Kickstart BLOODY FRIDAY - Restoration campaign

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Awesome news.

It's time for our most anticipated update! We know that all the delays were annoying but we kept quiet until everything was uncovered. Now, we can announce the ultimate news for our upcoming release of BLOODY FRIDAY.

But, before we lift the secret we wish to tell you a little background story.

In update No. 7 we told you that we digitized the original German mag track to get the best possible sound that's available, totally unaware of what would happen afterwards.

Due to plenty other projects at the same time we didn't check the results right away. They sat on the desk, waiting.

After weeks of working on the other supplements, our studio wizards @LSP Medien finally began to synchronize and restore the mag track. Somewhere in the middle of the film, they were puzzled. The sound was completely out of sync. They fixed it and moved on to their second puzzling moment, as the sound was suddenly out of sync again. Huh?

Everyone was puzzled now and there it was - the mag track was longer than it should be.

Could it really be....?

After checking old records, we discovered an ominous entry telling us about a version from 1972 that obviously never hit the screens.

COULD IT REALLY BE...?!

We contacted our licensor and asked for further informations, but „There never was another version!“ was the answer. Unacceptable!

We asked them (actually penetrated them day by day) to check the vault. The good folks at Lisa Film started to dig in their archives and found a mysterious reel labeled „OCN outtakes + deleted scenes“. Nobody knew what was in there.

We decided to digitize every single frame the vault gave free, unbenownst to us that we would experience the most terrible wait of our life.

After (too many) weeks, we finally received all the materials on a innocent Friday in February 2016, a date that now marks a new moment in film history, because there it was!

The missing footage we had sound for was now available as moving images plus a whole bunch of deleted scenes from the original negative!

Long story short:

We're totally happy and proud to announce the world premiere of the never before seen original - DIRECTOR'S CUT - version of Rolf Olsen's over-the-top thriller BLOODY FRIDAY!

[enandalusiskhund An Andalusian Dog Find all posts View Profile Close enandalusiskhund]

While this is of course exciting news, I can't help but feel a tiny bit sceptical. Were these scenes cut by the studio, distributors or were they censorship cuts imposed upon the picture? Fine, reinstate them and slap that Director's Cut label on the finished product. The fact that there is sound for them indicates that this might truly be a lost original DC version of the film. On the other hand, how do we know these cuts weren't done by Rolf Olsen himself, as a conscious creative decision at the last minute? He's been dead for almost 20 years, so it's hard to ask him. If the cuts were forced by government censoring there should surely be records of that archived somewhere. But the fact that this find comes as such a surprise for everybody, including the studio (?) is somewhat puzzling. I hope, and believe, Subkultur as a label are above the gimmick of calling every extended version of a film a Director's Cut, as is common among the majors. Oh well, as long as both cuts are included nothing is lost, it's just a bit strange is all.

[Heinz Klett Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heinz Klett]

These scenes were cut to get the rating in Germany. We found old records telling us about an original version that was longer than the known version.
And the final rating has the addendum [2. rating]. We asked our licensor and they said there never was another version,
but they couldn't explain what it is all about this ominous first version.
As we checked the mag track we discovered missing footage and asked again. The mag track contains the original first version before the cuts were made.
And no, we don't call any longer version Director's Cut. Why should we? We also found deleted scenes that will only pop up as extras.
Why didn't somebody know about a longer version? Simple answer: We're the first company that used the mag track since 1972.
The producer wasn't aware of this longer version, because they just forgot it during the last 45 years. They were the most surprised party as they located the missing footage.
But we did a lot of researchs and finally all pieces came together to decide to call it DC. This is Rolf Olsen's original intended version before the rating board refused to give the rating.
He was forced to cut them out to get it and because nobody ever used the original materials, the secret was never lifted. Using digibetas or release prints is cheaper ;)
And there is no chance to get any official records, because according to the official rating board terms "there is no censorship". In fact, they just refuse a rating, but they don't tell you details you have to cut out/change to get a rating. They just tell you why they refuse a rating, you have to read between the lines and do the job by yourself.

[enandalusiskhund An Andalusian Dog Find all posts View Profile Close enandalusiskhund]

Thanks, that's very reassuring. I thought the German censorship system worked like the Swedish, where the cuts made by Statens biografbyrí¥ to any given film are public records anybody can look up. But apparently the German system is even more fascistoid. Anyway, I should point out that Sweden doesn't censor anything anymore (except maybe some porn, do any of you fellow Swedes know more?) and prior cuts and bans have been waived in the 90's. I believe Scorsese's Casino was the last ordinary film to be cut in this country, and it was shown in cinemas with a written introduction by the director, where he declared how sorry he was we Swedes wouldn't get to see the film as he intended.

But now I'm straying from the subject at hand, sorry about that. The news about Blutiger Freitag is absolutely spectacular, now that Herr Klett has cleared everything up in such a thorough manner. Really looking forward to seeing the finished product, now even more than before.

