Epidemic (1987)

Director:

Lars von Trier

Writers:

Lars von Trier (screenplay) &
Niels Vørsel (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 September 1987 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

A film director and a script writer (performed by Lars von Trier and Niels Vørsel themselves) write a screenplay...

Plot Keywords:

Meta | One Word Title | Film Within A Film | Director On Camera | Sequel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Allan De Waal
Ole Ernst
Michael Gelting
Colin Gilder
Svend Ali Hamann	...	Himself
Claes Kastholm Hansen	...	Himself
Ib Hansen
Anja Hemmingsen
Kirsten Hemmingsen
Cæcilia Holbek Trier		(as Cæcilia Holbek)
Gert Holbek
Udo Kier	...	Himself
Joergen Christian Krueff		(as Jørgen Christian Krüff)
Jan Kornum Larsen
Gitte Lind	...	Herself
Leif Magnusson
Gunner Ottesen
Susanne Ottesen	...	Herself
Lennart Pasborg
Leif Sabro	...	Pilot
Tony Shine
Michael Simpson	...	Cabbie / Priest
Mik Skov
Thorkild Toennesen		(as Thorkild Tønnesen)
Olaf Ussing
Lars von Trier	...	Himself / Dr. Mesmer (as Lars Von Trier)
Niels Vørsel	...	Himself

Directed by
Lars von Trier

Writing credits
Lars von Trier		(screenplay) (as Lars Von Trier) &
Niels Vørsel		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jacob Eriksen	....	producer

Original Music by
Peter Bach

Cinematography by
Henning Bendtsen		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Thomas Krag
Lars von Trier		(as Lars Von Trier)

Production Design by
Søren Gam		(as Søren G. Henriksen)

Costume Design by
Manon Rasmussen

Makeup Department
Bibbi Bergholdt	....	makeup artist
Søren Hedegaard	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Per Årman	....	production manager

Art Department
Peter Grant	....	prop man

Sound Department
Peter Englesson	....	sound (as Peter Engleson)
Thomas Krag	....	sound
Niels Vørsel	....	sound

Special Effects by
Søren Gam	....	special effects (as Søren Gam Henriksen)

Camera and Electrical Department
Henning Bendtsen	....	camera operator: 35 mm
Søren Danielsen	....	grip
Søren Danielsen	....	lighting technician
Leif Barney Fick	....	grip
Leif Barney Fick	....	lighting technician
Jesper Find	....	assistant camera
Thomas Gammeltoft	....	lighting assistant
Cæcilia Holbek Trier	....	camera operator: 16 mm (as Cæcilia Holbek)
Kristoffer Nyholm	....	camera operator: 16 mm
Susanne Ottesen	....	camera operator: 16 mm
Lars von Trier	....	camera operator: 16 mm (as Lars Von Trier)
Niels Vørsel	....	camera operator: 16 mm

Editorial Department
Michael Frank Nielsen	....	color timer

Music Department
Peter Bach	....	music arranger

Thanks
Leif Magnusson	....	the producers would like to thank

Production Companies

• Elementfilm A/S (produced by)
• Det Danske Filminstitut (for)

Distributors

• Angel Films (1987) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• A-Film Distribution (2005) (France) (DVD)
• A-Film Distribution (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Accent Film Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Norway) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Independenta Music & Video (IMV) (2005) (Romania) (DVD)
• Legend Films International (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Raro Video (2004) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)
• Raro Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Det Danske Filmstudie  the producers would like to thank
• Easy Film  sound mixing
• Finn Bjerre Studio  sound recording: music
• Fogdal Biler  the producers would like to thank
• Københavns Kommunehospital  the producers would like to thank
• L'Ame Du Vin  the producers would like to thank
• Rigsarkivet  the producers would like to thank
• Rigshospitalet  the producers would like to thank

Also Known As:

Epidemia (Finland) [fi]
Epidemic (Greece) [el]
Epidemic (Sweden) (video title) [sv]
Epidimi@ (Greece) (DVD title) [el]

Runtime:

UK:106 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish | English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hungary:18 | Australia:M | UK:15 | Germany:12

Company:

Elementfilm A/S

Trivia:

The second film in Lars on Trier's 'Europa' trilogy which illuminates the traumas of Europe in the future. The two other parts are Forbrydelsens element (1984) and Europa (1991).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Anecdotes from 'Epidemic' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Tannhäuser (The Overture)

Weird film. To watch only if in the right mood.

I obviously was in the right mood, since I don't give it a horrible mark. I do give it a 6 out of 10, because it is obviously such a low budget movie and it's definitely very original, but other than that, I am still amazed I watched it till the end.

Two screenwriters are trying to do in 5 days what they barely succeeded in one and a half years, that is write a script. They lost their original screenplay, which by now they can barely remember how it started, due to a bad disk. Each day is accompanied with scenes of their creative process, scenes from the movie they would do and dialogues with different people.

Now it happens that I've just written an IMDb comment that said "Funny little things: Udo Kier plays a short role in this movie, and he is really young". Deja vu! Udo Kier plays in this one, as well.

The movie is shot in black and white, probably by the same single camera, and the sound is almost not processed giving the whole movie a documentary like feeling. There are a lot of things written between the lines, the satire of the government and film industry being the most obvious.

Conclusion: you should watch this mostly if you're Danish. Else if you are a movie critic or deep into films. It is NOT a horror movie. A movie that has some gore at the very end is not horror. And also you have to have the right set of mind to watch it.