Indie Aussie Filmmakers The Von Claude Brothers Cook Up Some Limited Edition Analog SOV Insanity with Their Bloody and Brutal Chunk of Flithy Film Entitled TOUGH!
With an early home life seemingly pulled from a 70s Grindhouse flick, Bernie Von Claude and his brother Butch have cultivated their early tumult and constant diet of cult cinema into something terrifyingly tangible, crafting their brand of exploitative, extreme, jaw-dropping cinema filth from down under. Citing SERBIAN FILM and HUMAN CENTIPEDE as titles of the same ilk, we can imagine the type of cinematic cranial butchery and gut-wrenching rule-rending that is perpetrated within their running times; but beyond their love for extreme cinema and all of its shocking content, the Brothers Von Claude are total Tapeheads making limited analog editions for the Videovores that revel in super-deluxe anti-digital glory. Read on, my fellow Videovores, and meet the fathers of indie filth films from down under…
. I guess I grew up “old school”… born in the 1970s and grew up in the 1980s with a psycho 1970s-styled Dad, who was a misogynistic, wife and child abusing / beating workaholic alcoholic. He was also a VHS junkie, and he didn't give a fuck what we watched, so I was able to watch pre-certs, unrated and R-rated VHS as a very young child. my choice… anything with boobs, blood and guts… same as my brother who I make/write films with… we have seen a lot of films. If you have seen the movie THE CABLE GUY at the start, the back story of his childhood… well, that's ours, too . We like old school and we keep it old school. Our own personal VHS/DVD collections are epic to say the least.
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Well, 13 is low… exclusive. All the other VHS guys put out 100 or 150 tapes. We like the number 13 and would love to own a movie a tape so rare… so we wanted to offer hardcore collectors the chance to be privy to a exclusive group within a group of collectors again. There will be maybe 30 more VHS of TOUGH, but just regular editions without all the extra stuff.
The Von Claude Brothers Grillin', Killin' and BLOODSPILLIN. Shit is fierce.
LM: Tell us a little bit about your history. How did you get into making films, and what was the impetus to start? BVC: I started with my first two films at age 14 when I got my first 8mm back in 1990, making skateboard VHS movies, and editing in cuts of smoking vaginas from SHOCKING ASIA VHS vids
A look at the cover of TOUGH on VHS. GRIME5EVA.
All the groovy goodies that come along with the Limited 13 Edition of TOUGH. Barbell not included. You gotta pump yourself up, mang.
The VHS release was super-limited and super-custom, man. Can you give us the full specs on it? Extras, etc…. You made a torn flesh cover for them, right?! Yes, only 13 VHS of this particular Video Nasty Edition... and there are only four left. The “Video Nasty Edition” (seen above) comes with a bunch of extra stuff like a lock of hair, a piece of shirt ,an original drawing, a poster, a sticker, a card, a book mark, an audio cassette tape of the soundtrack, a steroid pill container... sometimes I change it up and put a faux fecal sample in a medical urine sample container.... The first four orders came with a TOUGH action figure with Kung-Fu grip and they come with an optional gory super messed up cover (an original latex creation that looks like something out of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE). We also did a Snuff Box Edition limited to ONE copy only… so rare… Like a gem. We will have some new VHS editions of TOUGH available soon… maybe 20 more for the readers of your blog, so if people want to buy a VHS, we will have some, but just standard without all the extras.
A peek at the SUPER-MEATY VHS cover for TOUGH. EAT. BARF. WATCH. REPEAT. This is pure analog edition excellent, mang.
Why put this movie on VHS, and why so limited? We love VHS, man. We are VHS junkies and were before this new revival came around, when it wasn't cool or hip to love or collect VHS. I'm part of the original 1980s VHS crew. My love is strong; my brother and I have over 2 to maybe 3,000 VHS in our combined collection. Haven’t counted since the last 500 or so we added… and I’m not counting DVDs. I watch two VHS every day... I have cut back since I became a father, though… I was watching five or six a day
Here's the Meaty Variant open for business. So sick.
What are your thoughts on the current VHS culture? It’s a nice scene… a lot of crazy and cool passionate collectors that’s for sure. Prices are getting out of hand, though... sometimes I laugh when I see young people post in VHS groups saying they will pay up to $100 for a TWILIGHT movie on VHS... I think that's cute.
Okay, yeah, these are mostly the DVD versions (VHS at the top right), but it gives you another groovy look at how much work goes into these. AND THE ACTION FIGURE! So rad.
What’s next for you guys? More Video Vindication on deck? Yes, we are making a new feature film right now called PARASITE. Our best work yet and it will be on VHS, too.. Anything else you’d like to shout out to the Videovores eyeballin’ this blog? We have a lot of appreciation and respect for people like you and all your friends that collect, appreciate, watch and preserve VHS and anyone reviving the VHS format and helping to keep it alive, and the guys that never stopped collecting, even when it wasn't trendy. We also respect and give thanks to the younger dudes that may have not even grown up watching the VHS format, especially in an era that is obsessed with Blu-Rays and HD. The Internet has united us in that love and respect. It’s all about the grain baby. Thank you, Josh, and Long Live VHS!Thank you, Von Claude Brothers, for takin’ the rules, breakin’ the rules and making some fake fecal bombs to go along with your analog committed madness! Now THAT’s the shit, Tapeheads! Be sure to keep an evil eye on these dudes as they plan to deliver even more filthy films from down under, and if you haven’t peeped it yet, groove on over to their insano online webstore where you can score some of the most maniacal magnetic magic creations in the entire weird world! DIG IT!
Groove and Groove and Eat Thunder.
Josh Schafer