[Heinz Klett Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heinz Klett]

Well, the German rating board became somewhat liberal. You have pretty good chances to get your rating without big problems these days. Even hard and bloody horror films get a rating without any cuts. Sometimes they still refuse a rating but this is actually a rare moment now. Especially older films that got censorship trouble at their original release date pass through easily today. I wouldn't call it paradise but the situation today is close to paradise for film buffs compared to the old days.
As BLOODY FRIDAY came out, it was a different time and a lot of filmmakers/studios were forced to cut the films to get a rating.
It's actually a bit bizarre that BF was censored at all, because the known theatrical version is bloody as hell, has a lot of cynical dialogues and you can see, feel, smell the Italian influence in each frame. We believe that new discovered footage is some kind of alibi cuts and that Rolf Olsen actually fooled the German rating board.
There are some ultra-violent scenes in the theatrical version like the exploding policeman as well as the overall treatment of the hostages inside the bank that mysteriously passed the censorship, which made us believe that Olsen used a common little trick to get his rating. Guys like Alois Brummer did it a lot of times and produced a special version just for the rating board to get the rating and once they got it another version was released.
The most interesting point is, there is no single word that BF was censored at all, because it looks complete, but once you know the cuts you can see how obvious they are.

[MichaelB Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MichaelB]

Something similar happened with the recent restoration of Rocco and his Brothers (the one that's been doing the festival rounds and which has just come out on BD in the UK via Eureka/Masters of Cinema).

The restorers intended to reinstate two censored sequences (the rape and the knife murder), but when examining the version of the film that was shown to the Italian censors they found that it also contained an additional, very brief scene in which Rocco's mother reacts to the possibility that one of her sons might have committed murder. There's no censorship or narrative reason why this scene should have been cut (it's less than a minute long), but there's also no-one alive who can definitively explain why it went missing between the censorship and the final release version. So they decided to include it.

And there's another parallel example with Alan Clarke's The Firm - when the BFI restored it for their upcoming BD release, they discovered that Clarke's daughter still had a print of the original cut which he showed to an extremely nervous BBC, which trimmed it prior to transmission. Although in this case, there was not the slightest doubt that this was an authentic "director's cut", as Clarke had been opposed to the censorship (an entire scene was cut out that sheds valuable if extremely disturbing light on the Gary Oldman character's marriage and sex life), so that was a very easy decision!

Incidentally, I'm an investor in the Blutiger Freitag Kickstarter and I've been following its progress with considerable interest.

[Martin Brooks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Martin Brooks]

I'm also a Kickstarter contributor for this project, and although it's taken longer to deliver the goods, finds of this nature are fabulous - making the wait more than worthwhile. Fabulous stuff! I can't wait to watch this film again after all these years since the old UK pre-cert English dubbed VHS.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Another update!

This is a very remarkable Friday (again).

After our last update, we thought there can't be any more surprises coming up, but - yeah well, we were wrong.

This campaign has ended - thanks to you! - successfully over a year ago, but long before this campaign even went live we tried hard to get an interview with a very special lady.

BLOODY FRIDAY was her sixteenth feature film, more than 80 (!) films and a huge body work on television followed. She's one of the best known actresses in Germany and played many outstanding characters which reserved her a personal seat in Germany's film history.

She plays the female lead role in Rolf Olsen's furious masterpiece and today she finally had the time to answer our questions.

Dear backers, friends and supporter, we're really proud to share our journey with her and to share her memories on the making of BLOODY FRIDAY with you.

The amazing GILA VON WEITERSHAUSEN is finally part of this unique adventure!

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

It's been a long while since there's been an update on this, but....

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../posts/1671128

Within the last few days and weeks many people asked about Heinz Klett and we only released a few infos and no update about the project. Why?


Two Reasons:


We only want to tell you facts, which was very difficult because of long waiting times concerning several details. Also, a new treasure trove was opened which, once again, changed our plans completely.


After the fascinating find of the previously unreleased scenes, we were baffled by their quality and during the work on them we wished to check out the original negative ourselves. We had the quality report telling us that the negative is partially destroyed and incomplete and were advised not to use it. Through our latest experiences with film elements in bad condition we started new negotiations, which took several months, in order to convince the owner to work with the negative. We were told many times that we will not get the negative. A tough nut to crack, for sure. A few weeks ago, to our surprise, and based on our previous record with our restauration efforts, we didn't just get access to it, we got the negative sent to our studio!



The negative was in bad shape as expected and filled with duplicate material, but surprisingly it is still possible to restore it, with a lot of effort. This is the main reason for the lack of updates because we wanted to be sure that it's possible. It is a lot of work to be done, but our experiences with the restoration of the interpositive are helpful. We don't want any compromises, we want a perfect release and if we don't do it now, the material will be lost.


So this is our last and probably biggest surprise: BLOODY FRIDAY will receive a complete second restoration based on a 4k scan of the original negative!


