Petter Baiestorf Part 1

”The Crazy World of Petter Baiestorf” Part 1

First I want to warn all readers because Petter's movies are definitely not for the "good taste mainstream" horror fans. His movies are very brutal and probably highly offensive for many viewers. Violence and sex are mixed in the most obscure way, so to all of you who are still with me, sit back and continue read ”The Crazy World of Petter Baiestorf”.

Tomas Larsson: Who is Petter Baiestorf? He is a fascinating, bizarre indie director from Brazil you should not miss in your life. This is a really odd director who in many ways shocks its viewers with both sex and gore in his own bizarre way. Titan Video will soon release some of his movies and that is awesome. DO NOT MISS THIS.

Petter Baiestorf: Thanks for the words! I try to be original (in my own way and within my extremely low budget), doing all kind of movie that can escape the commonplace (gore, sexploitations, experimental). Sometimes it works, so many times it's all wrong, hauahauaahauaahauaa

I would like to thank Petter for sending a bunch of copies of his movies and gave me the opportunity to enter into his crazy world of madness. The first film to go into the DVD is Blerghhh!!! and appears to be his first movie, but I put this question to Peter himself.

TL: Is Blerghhh!!! your first movie?

PB: "Blerghhh!!!" (1996) is not my first film. My first production called "Criaturas Hediondas" (released in 1993), then did "Criaturas Hediondas 2", "The Vegetable Monster from Space", "Detritos", "They Eat Your Flesh", "Caquinha Superstar a Go-Go" , "2000 Years for This?" and then "Blerghhh!!!".
"Blerghhh!!!" I have not launched here in Brazil on DVD (only VHS in the 90s), but I intend to subtitle it as soon as possible!

Blerghhh!!! (1996)

Because the movie is not subtitled, I leave over to Petter to describe the story.

Sid, Young addict (José Salles), and his bodyguard (Denise V.) are kidnapped by terrorists after buying drugs with your dealer (Petter Baiestorf). The terrorists are a group of young people who were inspired by terrorists who suffered from the 1964 military coup, as Cremado (David Camargo) and Rumba (Coffin Souza). Among the terrorist they fight for power between Rumba and Cruella (Madame X). Rumba takes the bodyguard of Sid and wants to make a snuff movie. Cruella and another terrorist (Marcos Braun) will ransom pro dad Sid and get nothing, then he decide to kill Sid (which is seen by a couple (Onésia Liotto and E.B. Toniolli) that needs to be killed as well), but Sid needs more and more drugs and come back as a zombie who wants more drugs to continue revived (re-animated). Rumba discovers later that if Sid is dismembered he will stop. At the end the sole survivors of the terrorist group kidnap someone new and still in their ideology and anti-military governments.

More or less this is "Blerghhh!!!".

Blerghhh!!! Is a 42-minute joyride into a madness of drugs, blood and tits. The opening of the movie is quite provocative with a baby getting shot because of its fucking screaming. Just one shot and they can continue taking their drugs in peace and quiet. It happens off screen so no baby goulash at this point. All this is done by atmospheric tones of a pan flute that quickly change after the shooting and becomes brutal Grind.

TL: In the opening of the movie you shoot a baby and I suppose that's very provocative in many ways. What has the reaction been around this? I believe most parents who have/had small children have at some time thought of the idea of throwing out their screaming baby out through the window, when the patience is tested to the extreme.

PB: When I launched the "Blerghhh!" here in Brazil, in 1996, the film was banned in almost all display channels. I made a distribution of this film independently, as I have done to date! I have no children and don’t intend to have, but I wanted a provocative opening in the film and the act of a junkie drug dealer killing a baby who cries seemed to me a good idea. I make small-budget exploitation movies, I need to make a difference and scene like that you will never see in common movies. I am an advocate of sex, but not violence, you know? I try to trivialize violence through exaggeration in my films because the human being is more and more violent and through my movies I criticize that! Now, I'm pre-producing the feature film "Zombio 2: Chimarrão Zombies," which is a movie about the undead (continuation of the first zombie movie made in Brazil, "Zombio", which I did in the 1990s. The Brazil has no tradition in film gore), where I explore all the evil of living. The zombies in the film are just an allegory, something that I’ll use to criticize the living and their greed, their weaknesses, etc., all wrapped with cynicism and sarcasm, my trademark!

The film has a comic undertone and I cannot help but laugh a bit of what´s going on between those wonderful tits that adorn the picture periodically. The movie is funny while the blood spurts across the screen and guts are dug out after the hunt for a bag of cocaine, which someone has swallowed. The flick feels a bit like Das Komabrutale Duell with Heiko Fipper from 1999, for no one seems to be able to die in the movie. They keep coming back even if you cut the head off or get a bullet through the head. Now Blerghhh!!! was done before Komabrutale Das Duell but I'm doubtful that Heiko found the inspiration through Blerghhh!!!, but who cares, both are crazy indie movies you must see. To put an end to this zombie like pain-in-the-ass character they cut him up in pieces and the movie ends, but not the story…

TL: The movie contains a lot of drug use; is this something that reflects the society in Brazil? Or is it just an important content of the story?

PB: In the movie "Blerghhh!" Drug use is intense because it reflects the Brazilian society. Here, we are experiencing an epidemic of crack cocaine, a whole generation turning zombie because of the drugs they use to escape the misery. Brazil does not invest in education and workers here are exploited by big businesses and industries. This generation of Brazilians are not just running away from reality with the use of drugs, but also escaping from reality through the religions. Here in Brazil you can open a church if you want. And there is a business involving religion and faith. Lack of education makes a people completely stupid, and because of this ignorance, we have sick people seeking healing in drugs or in religions! In the case of "Blerghhh!", The film also speaks about the Brazilian left (Communists) which is the same thing that's right, actually. In Brazil there was a violent military dictatorship in 1960 and 1970 and these military were supported by almost all Brazilian society, with a few focus of resistance left. "Blerghhh!" Talk about it, about the total lack of organization of the Brazilian left. Here in Brazil, much energy is left behind when the young leftists start consuming drugs! As a student of anarchist philosophy I think it’s regrettable!

 TL: I must admit that I am very fond of women's body, especially the boobs and you delivered that a few times. The woman who is chained to the ceiling is delicious. What are your personal thought behind such a scene?

PB: I love women, physically and intellectually. I think women are stronger than us men. And I’m a proponent of sex and nudity as artistic expression. In my films, I use sex as a way to break the Christian values of Brazilian society. Here in Brazil, if you walk naked in the streets you will be arrested for indecent exposure, but if you murder someone in the streets and if you be first offender (without having committed other crimes before the inept Brazilian justice), you can pay for this murder in freedom. Here, it is easier to be arrested for walking naked than to kill someone, you know? In the case of "Blerghhh!!!", I purposely created female characters stronger than men and nudity is part of their force! Women are powerful and I wanted to show it in the "Blerghhh!!!".

Definitely a fun, entertaining and totally insane movie in the land of independent obscurity. The next movie that I'm going to take look at is Arrombada, so keep your eyes open and watch out for part 2 in "The Crazy World of Petter Baiestorf".