Jungfrukallan (aka The Virgin Spring) (1960)

In medieval Sweden, the spoiled if naive daughter (Birgitta Pettersson) of a prosperous farmer (Max Von Sydow) sets out to bring candles to her village's church. During her journey through the forest, she is accosted by two men (Axel Duberg, Tor Isedal) and a boy (Ove Porath) and raped and beaten to death. That evening, the rapists unknowingly seek shelter at the farmer's house. This disturbing and violent revenge piece is anomalous in director Ingmar Bergman's output. It has an almost Kurosawan feel to it and indeed I could see it as a Kurosawa film set in medieval Japan. But it still deals with Bergmanian themes like God, faith, guilt and the destruction of innocence. The winner of the 1960 Academy Award for foreign language film, the film has been influential in the horror genre in such films as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS, something I suspect Bergman may not have been thrilled about. As cinema, it's second tier Bergman but it is Bergman and demands attention. With Birgitta Valberg in the film's best performance as the victim's mother and Gunnel Lindblom.