the year 1835 and a blacksmith who sold his soul to the devil to return home from war, only to come home to find his wife cheating on him and his life in shambles. Now he lives alone and everyone tells rumors about him being a real scary dude, supported by the quantity of barbed wire and bear traps around his home. But things are not what they seem, and it's all blown wide open when a mistreated orphan girl from the town crosses his path.

I don't want to spoil anything about the plot because I think this movie is delightful and I want you all to go watch it. Aside from how cool it is as a cultural and linguistic artifact of a culture we don't get to see much of here in America, it's a well-made film with excellent practical effects and a solid story.

Also mad props to the little girl in this, played by Spanish actress Uma Bracaglia. She kills it in the role, bringing pathos, vulnerability, and feistiness to it. I was solidly in her camp the whole time.

Movies with similar vibes:

Pan's Labyrinth

Apostle

Tale of Tales

Draug (2018) is a Swedish film written and directed by Klas Persson. It's set in the 11th Century, at the end of the Viking age, and is centered on a rescue party who venture into a rural pocket of pagan worship in search of a missing missionary. There they encounter a witch and some restless undead spirit creature ice zombie fellows called draugr. They're known for guarding burial mounds and killing those who try to grave-rob them.

I didn't enjoy this one as much. It was a bit of a slog and honestly pretty forgettable. There are some wonderful spooky visuals and the vibes are good, but I kind of lost the thread with the plot and checked out mentally somewhere along the way. We're having rough luck with Swedish filmmaking over here.

Movies with similar vibes:

The Northman

The Blair Witch Project

The 13th Warrior

#fae horrors #horror movies #yes i know the devil isn't a fae #but he's not NOT a fae #if you know what I mean #see my most recent patreon post for more details #errementari #draug

Disclaimer: I don’t speak Basque and I’m 99% sure I butchered it.

Anyway, I’m just jumping on the bandwagon and added my biggest comfort character (Bruce) with my most recent comfort character (Sartael)!

If you haven’t yet seen Errementari, I highly recommend it. It gives a lot of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ vibes and the practical effects are astounding!

#errementari #finding Nemo #sartael #bruce finding nemo #Bruce the shark #my art #reblog friendly

@shredsandpatches on Sartiel in Errementari: “This guy would do numbers on tumblr.”

#errementari #tumblr sexyman

[ERREMENTARI] 2017

"THE DEVIL AND THE BLACKSMITH"

"A blacksmith holds a demon in captivity, torturing it as revenge for his troubles. One day, an orphan girl stumbles upon the demon's enclosure and unwittingly releases it."

[ubasjuice reviews]

A Spanish/Basque supernatural/horror film, directed by Paul Urkijo, who also did "Irati (2022)"

This was one of the best storybook type of storytelling, the kind that could be told from generation to generation; based on the Basque folktale version of The Smith and the Devil; it is well-paced, well-written, also mixed with some dark humor and a pretty enjoyable watch for a film that deals with demons and hell.

The design of the demon, as textbook as it can be, is perfectly done. I don't want to describe it that much as I want you guys to see it firsthand as well. Every detail of it fits the deathly feel of the whole film, it's dark and gritty.

There's no jump scares involved, no gory scenes, no "fillers" that would make one yawn, no impending-doom-sound effects as well, really just good storytelling that makes you want to sit and listen.

Casting was also great, it's not perfect, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. All of them performed well and acted as they should on the scenes, a very good display of proper screenwriting.

The way they started and how they ended it was satisfying and put a smile on my face. You'll know what I'm saying when you've watched it. It's very underrated in my opinion.

Juicy 9/10