DEADLINE (den/swe 1971)

Last night I watched a Danish/Swedish disaster movie called DEADLINE. Yes, I said *Danish/Swedish disaster movie*!!! No, I didn't know they made any of those in Scandinavia either but apparently they did!

DEADLINE is from 1971 and directed by Stellan Olsson. My buddy Nils Markvardsen told me it was screened at the Cinemateque in Copenhagen last year but the print was cut! There's an upload of the film on YouTube and the uploader states the film is complete but my VHS runs almost 10 minutes longer (approx 104 minutes, not 97 as mentioned on the cover!). I would assume my tape is u/c but who knows. The Danish tape has the Swedish dialogue subbed. The upload on YT is off a Swedish tape and has no subs.

The film is a slowburn if I ever saw one but it grabs you all the way through and never gets dull. The Danish video cover promises a nuclear disaster movie but it's nothing of that sort. The liner-note author obviously wanted to spur interest by referring to a fictional nuclear plant disaster (as it was a hot topic in Denmark in the 70s and 80s because Sweden placed a nuclear plant 20 k's from the Danish capital).

The film is about a plane that crashes in the ocean close to Sweden and a toxic agent poisons a close-by village. The government seals off the town; calls in the army to shoot people who try and leave, and puts a cover on the whole bloody mess.
I have no idea if DEADLINE ever played outside of Scandinavia or if there were other VHS releases. I can't find any info of a DVD release. The music throughout the film is by a band called Pan.

Recommended for at least the one viewing.

BAD LIEUTENTANT (1992) Abel Ferrara, USA

Yesterday, I watched FARGO which I hadn't seen since sometime in the '90s, and I've just finished watching Abel Ferrara's amazing BAD LIEUTENANT which I hadn't seen since the '90s either. I like Werner Herzog's remake but this is head and shoulders better. The two films are light-years apart.

BAD LIEUTENANT is all about Harvey Keitel's character's deroute. There are no sub-plots. There are no other characters of any significance. There's no nothing else. There's just the cop. The lieutenant. Ferrara's directing is better than anything else. If you haven't seen BAD LIEUTENANT I highly recommend that you do.

I watched the film on uncut Danish ex-rental VHS (all dvd versions have the soundtrack censored).

Gnaw - Food of the Goods II (Damian Lee, Canada/1989)

One of the films that I received in Kurt's box the other day is GNAW: FOOD OF THE GODS II. It's also out on DVD but the DVD cover looks like ass, and the VHS cover is hyper awesome if you ask me. I watched the film this afternoon and it was great fun. It's not a comedy but it's not all that serious either. The convoluted plot: Something goes wrong in a lab and mega huge nasty lab rats run amuck and cause terror and mayhem. There's boobs too. And splatter. You need to own this film! The Danish VHS is open matte so we are entertained by microphones in the top part of the fame. And in one scene when a lab professor starts to foam and goo splatters out of his face you can clearly see the tubes at the bottom of the screen where the blood and goo is pumped in. Haha. Highly entertaining and definitely recommended.

Kurt uploaded the scene where you see the tube (and some FX's guy's hand) going up the scientist's lab coat (left bottom corner of the screen at around 1m58s into the clip. And actually you can also see the tubes here in the thumbnail).



trailer:

Shock! Horror!! Japanese bootleg tapes are circulating!!!

While the headline may seem funny it's no laughing matter at all! Read all about it over at Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

More cool ex-rentals in the mail!

I received a truly awesome parcel from Member-X in Finland! Eight rare tapes that ironically all are Danish! xD.


BROTHERS IN BLOOD (Tonino Valerii). Very rare VHS, I'm only awere of one other copy (sitting on DEVAG Hans-Jørn/Diabolik's shelves).

LEATHERNECKS (Ignazio Dolce). Very rare ex-rental. Does Diabolik have one? I don't know but I'm sure nobody else does.


MOON OF THE WOLF (Daniel Petrie, starring David Janssen of "The Fugitive" fame). Very rare.

ABDUCTION (Joseph Zito). Do I need to repeat myself? Very rare ex-rental tape!

THE GUNFIGHTER AND THE KID (aka The Kid and the Gunfighter aka The Gunfighter). Very, very, very rare Danish release of this equally rare Filipino western! Nobody has this tape. Nobody. It's so rare if you look it up in the dictionary there's a picture of this tape in the difinition to "rare"!

Kathryn Bigelow's awesome film THE LOVELESS! I watched (and taped) this film the first time on tv in the UK in around 1990. I'm sure I still have my tape somewhere. I remember the tv version has some alternative camera angles but I've never actually made a comparison (nor read about this). When I moved back to Denmark in 1991 I found a copy of this tape in a rental store but couldn't buy it and spent the next 15 years looking for another copy! I finally found one at an outdoor fair 2 or 3 years back. Needless to say I've also got the new DVD but I hear it has some new music in it to get rid of the many "silent" moments!! It's a pity that people obviously can't watch a film anymore that doesn't have a pumping beat in all non-dialogue scenes (or at least that's what the producers obviously thought when they changed it). When I saw this copy at Member-X's auction I knew I had to place an offer, even just a small one. Imagine if this awesome tape wasn't sold and had to live a forgotten and unloved life on a seller's shelves in the barren world that is Finland. It would be like in the end of JEEPERS CREEPERS! I placed a bid for one dollar and won the tape. Good for me but sad that so few people are interested in a cool ex-rental release of this uber-cool film.

