Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

First Name Last Name 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!

stevenbeales If you get a chance to watch this TV series, please do so as you will be well rewarded. More bizarre than Twin Peaks, this series of 8 episodes is eerie and unsettling throughout, always surprising you with the next unexpected, supernatural revelation. It is an early showcase for the talent Von Trier was to show in his later movies and contains many unforgettable characters from Stig Helmer to Udo Kier's baby calling for its mama to the precognitive Down's syndrome children.Stephen King's American remake Kingdom Hospital doesn't hold a candle to Von Trier's original.

TdSmth5 I've seen this series a couple of times now and I can't get tired of it. What an astounding accomplishment. It is funny, strange, scary, bizarre, original, hilarious, ground-braking, shocking. Add to that the exceptional performances and what you have is the best time you can have in front of a TV. So many clowns are credited for being good actors these days, but everyone on this show puts award winners to shame. Among all the fine acting our main character Stig Helmer just steals the show. And what a character the writers have created! Like his girlfriend says, he is a giant and everyone else is so small compared to him.The stories center on the Danish teach hospital the Kingdom, a gigantic facility constructed on what once were bleachers. We are thrown somewhat in the midst of this strange place, where driverless ambulances arrive in the night, where a patient named Drusse keeps feigning some condition so she can be admitted into the hospital. She thinks there are spirits there who need are help. Her son is some type of janitor at the hospital.All the characters are given full human personalities: they are mischievous, deceitful, foolish, intelligent, afraid, overconfident, etc, to some greater or lesser extent.At center is a young physician named Hook who is also also something of an old timer. He knows everything about the hospital and everyone. He lives there in secret and keeps every item he finds in order to perhaps gain favors from others and offer favors. He knows how to get things done because people depend on him for things, he even provides some of them with cocaine by condensing eye drops. He also keeps tabs on the doctor's errors at the hospital.We have the hospital administrator, good natured, well-meaning, not very bright, but he does what administrators do: try to keep people calm and satisfied without himself taking on too many responsibilities. His son is a medical student there but also a prankster who gets himself into trouble. Moreover he's madly in love with a nurse who runs the sleeping lab.Bondo is the professor of pathology, a man obsessed with his research on liver tumors. Danish law doesn't allow for autopsies unless with the consent of the person/ his kin so he finds himself with no material for his research. His classes are mostly philosophical musings on death and live and this autopsy law. As a result his students learn nothing.But our main character is Helmer, a Swedish neurosurgeon who arrived at the Kingdom recently. He has absolutely no sympathy for the Danish way of doing things and despises the administrator's nonsense. He's a law-and-order type of guy who wants things done by the book- so he appears. His rants and long winding insulting speeched are an absolute riot. This is the kind of guy no one wants to be around- which the director nicely shows by having people turn at the sight of him and walk away- in the way of the camera! As it often happens with such people, they manage to show up just when you don't want them to. This happens often with Helmer. He'll be in the elevator as the doors open or just walk in a room when others want to leave. Of course he thinks very highly of himself and rather poorly of everyone else. And he complaints bitterly about how he is treated to his lover, Dr. Rigmor a sweet doctor who loves him and understands him and wants him to move in with her, something he absolutely avoids. He won't even talk about the issue. She is also open to alternative medicine which earns her a hilarious verbal spanking from Helmer.The situations the characters put themselves in are outrageous. There are dozens of twists and surprises and you don't know which way things will go. Bondo's obsession not only haunts him but comes back to bite him. Helmer made a mistake during surgery, it looks like, and his way out causes him more problems than anything else. The story and the ideas here are so fresh and interesting you won't want the show to end.The editing here is also quite unique and adds a strange feeling. Often conversations or continuous scenes are cut and continue abruptly as if nothing had happened even though you just missed who knows how much. Helmer will start a rant, then there is a cut and and change of camera angle and we are put back in rant but at some later point. Very interesting approach. It gives the series a certain time-lessness. We pretty much lose the sense of time in the series. We don't know how long all this is taking, whether it's day or night. Sometimes it seems that it all takes place in a day or a few days but there are hints here or there that a different day has begun.The music is also jarring and serves mainly to lend a creepy effect. Now, if the viewer gets confused or things seem complicated, there are two characters in the series, two actors with Down's syndrome who are dishwashers in the hospital who will summarize things, philosophize about what is going on, and sometimes make enigmatic statements about future events.Don't miss this show. And comparisons with the American version are not in order. The original is in a different league altogether.

nostalgic-1 The original Kingdom is so superior to its American version ... In fact , there's no comparison ! I love this mini-series , it is so atmospheric and macabre . Well , I guess " bizarre " is the best adjective to describe it . It made me feel the same way I did when I was a kid watching classic horror movies , a feeling that I had never felt before with modern flicks . Stephen King's version , on the other hand , is sooo dull and not creepy at all . It is so boring that I gave up watching it after the second episode ! Don't get me wrong , I really love Stephen King's movies , but he truly failed in his version of " The Kingdom " .