Valhalla Rising, Nicholas Winding Refn’s brutal early medieval epic, tells the story of the escape journey of One-Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength and his friend Are, who aids his release from captivity.    
 
Artem created all the prosthetic effects for this film which included hero prosthetic eye pieces, a severed head to match one of the lead actors, a slashed male torso, complete with a supply of fake intestines to spill out together with various blood and arrow rigs. 
 
Artem also designed and created a pneumatic rig for a 40ft Viking Longboat to simulate the water movement of the vessel becalmed at sea in impenetrable fog. Providing this atmospheric fog at the specific levels required in studio by the director was another challenge on this project, successfully completed by the Artem team. 
 
Valhalla Rising had a UK premiere at the London Film Festival on 22nd October.  The film is scheduled for release in March
2010. 

Photos © Scottish Screen Locations 2009