---
title: "Hour of the Wolf"
year: 1968
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/hour-of-the-wolf"
fi1m_id: "hour-of-the-wolf"
imdb_id: "tt0063759"
tmdb_id: 18333
wikidata_id: "Q918111"
fi1m_score: 74
critics_reviews: 3
published: "2026-09-26T16:44:55.235759+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-26T16:44:56.041214+00:00"
region: "BG"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman · 1h 28m · Drama, Horror

## Identity

Hour of the Wolf

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/hour-of-the-wolf
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** hour-of-the-wolf
- **IMDb ID:** tt0063759
- **TMDB ID:** 18333
- **Wikidata ID:** Q918111
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/18333, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q918111

**Fi1m score: 74** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* Max von Sydow looks as though a good night’s sleep would offend him

> Ingmar Bergman’s horror unsettles through its acting and severe black-and-white images. The attention paid to an artist’s suffering sometimes becomes tiresome, but Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann give us good reason to stay.

## Synopsis

Johan Borg (Max von Sydow) is the troubled artist at the centre of Ingmar Bergman’s horror drama. Alma Borg (Liv Ullmann), Corinne von Merkens (Gertrud Fridh) and Baron von Merkens (Erland Josephson) are among the principal figures in his story, alongside Lindhorst (Georg Rydeberg). The title names the stretch between night and dawn when, in the film’s account, sleep is deepest, nightmares feel most real and most people die. Johan’s suffering brings the drama into horror, taking its name from this hour associated with sleep, nightmares and death.

## Review

*Hour of the Wolf* is worth the unease, although its troubled artist can be exhausting company. Ingmar Bergman asks us to take that exhaustion seriously, and the film is persuasive enough to make this a reasonable demand for much of its length. Its principal strength is the acting, which gives an immediate human interest to material that could easily become an exercise in solemnity. Our reservation is simple: there are stretches when the anguish becomes repetitive, and being uncomfortable ceases to be interesting.

Max von Sydow’s Johan Borg has a severity that makes easy sympathy difficult. That is a useful quality in a horror performance: we keep watching him without settling into the comfortable business of rooting for him. Still, his intensity can become monotonous, with too little room between distress and greater distress. Liv Ullmann gives Alma Borg a more responsive presence, and we were moved by the attention in her performance. She makes concern seem difficult and tiring, with none of the reassurance that a gentler performance might have supplied.

Sven Nykvist’s black-and-white cinematography is crucial to the film’s unease. The severity of the images makes looking at a face feel like an uncomfortable intrusion. The acting withstands that scrutiny without needing the photography to flatter it. We felt hemmed in by the combination of Max von Sydow’s intensity and the coldness of the images; the film gives us little encouragement to relax our attention. This is where its seriousness works, making a familiar human face difficult to read with any confidence.

Marik Vos-Lundh’s production design contributes a formality that suits this atmosphere. The surroundings feel no more accommodating than the people, and their stiffness makes the human encounters more uncomfortable. Lars Johan Werle’s music has an abrasive quality that suits the horror, though it can make an already severe film feel over-insistent. The performances carry enough strain without needing much assistance. When everything presses equally hard, it becomes difficult to distinguish a mounting threat from a mood that has simply been sustained.

Ulla Ryghe’s editing gives the performances space, and that patience is often justified. Horror needs time to let a person become disturbing without treating each change of expression as a signal for a cut. The difficulty comes when the film sustains the same emotional pressure after we have understood it, leaving us waiting for a change that the writing is slow to supply. At 88 minutes, it can still feel drawn out. Ingmar Bergman the writer is too ready to assume that an artist’s torment will hold our attention simply because it is torment.

These reservations matter, but they do not cancel the film’s hold. Judged as horror, it has the considerable advantage of actors who make unease seem worth taking seriously, even when we grow impatient with the man at its centre. We would recommend it to anyone happy for a frightening film to spend time studying faces, with the caveat that its gravity leaves little breathing space. Save it for an evening when sustained discomfort sounds more appealing than a brisk succession of scares.

*Fi1m score 74, published 26 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**How long is Hour of the Wolf, and what is it rated?**

*Hour of the Wolf* runs 1h 28m. It is a drama and horror film.

**Where can I watch Hour of the Wolf in Bulgaria?**

*Hour of the Wolf* is not on any streaming or rental service in Bulgaria at the moment. It is available in 6 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

### Reviews we read (3)

- **Empire**, Kim Newman (90/100, inferred): Newman gives the film a strongly positive verdict, calling it the best of Bergman’s troubled-artist films. He praises its sinister black-and-white horror, especially the demon-haunted finale. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hour-wolf-review/)
- **The New York Times**, Renata Adler (64/100, inferred): The available page text does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It also provides no accessible detail about what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1968/04/10/archives/screen-where-nightmares-convergebergman-puts-spirits-in-hour-of-the.html)
- **Time Out** (40/100, inferred): The review says the film is not among Bergman’s best. It praises the acting but finds the overall film less successful. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/hour-of-the-wolf)

## Details

- **Director:** Ingmar Bergman
- **Director:** Ingmar Bergman
- **Writer:** Ingmar Bergman
- **Cinematography:** Sven Nykvist
- **Editor:** Ulla Ryghe
- **Music:** Lars Johan Werle
- **Production design:** Marik Vos-Lundh
- **Costume design:** Max Goldstein
- **Producer:** Lars-Owe Carlberg
- **Cast:** Max von Sydow as Johan Borg; Liv Ullmann as Alma Borg; Gertrud Fridh as Corinne von Merkens; Georg Rydeberg as Lindhorst; Erland Josephson as Baron von Merkens; Naima Wifstrand as Old Lady with Hat; Ulf Johanson as Heerbrand; Gudrun Brost as Gamla Fru von Merkens
- **Runtime:** 1h 28m
- **First release (Sweden):** 19 February 1968
- **Genres:** Drama, Horror

## Where to watch in Bulgaria

Not streaming, renting or buying in Bulgaria at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, CA, ES, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Innocents* (1961): For another horror film whose performances make uncertainty feel painfully personal.
- *Carnival of Souls* (1962): For black-and-white unease that makes ordinary company feel like a threat.
- *Kuroneko* (1968): For ghostly dread with more tenderness beneath its formal beauty.
- *The Tenant* (1976): For a more sourly comic version of horror built around disintegrating confidence.
- *Censor* (2021): For another troubled mind finding frightening company in the images it creates.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/hour-of-the-wolf