Tuesday, July 14, 2009

De Dødes Tjern on dvd in October (or: Hell Comes To Your Tjern)

Great news! Two weeks ago, I wrote to Nordisk Film in Denmark and asked them about a possible DVD release of the Norwegian 1958 horror movie DE DØDES TJERN and today I (finally) received an e-mail from Nordisk Film's branch in Norway saying the film is going to be released on October 14!

Great news indeed! It seems it'll be a Norway only release but I can live with that. Let's cross our fingers it'll have English subs so people everywhere can get to enjoy this classic (and I say that even without every having watched anything but the two clips I linked to in the first post!!!).

Thanks to Elvira Vegas Messel of Nordisk Film Distibusjon for the info. She also read my first blog entry. :D
Now, Elvira, how about a review copy??? LOL.

14 comments:

  1. awesome!!!

    Let us hope it will a remastered release, with subs. :)

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  2. Been waiting for 7 years now! Finally. Love this movie. Pure Norwegian horror with dry theatrical dialogue. Yum!

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  3. Altho I didn't have problems with the dialect in the two clips I posted I still cross my fingers it'll have subs.

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  4. Although I'm unfamiliar with the movie you guys' enthusiasm has essentially sold me on it. What's it about?

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  5. As I haven't seen the film I'm not really the right person to answer your question but it's a horror movie from 1958 that takes place in a cabin in the woods. The title translates "Lake of the dead" and my impression is that it's kind of an Evil Dead-like setting with a group of friends in the woods. My understanding is that it was filmed like they filmed horror movies in the US in the 70s, i.e. treated them like "real" movies instead of "just" making a horror movie. THE EXORCIST was made like a real movie if you know what I mean. Anyway, the clips I found on YouTube (and posted here a little while ago) were just so good that I'm excited about it now. I certainly hope it'll have English subs.

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  6. Jared: I had my ''final exam'' (compared book and movie) at art school on De Dødes Tjern, so I should be typing as crazy! But that's a long time ago. Not a very long time ago, but who cares. Hehe

    Criminal Author Bernhard Borge and his wife Sonja, psychoanalyst Kai Bugge, journal editor Gabriel Mørk, lawyer Harald Gran and his fiancée liljan Werner's are six-Oslo people visiting Bjørn Werner (liljan brother) on his cabin deep inside the Østerdal forests. But when the guests appear Werner is nowhere to be found, and his dog is found dead at a pond nearby. Later then also one of the guests.
    It is not long before they begin to think about the old legend that is associated with the place...

    And my writing stops there. I actually wrote much more, but didn't want to give away the rest, so it would be more of a thrill when you watch it, Jared.

    The author of the book, Andre Bjerke, plays one of the characters in the movie.

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  7. Thanks, Patrick. When I wrote Nordisk Film it took them over a fortnight to send me a reply and obviously I got impatient so I sent them the email three times during that 14 day period (haha) and the last time my headline was "This is the third time - am I gonna get a reply THIS time" (haha) so now I'm not only receiving replies from Norway; Today I also got an answer from the Nordisk Film people in Denmark! Yeah, big grins all over here!! They said it will definitely only be a release for Norway.

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  8. No problem, Jack.

    You probably know the plot, but I added it for our non-scandinavian friends (INFIDELS!)

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  9. That's fine, thanks. And you didn't reveal too much but I certainly don't wanna know any more than that. I have avoided reading anything about the story line on purpose. It's (probably) the kind of films you really shouldn't know too much about before watching it.

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  10. Correct. I saw the movie long before I even touched the book. So didn't really know much about it. But it was good going into the book having seen the movie, and not vice versa.

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  11. Yes. There is a paperback from 2001, and another from 2008.

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