To demonstrate what you can expect from the new efforts, we prepared a look into the new restoration but beware: it is not final, yet!





Together with the wizards from our studio LSP, we decided to show you why we're doing what we're doing and the results speak for themselves!

2k Klett from interpositive

4k Klett from OCN (not final yet)

But there's more: The release will contain the unreleased Director's Cut (based on the brand new restoration of the negative) and the theatrical version (based on the 2K-restoration from the interpositive, done by LSP). If you want the maximum of authenticity, you can watch the theatrical cut taken from the interpositive (the mother of all theatrical prints), and if you want to see the film with the maximum of possible quality, the DC is your chance! Also, the set will contain the Italian cut which includes alternate scenes (restored in HD as well), which is also a digital premiere!


We are working hard on finishing the release and our official planned date is Friday the 16th in December 2016!

[Mike DiRoma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike DiRoma]

Great news!

[enandalusiskhund An Andalusian Dog Find all posts View Profile Close enandalusiskhund]

Yeah, this'll be worth the long wait. Delayed for all the right reasons.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Update!

Done!

After a long time of most intense work and countless night shifts, we finally wrapped the restoration!
BLOODY FRIDAY is shining bright and proud again!

And first and foremost: The unseen and unknown vision of director Rolf Olsen is now fully restored after nearly 45 years being hidden in the vault!

A total of FIVE mysterious minutes more even thrilled the German rating board and they granted Heinz Klett his new rating!
To our surprise, they gave Heinz a modern rating: 16 years and over, which we honestly did not expect since the known and beloved (censored) Theatrical Cut still owns its 18 rating, which was even renewed in 2002!
But since this project is full of surprises it is only fair.

Witness an exclusive screening of Rolf Olsen's epic opera of madness in the restored international version and on the big screen! Coming via CINEMATIC VOID Vol. 23 on Saturday, 26th November, beginning at 7:30 pm in the Egyptian Theatre on 6712 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles! With special guest: Mr. Elijah Drenner

We're working twenty-four-seven to let Heinz Klett free on December 16th, but we still cannot give a 100% guarantee for this date.

From now on you'll get weekly updates until BLOODY FRIDAY conquers your screens again!
The clock is ticking, Heinz Klett comes back!

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Screen caps are looking really good...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../posts/1759701

[Heinz Klett Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heinz Klett]

All the shots in better resolution







It really was a tough ride but BLOODY FRIDAY was worth all the trouble.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Some more details on this release from the latest kickstarter update...

While working on the last details we'd like to give you a preview of the included versions of BLOODY FRIDAY.

1. THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION

The basis of this campaign, and the version that started it all!
45 years ago, Heinz Klett began his killing spree, and to this day, it conquered the screens worldwide and left speechless and fascinated audiences who hadn't anticipated that tour-de-force.
Except for Italy, all countries got the same beloved version we all know:
Germany, France, USA, UK and Turkey. Here it is now!

Brand new 2k scan of the original interpositive!
Original aspect ratio of 1.66:1!
Uncompressed 17,5mm mag track in German language!
Fully restored original English and French mono track in uncompressed DTS-HD MA!
Complete and optional subtitles in English and German!
97 hard-boiled minutes!

2.) THE ITALIAN VERSION

There it is, the one exception!

Published only a year later in 1973, Heinz Klett's acts of the unspeakable shocked the Italian distributors so much, they prepared a whole new edit of the film.

It contains alternate editing as well as alternate material, exclusively shot for the Italian market.
Now, 44 years after the premiere and for the first time ever on a digital medium, we present the completely restored Italian version!

Fully restored from the original negatives / interpositive / positive in HD!
Detailed reconstruction of all cuts, alternate edits and alternate scene!
For the first time in the original Italian aspect ratio 1.85:1!
Fully restored and uncompressed Italian mono soundtrack!
Exklusive soundtracks in English, German and French!
Complete and optional subtitles in English and German!
90 minutes incl. the fully restored alternate material only available in this version!

3.) THE EXTENDED VERSION

The pure gold of the upcoming edition!

For long 45 years it lay hidden in the vaults, cut-up, scattered to pieces, never released before!
Over a period of several months, all parts of the original negative were restored, recombined, digitized, and after countless hours of painstaking manual work the results are more than what we could have ever dreamed of:
Brand new 4k scan of the original camera negative with extensive manual restoration!
Original aspect ratio 1.66:1!


World premiere of the previously unused 17.5mm mag track in German language for an uncompressed and dewy sound experience!

English and French originalmono sound in uncompressed DTS-HD MA!

Partial subtitles in English and French for the previously never dubbed scenes of the extended version!
Complete and optional subtitles for the complete version, in English and German!

A remarkable runtime of a total of 101 minutes reveals previously unpublished five additional minutes plus alternate material!

These new scenes are the wet dream of all Klett saviors!
5 minutes...
...more dialogues!
...more action!
...more nudity!
...more violence!
...MORE HEINZ KLETT!