Son of Odin 3 (2006)

As the start of ROSKILDE FESTIVAL 2006 approached, the final part of the trilogy was to be filmed. It was a time of turmoil and upheaval for FOKING FILMS. The schism had deepened between Hans Bruntt and LarsBP, who had by now gone free-lance as a psychoanalytic film editor and manuscript author.

Taking on a new form….

Daniel Foged insisted that the artistic expression of the third movie should take on a completely new direction, far from what the crowd expected – and Bo Jørgensen from the special effects department adamantly proclaimed that ‘this time, they simply had to give him something to work with!!’ – referring to what he termed ‘the endless piles of shitty, grainy images’ seen in the first movies. Otherwise, he would simply find employment elsewhere.

In his later memoirs, Hans Bruntt remembers it as a time of hard decisions and difficult compromises: ‘The project was born, true, but whether it would be able to survive and stand on its own was now a matter of the direction into which we took it. By then, I resolved to put everything we had on one, massive gamble’. That gamble became known as ODINS SØN III – THE REVENGE OF HO CHI GÖBBELS.

In a marvelous display of intellectual prescience, Hans Bruntt acceded to the wishes of his co-workers, but with a hidden plan in mind. With that, the entire budget, all earnings from the previous productions, as well as the content of Hans Bruntt’s entire child savings account, were invested in acquiring the technological equipment necessary to set the stage for creating the equivalent of a true scientific nightmare that would later be echoed in Ridley Scott’s production of Blade Runner. So armed with a ProGo camera and the skillful use of DP2 editing programs, director Hans Bruntt went to work.

The “Bladerunner” of the new millenium

To the sound of disharmonious electronic clamours accompanied by the insistent futuristic guitar-riffs of 80s rock-and heavy metal music, the movie opens in the year 40.000 e.v.t., with a view of the endless expanse of East-MEG City, home to approximately 18.4 billion complete psychos, as well as a small enclave of Jehova’s Witnesses. This over-the-top hightech intro was a do-or-die decision at that time, as it removed the setting from the time of the vikings, to the far flung dark future, where the freedom of the individual had been long-time suppressed by social anarchy and the cruel attentions of vicious druglords who held the power of the sprawling metropolis in their filthy grasp. At an archaeological dig site, deep below the mantle of the city, the cairns of ancient viking heroes are broken open in a wanton display of vandalism.

Mad nazi-scientist Ho Chi Göbbels, strong of hand, cruel of heart and cunning of mind, known among his peers as The Usurper, the Godslayer (and part-time bartender at Crazy Daisy), performs sick experiments upon the exhumed bodies in his lab. Mixing unholy rituals with arcane science, the master of total evil power uncovers the mythical spear of Odin. Lacing Gungnir with the V-gene helix extracted from the bodies of the vikings of old, Göbbels creates an unstoppable army of immortal cybernetic nazi zombies.

Hail to the God-emperor

The first act of the lobotomized vikings is to swiftly end the threat of the venomous, sinful mermaids. Immune to the siren song of the faithless vixens, the nazi-zombies – impervious to pain and doubt – tear apart the foul feminists. As the streets of East-MEG City are conquered one by one, Göbbels pronounces himself god-emperor of the world, sending his armies forth to bring about the endtimes where the spirit of Fenris will consume all, as the hellish Fimbulwinter descends upon what remains of mankind.

Awakening from the slumber of faithless millennia, Odin, God of War and Death, reaches across the gulf of time and space, and shifts the balance of the fates, healing the broken thread of a long-dead viking hero from the lab, his pitiful existence now enslaved by the cruel nazi overlord. His flesh healing, his heart beating anew, and the latent V-gene spreading the power of a supernova throughout his body, the ancient warrior – played with truly unyielding aggression by Jakob Vogdrup – breaks the bonds of mental dominance, and shouts out loud: ‘I scream, I rant, and I rave: I RUN AMUCK!!!’ with total viking power, tearing the spear Gungnir from the hands of Göbbels, and hammering apart the nazi-zombies.

The evil power of Ho Chi Göbbels, however, is not so easily undone. Thwarting the rebellion of Odin’s chosen champion, the proud viking is no match for the foul, depraved and probably quite dishonourable magics that the nazi-overlord can unleash. As the skies darken once more, Odin himself takes on human form, the climax of the film setting the stage for the ultimate bad-ass showdown between Odin and Göbbels. Facing up to the would-be emperor in a clash of wills that was to rival the final battle with Darth Vader on the Death Star in Star Wars VI, Søren Dideriksen does a superb job in portraying the stoic, yet soulful character of Odin, opposed is he is by the devious, manipulative nazi-lord, a composure masterfully expressed by Lars Andersen – the most memorable moment being the psychic battle where incandescent lightning flares between Göbbels and Odin, and each telekinetic stab and mental riposte shatters windows and tears down the surrounding walls.

“Fuck that zombie shit!”

In what was later to be cited as one of the best one-liners in cinematic history, the evil ramblings of the decrepit nazi-overlord are casually dismissed by Odin, who simply replies: ‘Fuck that zombie shit!’, sending the conceited drug lord to his doom with an explosion of total viking power. The open ending was to become typical for FOKING FILMS, who – despite the fact that the trilogy was considered a finished job – has been surprisingly vague as to whether a continuation of the saga would ever be made. It did not matter at the time.

Despite the expectations of disaster, the movie was greeted and embraced by the fans, who hailed it as the most ground-breaking movie in recent years. Never had art and brutality been combined on such a level. Huge accolades were collected by Daniel Foged and Bo Jørgensen in particular, as their specific brand of vision had had free rein, and produced a furious LSD-like movie experience – the perfect science fiction end to a non-stop viking saga. True Metal!

The text above was transcribed from a recorded interview with Dr.Mindstripper in late 2007.

Reviews

‘Handlingen er højintellektuel. Ho Chi Göbbels er FOKING FILMS svar på Dr. Mabuse!!!’ – SlagteHal 3, Anmelderbladet ‘Kniven’, 2007

‘FOR SATAN DA, det dersens V-Gen er da meget bedre end det der Viking Kreatin vi plejer at guffe i os efter træning i øjeblikket, nu hvor vi ikke ku’ få lov til at sprøjte os med madolie længere, og tage de der… de der øøøhh… anabolistiske staruder, starutter… dem der, ja! FOR SATAN DA! HVA’ KOSTER SÅND NOGET!!!!’. – Jens Hansen (omtalt af sig selv som ‘Hrotgar hin Stolte’), Frederikssund Viking Gym, 2007

‘Skønt Ho Chi Göbbels er en fiktiv og usympatisk karakter, er hans ideer ikke nødvendigvis ren science fiction. På baggrund af vores rådgivnings-og insemineringsservice er vi i stand til at fremstille tyre i verdensklasse. Ikke mindst fordi vi besidder verdens bedste tyresæd, kombineret med kybernetisk forskning, hvor ud fra vi kan fremavle 100% perfekte tyre der kan løbe 175 km/t med nitro-infusion. Prøv vores tyre! Prøv dem!’ – Viking-Genetics, Danmark, ‘Fra TYR til KO’, 2007

‘Da jeg så at DVD’en var kodefri, sprang jeg i luften!!’. – Mek Pek, DR-TV: Under Uret, 2007

Son of Odin 3 production photos