Videomannen

Great little film that I picked up for just £5. Lots of nods to giallo films and will relate to people who stalked the video shops in the 80s such as myself looking for obscure films we thought we would never actually get to see. Give it a go you could do a lot worse with your 90 mins.

'Videoman' is one of the all too rare films featuring a greatly flawed middle-aged male protagonist I can readily relate to, which, quite frankly, also made for frequently uneasy viewing! Ex-video-shop proprietor Ennio Midena (Stefan Sauk) is a disenfranchised, heavy-drinking divorcee, an increasingly bitter loner, wholly unwilling to connect to the self-absorbed swill of social media, an analogue diehard in a disorientating digital age of instant gratification, constantly obsessing about once again opening a niche video emporium; his dream one step closer to corporeal reality as he has secured a mysterious high-paying customer for his rare, mint-condition VHS copy of maestro Lucio Fulci's legendary video nasty 'Zombie'. The strangely charming 'Videoman' is an engaging, appealingly retro-flavoured, darkly tinged, character-based drama about the murkier side of life-consuming collector-mania, metropolitan loneliness, boozy existential despair, all blissfully bathed in the neon-hazed hue of lovingly synthesized 80s nostalgia!

The fitfully likeable, irksomely opinionated Ennio's maddeningly circuitous path to desperately locate a valuable missing tape, finally get free of debt, and find love is rarely less than compelling cinema. Ennio's stultifying insular, basement-dwelling inertia is considerably brightened by the arrival of 80s music fan, Egypt-loving dipso Simone Karlsson (Lena Nilsson). And the film's elusive nemesis 'Faceless' makes for an eerie peripheral presence, and the Giallo pastiche is amusingly staged, and the slew of euro-cult references are a delight, especially edifying is the lurid discussion over Rosalba Neri's 'body part' double in Fernando Di Leo's gruesome Giallo 'Slaughter Hotel'. An additional B-Movie bonus is the spot the-cult-movie game director Kristian A. Söderström clearly wants us to play, as 'Videoman' features 'Eye-Patching' excerpts from Bo Arne Vibenius's iconic 'Thriller: A cruel picture', and his lesser-known grindhouse classic 'Breaking Point', with a splendidly grisly 'insert' from Carlo Vanzina's cult 80s slasher 'Nothing Underneath'. Metalheads might also appreciate the brief cameo by writer/musician Daniel Ekeroth as fellow video collector Jonas 'Franco' Karlsson. 'Videoman' is a delightfully vivid, deliciously downbeat drama that is well worth 'tracking' down!'

This may have a bigger impace on people who had video store to go to. And I mean the one that had VHS tapes to rent or sell you. And then there is the Giallo aspect to it. I'm not really a fan of the genre overall, but you do can feel the love the director has for the genre. There are so many references to it. And the other great thing (if you are into that): it mixes comedy (not slapstick mind you) and horror - and it does a fantastic job at that.

Then take the acting and it goes beyond all. It really is something and while it may not affect everyone who watches it, the sheer amount of dedication (the years it took to make and so forth) is amazing. Just for that I got mad love for this movie - and the director is one of the nicest people you can meet. And just to be clear, only met him once (festival) and loved the movie even before meeting (and telling him about it)

This was an unexpected good movie with both laughter and a creping sensation down the neck, that made me check the door lock an extra time time when i got home. With excellent feal and referens to the 80,s VHS boom for all the nostalgic movie fans. Also fun to see some (in Sweden) big actors in not the biggest roles. And all actors deliver without a doubt a good preformance. A well made movie that suprice you in more ways than one.

Probably the worst foreign language film I've seen. Advertised as a romantic thriller, there's little romance and even less thrills and it's not even a decent study of the various characters in it. Maybe you have to be a VHS nerd or a lover of the film genres/directors mentioned in the film.