meant to explain to Laretei why he left them. Gado identifies the Birdman character as "Bergman's ironic inversion" of The Magic Flute, with Johan stating the Birdman is likely related to the Magic Flute character Papageno. According to Gado, the Birdman represents "corruptive self-knowledge and a 'natural' evil seated in childhood sexuality". Thomas identifies the character Lindhorst as Johan's Birdman. Other writers have found parallels to E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Golden Pot. These include the character names Lindhorst, Heerbrand and Veronica. Gado argues the film's Veronica is more analogous to Hoffmann's character Serpentina than to the literary Veronica, but that the book recognizes Veronica and Serpentina as both being part of "a double image of Woman". Gado adds that, like the book's Veronica and Serpentina, in the film, "Veronica is Alma inverted". In one scene, Johan describes murdering a boy. Professor Irving Singer wrote that it is ambiguous whether Johan's story is real or imagined. According to Young, Bergman had said the boy represents his own internal "demon" and the boy's struggle with Johan is meant to look "orgasmic". Gado connects the boy to Johan's recollection of his childhood, when he was locked in a closet as a punishment, and believed a little person lived in the closet. Thomas suggests the boy is "the imp of id, an inverse incubus, or a vision of regressive sexuality", and that the murder does not resolve Johan's issues, as after he throws the body into the waters the body floats back to the surface. Style The style of certain scenes has been described as surreal, near-expressionist, or gothic. Professor Fabio Pezzetti Tonion writes that the film's "stylistic ciphers" create "friction between objective and subjective elements". Teodoro describes the film as "eerily hushed", with sparing dialogue accentuating other sounds, and compares its atmosphere to the 1980 film The Shining. In establishing its mythology, including the boy Johan struggles with and tales of a little person in the closet, Kat Ellinger of the British Film Institute argues Hour of the Wolf draws on folklore. Ellinger further compares the horrific visions to the work of Swiss painter Henry Fuseli. Author John Orr characterizes the film as a "modernist fable". The film's second half takes place only at night, with the exception being the overexposed flashback to Johan and the boy. Hubner argues the overexposure and quick editing of more than 30 shots contribute to the