De dødes tjern (1958), internationally known as Lake of the Dead, is a Norwegian mystery horror film directed by Kåre Bergstrøm and based on André Bjerke’s 1942 crime novel, originally published under the pseudonym Bernhard Borge. The film follows six friends from Oslo who travel to a remote cabin in the forests of Østerdalen to visit Bjørn Werner (Per Lillo-Stenberg), the twin brother of Liljan Werner (Henny Moan). Upon their arrival, they discover that Bjørn has disappeared and his hunting dog has been found dead beside a nearby lake. According to a local legend, a man once murdered his sister and her lover before drowning himself in the water, leaving behind a curse that compels anyone staying at his former cabin to follow him into the depths. Among the visitors are crime novelist Bernhard Borge (Henki Kolstad), psychoanalyst Kai Bugge (Erling Lindahl) and occult enthusiast Gabriel Mørk, played by André Bjerke himself. As the group investigates the disappearance, the distinction between psychological explanations and supernatural forces becomes increasingly uncertain. Produced by Norsk Film A/S and photographed in black and white by Ragnar Sørensen, De dødes tjern was the first Norwegian feature film made in a widescreen Scope format. It premiered at Klingenberg Cinema in Oslo on 17 December 1958 and became both a critical and commercial success, establishing Bergstrøm as a major Norwegian director and earning the film a lasting reputation as one of the country’s earliest and most influential horror productions.
De dødes tjern was filmed around Oslo, Bærum and Asker, combining several lakes and studio footage to create the fictional woodland setting. The best-known location is Skomakertjern in Nordmarka, near Tryvann in Oslo, where some of the film’s most recognisable lakeside sequences were photographed. The small forest lake is particularly associated with the scene in which Liljan Werner, dressed in a white nightgown, moves towards the dark water as though compelled by the mysterious force described in the local legend. Henny Moan’s appearance in this sequence became one of the enduring images of Norwegian horror cinema. Additional filming took place at Steinstjernet, near Kolsås in Bærum, and at Tjernsrudtjernet, also in Bærum, where some of the close-up shots were photographed. The production made more extensive use of different waters than these three frequently cited locations suggest. According to cameraman Hans Nord, who worked on the film and later discussed its production in a 1983 interview, Drengsrudvannet in Asker and Tryvann in Oslo were also used. A specially constructed water tank at Norsk Film’s studios at Jar in Bærum provided another part of the fictional lake, allowing the filmmakers to combine controlled studio photography with the surrounding forest locations. These separate bodies of water appear throughout the film as a single remote lake beside Bjørn Werner’s cabin, with the editing bringing together different shorelines, wooded slopes and stretches of water. The film’s wide compositions, often placing the characters against the surrounding forest and lake, were central to its visual style. During production, André Bjerke also met Henny Moan, whom he married in 1959.
Skomakertjern
Skomakertjern appears in De dødes tjern (1958). The original film used three different lakes to represent the cursed lake from André Bjerke’s story.