Elmo Rautio

Elmo Rautio was born 1991 in Haukipudas, Finland. A child of two amateur actors, Rautio was introduced to creative arts in very early age. At the age of fifteen he began acting in local theater, soon moving on directing his own theater club for children. What began as theater group in small Asemakylä village in north of Oulu, turned into filmmaking in 2011. A movie fan from the birth, as well as a film critic for local newspaper since age of 15, Rautio had long been dreaming about making his own feature film. With a small group of six amateur actresses he had been teaching for four years, they formed Asemafilmi, which Rautio became a producer of. A directorial depute, The Groke (Mörkö) was was inspired by popular children television show Moomin (1990) which traumatized many Finnish children in 1990's. Rautio decided to make it as a psychological horror film instead of creature feature, thus making it more a work of his own. Asemafilmi YouTube channel was created to distribute the film. The Groke was unexpected hit and became the most viewed Finnish independent horror film on YouTube to date. The Lady of the Cold (Jäärouva, 2013) was a spiritual follow-up to The Groke. While also inspired by the characters and story-lines from Moomin series, the film was more personal story, heavily influenced by Rautio's own depression and hypochondriac fear of death. While larger in scale, the production of the film was shorter than The Groke's. The film was shot in just three days in Rautio's late great grandmother's old country house. Being considered as more mature and visually appealing than his previous works, the film was well-received by fans and got decent reviews from online film critics. In Black Spring (Musta kevät) Rautio dived more deeply into his own real life experiences of facing death. Produced shortly after passing of his mother-in-law, the film is a very personal story turned into a folkloric horror film. It was the first Asemafilmi production that included several filming locations instead of just one or two. Black Spring got public screening and was noted by multiple newspapers. After Black Spring, most of Asemafilmi's original actresses graduated from a high school, causing a breakup of the original group. Rautio carried on his filmmaking by making found footage horror film Raakavedos in 2016. Low-budget, shot in three days and starring Rautio himself, received praise by online community, including international audience. Distriputed by Indie Horror Online, Raakavedos remains Rautio's most well-know work outside Finland. The film got a direct sequel in 2017. Skeleton Cave (Luurankoluola, 2017) was a clear continuation of Rautio's previous works, focusing on psychological horror caused by childhood trauma. The film got some good critiques, but overall lack the attention Rautio's previous works The Groke and Raakavedos received. The film views were also heavily hit by YouTube's change of algorithm in 2016, which made horror content less visible. In 2020 Rautio announced a new movie in development, a non-supernatural vampire story. The project was put on hold due the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually canceled after Rautio was diagnosed with heart disease. Rautio has told the script may be turned to a novel as he seeks a career as a writer.