THE KNIGHTS OF GOD 1 & 2. This vertually unknown/forgotten British sci-fi tv-show is pretty difficult to find. Acording to Wiki it's only released on VHS in Denmark and Germany, and only the Danish release carries the original English audio whereas the German tape is dubbed. There is no UK release. And there's no DVD releases either. In other words quite rare. I've stumbled over part 1 a few times at indoor markets and outdoor fairs but this is the first time I've had a chance to get tape #2. The two volumes were sold together and since I already had a copy of #1 I've now got two of them so if anybody needs a copy let me know (I can chuck in a dvdr copy of #2 if needed).

Big thanks to Member-X for this trade!

More awesome Danish ex-rentals!

This week I bought a pile of ex-rental (and a few sell-thru) tapes from a collector on Uncut.dk forum. They're of course all cool tapes but these three are by far the ones I'm most happy about. I might even say overly stricken by joy! xD xD xD

The top tape is one of my favourite blaxploitation flicks, J.D's REVENGE about this black gangster dude who comes back from the dead to seek revenge. I already have a fine DVD release but I much neeeeded this über rare tape when I saw it was up for grabs!!



- and this tape is also an old blaxploitaion classic, Fred Williamson's HELL UP IN HARLEM! I already have the film on a video tape from Holland but... do I need to repeat myself (LMAO)... this is overly, überly, flabbergastically, rare and I had to have it! Simply haaad to.



- the last one is without a doubt thee most rare of thees taespe... mouth... won't wrok... aarghhh... this tape is so rare it's like finding an ice cold can of 7UP in the dessert!!! Not only is this release mega rare on it's own but this is a Video2000 release!!! I'm 300% convinced this is the only copy left in this world!!! Arrrgh.

Oh, did I forget to mention which film it is, haha. It's Bobby A. Suarez' DEVIL'S THREE starring Marrie Lee. It's a kind of sequel to THEY CALL HER CLEOPATRA WONG.

Many thanks to Maratonman for this awesome trade!!!

More from down Japan way

Here's a handful of eBay scans of Japanese tapes I've bought during the last couple of years. Awesome covers!

Lightblast

I just secured Enzo G. Castellari's LIGHTBLAST from 1985 on Japanese VHS. Paul Cooke & David Z gave it 4 "Exploding Huts" out of 5 in their book "Tough to Kill" so I'm definitely looking forward to it. :D
For some reason I was the only bidder and won it for a mere 10 bucks. Veery niiice!

Unfortunately I lost out on DANGEROUS SEDUCTRESS to ya can't will 'em all. Next time (or some other time, haha).

Photoshopped DVD covers just ain't the same!

"Satanic power overrides the devil's advocates"


Yesterday, I found this video cover for the old horror/biker flick WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS on eBay UK. Wauw!! You certainly don't see DVD covers like that. The tape is a Betamax and the auction is running for a few more days in case you're interested. I already have the film on Dutch VHS but this cover is just awesome!

EDIT: The precert Betamax went for $33.

Angels Die Hard - the photo novel edition!

(click the cover for a bigger size)











The screen grabs are from my ultra rare Danish ex-rental VHS. It's the only known copy (to make it even more rare my copy even has a censorship rating sticker from the Faeroe Island on the back!). xD

THE KEEP on ultra rare Danish ex-rental

Satans Borg [Satan's Castle] or as it's known originally: THE KEEP (Michael Mann, 1983). Wauw. I've never seen this tape before (and neither has any Danish VHS collector who isn't called Diabolik (aka Hans-Jørgen)!!! Lemme repeat that: Waa-uuhhh-hu-hu-wauw!!! Great find, Hans-Jørgen! And obviously a great pity this film isn't on DVD. :-(

Danish ex-rentals on morning TV

In a post on Thursday I mentioned Diabolik (aka Hans-Jørgen) was going to get interviewed on Danish morning television (which means it's broadcast in the country of Denmark, not that it's morning tv where they're eating Danish pastries, haha) about his huge collection of Danish ex-rental tapes, and fortunately for you someone has just uploaded the program to YouTube. Check it out. Needless to say it's all in the lingo of our proud, savage Viking ancestors.

Are ex-rental collectors early birds? They better be tomorrow (at least if they live in Scandinavia). xD.

Scandinavian readers who are able to watch the Danish tv channel TV2 Danmark ought to get up early tomorrow morning (Friday) and tune into "Go'morgen Danmark" as guest on the show will be none other than hardcore ex-rental VHS collector Diabolik, well known from such world famous message boards as Cinehound and Uncut.dk.

The program is running from 6:30 am - 11 am (GMT+1). Diabolik's segment is scheduled for 8:13 am but I'd tune in a bit earlier as things tend to not always run on time in a live broadcast.

And so what's Diabolik going to talk about you might wonder; City life in the Danish capital? Being a hillbilly from the countryside?? Exploring exotic lands far away??? Nope, he'll be talking about motherfucken DANISH EX-RENTAL TAPES!!!

I believe it's all thanks to the new Facebook group he's set up entirely devoted to Danish ex-rentals.

Here's an old piccie of Diabolik (seen on the far left) from a horror & sci-fi film con. that took place in Copenhagen, 2003. Next to Diabolik: Nils Markvardsen, unknown, Thure Munkholm, yours truly in a spiffy green/blue'ish shirt, and Jan Mouritzen (selling posters)