Sex, Lies and Video Violence


Dir: Richard Holm
Star: Mikael Beckman, Johan Holm

Film fan Micke (Beckman) is understandably concerned when his regular viewing of Die Hard is interrupted by German terrorist Franz (Holm) plunging out of the screen and into the real world. Turns out that's just the start of a tormented evening, for when his sister comes over to berate him for missing their get-together, she gives birth to a chest-burster. Turns out all of Micke's favourite violent movies, from A Clockwork Orange to Robocop, have come to life, and are rampaging through Stockholm. The only way Micke is going to make it through and save the day, is to channel his inner Terminator and become every bit as violent as the film characters.

That light synopsis perhaps explains why this runs only an hour before the credits roll, and that's probably not a bad thing - it's at its best when whizzing along: if this parody/re-enactment doesn't appeal, there'll be another one along in a moment. The more it lingers, such as the Orange segment, the less effective it all is, but the scattergun approach generally works for, rather than against it. Bizarrely, Mel Brooks and Brandon Lee show up in cameos; the latter makes me wonder how long this was in production, as he died in 1993, and the IMDb lists this as a 2000 film. Mind you, I suspect no official release ever occurred, since the soundtrack appears largely pilfered (I heard some distinctly non-public domain Rammstein in there, and perhaps some Lords of Acid too).

The technical aspects are surprisingly decent, given the obvious low-budget, with enthusiasm going a long way to make up for the limited resources. The martial arts fights are well-staged and the effects range from "probably over-reaching but an A for effort", like the head which explodes courtesy of Franz's rocket-launcher (right) up to Robocop stumbling around without his head, which was genuinely well done [the end credits show you how, and it's beautifully simple]. Yeah, there's not much of a plot, and the ending appears to contradict the moral for which the film appears to be aiming, suggesting a fondness for violent films is a symptom of mental illness. However, as fan films go, it's a cut above and the love its makers have for their topic is both apparent and infectious.

B-
[January 2016]


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