I make no secret of my love for the work of young Finnish director AJ Annila. His debut picture, Jade Warrior, was the first ever Nordic production to incorporate wuxia and martial arts influences and was simply a visual marvel. What Annila managed to put on screen for what would be pocket change in a US production was stunning and we've been very closely tracking the development of his sophomore picture here for some time.

Titled Sauna Annila has promised a cruel and punishing horror picture with his second effort. The first stage of shooting has just wrapped in Finland and the production has moved to Prague to continue on but while getting set up in their new digs Annila has just passed along a vicious little tease: the first still from the Finnish shoot to be seen anywhere in the world. And it is stunning - breathtaking and disturbing at the same time, and bear in mind when you look that there has been no post production work done at all. This is all raw footage, what things actually looked like on set, all accomplished with physical, in camera effects. Very nice. Here's the synopsis, hit the link below for the still.

A cruel horror film bathing in the Finnish sauna culture, in the no-zone between Christianity and paganism. A story of two brothers, who leave a young girl to die and become haunted by her, as she follows them in supernatural form, her face pouring with endless filth. The brothers escape with a commission marking the border between Russia and Finland to a Russian-Orthodox village. In there they find a sauna - The sauna where all sins are washed away. Seeking for forgiveness, the brothers step into the sauna…

Sauna is a horror film about sins, repentance and forgiveness. The story leads us into the core of darkness, where there is no forgiveness, no hope, no salvation.