It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Antti-Jussi Anilla Is An Interesting Director To Watch In My Opinion, The One Other Film Of His That I Saw The Whole Way Through Was Jade Warrior, Both Movies Qualify As Interesting.This Is Anilla Trying To Make An Atmospheric Horror In The Vein Of Some Of The Masters Of Suspense (eg. Alfred Hitchcock, John Carpenter) I Liked The Character Development For The Characters But If Anything I Would've Wanted It To Be A Few Minutes Longer To Set Them Up, Besides That Everything Was Pulled Off Very Well.Tommi Eronen Is The Highlight Performance But Ville Virtanen Also Pulls Off His Role Very Well.The Plot Is A Sort Of Thing Where The Less You Know About It The Better It Will Be Its One Of Those Sorts Of Movies, I'm Not Saying That Its Got A Huge Twist I'm Just Saying That Your More Likely To Enjoy It If You Don't Know That Much About It.Overall I Recommend This Film Highly.

I had quite high expectations of this movie and was a bit disappointed. It's an unusual, intelligent and creepy ghost story, but it has an ambition to do something more distinctive that I didn't feel was followed through completely.The performances and screenplay are fine. The film is nicely shot, with some lovely moments but also some lapses into generic horror-movie gestures. The sauna itself is a fine addition to the history of scary buildings in movies -- it looks as if it doesn't belong in the landscape at all, and the minute you see it you know something's wrong. The cheesy orchestral score lets the film down a bit, though.Not all of the things that happen along the way are explained; some of them just seem to be put there for the sake of being scary. The ending is impressive but it left me wondering whether all the pieces leading up to it really fitted together.I suppose two different films seem to be fighting over the same 90 minutes: an art-house movie that uses elements of fairy tale to explore existential questions about sin and redemption and a haunted-house movie that works by jump-scares, toothless villagers and gushing blood. The two never really came together for me, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the ride.

Sauna (Finnish w/Eng. SUB) is a subtle but chilling horror film set in 1595, tells the tale of the 25 year war against Sweden and Russia…and the men who survived and the ghosts that haunt them as they head home. This movie is a rare treat! …it gave me nightmares…and that says volumes considering I watch hundreds of horror films a month and my collection is in the excess or 2200 horror films alone. I loved the movie 'Let the Right One in', as well as 'Cold Prey' and 'Dead Snow'…all excellent examples or Nordic horror (Vampires, Serial Killer and Zombies)…but Sauna actually made me think about the fear of the facing one's own demons (in the dark); the story being presented may be too subtle for some to get into, but believe me, well worth the time and effort. It was NOT an in your face with knives and blood type of scary movie; it brought about the horror through mysteries, shadows of the past and an unknowable horror. The best kind of fear is from things you do not understand and cannot explain

The movie is beautifully done, with dark wet imagery and good acting. However, you either have to be Finnish to understand or I was too tired to get the message. All I could get was that for the Finns the sauna is a cultural heirloom, dating way before their christianizing, a place where they believed to wash their sins. Finns and their sins. Sorry, couldn't help it :) However, left long enough to rot, those sins become unattonable and even if you face them, it is pointless. I guess this is one of those life lessons that the Christian religion is desperately trying to hide from us.Anyway, as I said, great imagery and the feeling of desolation and burden of sin is almost palpable. I liked the characters as well, deep and sharp. However, it was a slow thing and never in the movie there was any "aha!" moment. One has to make an effort to watch the film and to understand it. Being Finnish probably helps, too.