The Kingdom (1994)

Cynical science meets the obscure and dark forces of the spirit world when Lars von Trier takes us into a fascinating and unique world of the Kingdom, Denmark's largest hospital. This is a real place, by the way. But we get to see it in a shaky, hand-held - but remarkably watchable rendering with supernatural overtones - involving ghosts, demons and Satan himself.Riget (Kingdom) is definitely one of the best shows to come out of Denmark ever. It is written and directed perfectly, with a perfect cast, and a - ahumm - not always perfect taste. Too bad it was never finished. Von Trier was already hitting high marks when directing this wonderful series.I would recommend this to anyone that likes to follow horror-comedy shows of odd nature. It is probably more similar to a Lynchian universe than conventional horror genres. There is a lot of irony and symbolism in here, so bring your patience and please allow some silly behavior. It is all entertainment.I give it an unjust 10 out of 10. A fair grade would probably be an 8 out of 10. The visual effects have aged badly and some plot points were just stupid. But it has mostly held up and stood its ground against time. Enjoy!

The sound quality… the film's lack of a full color spectrum… the jittery camera work — initially it seemed I was watching a student film from 10 years ago shot with a mid-1990's model cellphone.It didn't take long for the story, direction, comedic timing, quirkiness (and subtitles) to take hold. Between the occasional interaction of hospital's 2 dishwashing staff and the new physician's initiation ritual, I was hooked. I'm assuming they didn't have much of a production budget, but it didn't matter — I thoroughly enjoyed this miniseries.I've read they hacked 4 hours out of it and made a 5 hour movie for release to the US and British markets — I'm glad I was able to see the 8 episodes (9 hours) as originally broadcast, there isn't any of "Riget" I'd want to miss. Neither would I want to watch the 2004 homogenized Stephen King 13 episode version — I suspect it bears only a slight resemblance to the original. I can see how this series wouldn't necessarily appeal to everyone, just glad I'm in the group who gets-it :-)The 2nd season was good, but I enjoyed season 1 more. Series 2 was a bit more tongue-in-cheek; much of it funny, some of the gags fell flat. At least the pacing was quick as when it annoys, it's not for long. I think the funniest season-2 scene for me involved poison and some confusion over coffee cups...If there's ever another remake, I hope it's a Danish one with the same director, otherwise, they shouldn't bother. Maybe make a cleaner print of the original for digital release and put it on every streaming service available

Lars von Trier now has an international reputation for making intentionally teasing, one might almost say perverse, movies. But before any of his features films, he made 'The Kingdom', a hospital drama-cum-ghost story for Danish television. With it's cast of uniquely monstrous (but brilliantly original) doctors and patients, the programme hardly needs its supernatural element; but von Trier blends the two with considerable panache, drawing a dark, but hysterically funny, portrait of the hospital (quite literally) from hell. Vetern Swedish thespian Ernst Hugo Jaregard is brilliant in the leading role as a misanthropic doctor; he steals every scene he's in (apparently, in some cases, to von Trier's chagrin); but the whole piece is immaculately constructed. The claustrophobic, but superficially realistic, setting provide some boundaries to contain the drama that aren't always there in von Trier's movies. It's perhaps his most accessible work; but rest assured, it's scarcely a conventional one.

Now-classic, absolutely phenomenal Danish/Swedish mini-series welds together outrageously hilarious satire, medical ethics and a truly spine-tingling (and heartbreaking) paranormal/ghost story - all inside the corridors of the Copenhagen Kingdom Hospital. This is my favorite Lars Von Trier (on par with "Breaking the waves"); you won't know "unique" until you see this! Hysterical pacing, full of unforgettable characters and scenes... and it's grainy, brownish look and feel is completely its own - and that ominous soundtrack still haunts me... For a swede like me, the Nordic countries' tongue-in-cheek rival connotations are even greater. Love the director's personal in-between episode narrations!9 out of 10 from Ozjeppe.