Lars Von Trier has been talking up his psychological thriller/horror film Antichrist since two years ago, at one point claiming to be too depressed to get it off the ground. But good news for those who've been curious to see what Von Trier would do with a genre film: Antichrist begins shooting this month, with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in the lead roles. As previously announced, they play a couple who retreat to a cabin in the woods after losing a child, and run into some "terrifying occurrences." Von Trier co-wrote the screenplay with Anders Thomas Jensen, a remarkably prolific Danish screenwriter who's had a hand in some of the most prominent films to come out of that country, including Brothers and The King is Alive. He also co-wrote the forthcoming The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley.

I doubt, somehow, that Von Trier is going to come up with something that resembles what we think of as a horror film, or a psychological thriller. Anyone who saw his idea of a comedy knows what I'm talking about. I'm hit-and-miss on Von Trier in general -- loved Dancer in the Dark, viscerally disliked Dogville -- but always intrigued enough to keep watching. I can only hope the Antichrist will actually show up in Antichrist; Von Trier's take on Satan is definitely something I'd pay to see.

For a few years now, Cinema 16 has been packaging great short films on Region 2 DVDs for European release, but as far as I can tell, this new "European Short Films" collection, with 16 short films on two discs, is the first to get the Region 1 treatment. This new set culls shorts from various previous collections; I'm not sure why they just didn't re-transfer the European DVDs for American release, but no matter. What we have here is a wide selection of shorts from many decades, by filmmakers both famous and unknown. Probably not too surprisingly, the best shorts come from folks you've never heard of. Most of these folks provide commentary tracks for their work (almost all of it in English).

Like many authors, filmmakers sometimes try the short form in order to "practice," which ultimately shows a kind of lack of respect for the medium; it's seen as a stepping stone to features rather than a form in itself. But it also sorts those filmmakers that are good at the short form from those that aren't. Ridley Scott's first film, Boy and Bicycle (1965), starring his little brother Tony as a young boy, is a particular example of a failed attempt. Scott admits a fascination with John Schlesinger (Billy Liar) at the time, and his endless attempts at arty realism are painfully dull. This film was also released on Paramount's The Duellists DVD, and both times I sat down to watch it, I couldn't make it through. It's a pretty long 27 minutes.

It's hard to imagine a film like With Your Permission being made in America, even as an indie film. The film, directed by Danish actress/director Paprika Steen (who appears in another film playing at TIFF this year, Lars von Trier's Erik Nietzsche: The Early Years), deals with the subject of spousal abuse, but it's not, for the most part, an overly heavy film. I know, I know -- there's nothing funny about spousal abuse. And yet, there are very funny moments in this film that allow it to be entertaining, in spite of its potentially weighty subject matter.

For one thing, the spousal abuse in With Your Permission isn't dealt with the way you'd expect, especially at a film fest, where things tend to lean toward the oh-so-serious side of the spectrum. The victim in this case is Jan (Lars Brygmann), a slight, middle-aged man with longish hair who spends his days ruling his workplace, a "gourmet restaurant" -- really, the restaurant on a ferry between Denmark and Sweden -- with a fist so tightly wrapped around the rulebook he makes the bureaucrats at the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles seem downright laid-back by comparison.

We last visited Denmark to tell you about The Substitute, a so-called "children's thriller" that had a strong performance at the box office in June. Weeks later, The Substitute is still drawing Danes into theaters; it was the top-grossing local film this past weekend. The Substitute has been selected to play in the Sprockets Family Zone at the Toronto film festival in September, which may help it land a US distribution deal. Several upcoming releases also look to have international appeal.

Room 205 is due August 10; it's a horror picture about a university student who unwittingly unleashes an angry spirit seeking revenge. The trailer (available at the official site) makes it obvious we're not talking about Casper, The Friendly Ghost: young girl comes to city, is seduced by loud music and sexy dancing, and soon blood and body parts are flying. Two weeks later, Just Another Love Story rolls out. Directed by the suddenly busy Ole Bornedal (The Substitute), it's a thriller that starts when a weary family man causes an auto accident, resulting in a young woman losing her memory. The family man is then mistaken for her new boyfriend and assumes his identity. It looks like a very dark, intriguing twist on While You Were Sleeping.

September takes a comic turn with Thomas Vinterberg's A Man Comes Home, in which a small town kitchen worker's romances get mixed up with the arrival of a famous opera singer. (The breezy, jazzy trailer is NSFW.) Finally, Paprika Steen (star of The Substitute) returns to the director's chair for With Your Permission, scripted by the gifted Anders Thomas Jensen. The film is described as a tragic comedy: "Sometimes you should let go of your dream and let another dream come true." All the trailers are available at one convenient site.

Is there a constant battle between good and evil? Does the Devil test our faith? And is it possible for one man's faith to change another man's heart? These questions are at the heart of Adam's Apples, by Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen. Adam (Ulrich Thomsen), a middle-aged Neo Nazi, comes to a rural Danish church to serve out a sentence of community service. The church is run by Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen), the vicar, who confounds Adam from the start with his cheerful, patient optimism and bottomless faith. Adam soon realizes there is more to Ivan than meets the eye, though; Ivan is not just a man of faith, he believes he is constantly being tested by the devil. Ivan tells Adam to set a goal for himself for his time at the church, and when Adam offhandedly says he will bake an apple pie, Ivan assigns him to caring for the church's apple tree until the fruit is ready.

As the apple tree is beset by ravaging crows, maggots, and lightning, Ivan tells Adam the devil is testing him. Adam gets increasingly frustrated by Ivan's unwavering faith, until a local doctor, Dr. Kohlberg (played with just the right touch of ominence by Ole Thestrup), tells him of Ivan's background. Ivan, it seems, is unable to see bad or evil things. He has had so many bad things happen to him - horrific sexual abuse as a child, a handicapped child, the suicide of his wife) his mind simply blocks out everything he cannot deal with, including the huge brain tumor in his head. Adam notices that when he pushes Ivan to get closer to the truth, Ivan bleeds from his ear, so he asks the doctor whether it would be possible to kill Ivan simply by making him see reality. Adam and Ivan end up locked in a battle for Ivan's soul and his faith, while the apple tree continues to be attacked - by God, the devil, or just bad luck, we don't really know.