THE STORE - it's grim up north releases

I've got NOTHING for sale at the moment! 

MAGAZINES:

Stay Sick! #4: 128pp, A5, Danish text, $10/dkr 50,-

All issues are sold out



DVD-R:

RÅDDEN KÆRLIGHED [Raadden Kaerlighed] (underground zombie movie starring Jack J) approx 27 min., Danish dialogue, no subs.

DEN INTERGALAKTISKE GENVEJ (underground sci-fi/horror movie) approx 10 min., Danish dialogue, no subs.

plain DVD-R (includes both films), $4.50/30 dkr,-




NON GRIM UP NORTH RELEASES


MAGAZINES:

Inferno #2: 32pp, A5, Danish text, rare!, $10/dkr 50,-

Obskruiøst #5/6: 48pp, A4, Danish + English text (approx 40% Eng.) $9/dkr50,-


DVDs:

The X-Files complete season 2 (PAL/reg.2) $20/100 dkr,- + postage



All prices include postage unless specified otherwise

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Review: Stay Sick! #4

I stumbled over this way old review of Stay Sick! #4 which I had totally forgotten all about. It's written by Simon Nielsen and originally printed in the online garage and punk rock magazine Lowcut Magazine #11 (2004).
Lowcut replaced the print magazine Moshable when they closed in 2000 and it's run by some of the same people.

Review from Lowcut:
Stay Sick! Magazine #4 parts 1+2
I might just as well have written this review in Danish cuz this is written in Danish. Never mind. Maybe this can tempt people from outside Denmark to send Jack the editor some stuff.
In the grand tradition of Psychotronic video SS! reviews obscure, sleazy, stupid, gory, sexy(?), weird film on video (mostly). These guys seem overtly dedicated to the good old VHS and especially old Danish ex-rentals and they know what they’re talking about too. Any Scandinavian sleaze hound should get their hands on this. Besides the huge review section – which includes a special section for Asian trash as well as Turkish exploitation – you get a super interesting interview with Danish born Michael Porel who’s worked for American International, Avco Embassy and New World Pictures, as well as a Space:1999 feature, Robin Hood movies, Baby Woodrose interview (by none other than Lowcut’s very own Hetero Jens), Rune T. Kidde feature and lots of funny, stupid, adolescent even bits and pieces about film, music and comics. It would’ve been great in English and I know Jack writes excellent in that language as well, but I don’t think we can persuade him to change away from Danish. Too bad for everybody who can’t read that. Everybody else should get a hold of this pronto. 50 DKK/NOK/SEK postpaid in Scandinavia from:
[old address]

"Turkey Shoot" booklet

My second booklet for Another World Entertainment is for the Aussie cult movie TURKEY SHOOT (UK: Blood Camp Thatcher / US: Escape 2000 / Denmark: Fangejagten). The release is set for September.

"Rats: Night of Terror" booklet

Last year the video company Another World Entertainment (AWE) asked me if I'd write a booklet for their then upcoming DVD release of Bruno Mattei's RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR (org. title: Rats: Notte di Terrore / Danish title: Rats: Nattens terror) and obviously I said yes. 

It was a fun experience to get published to a wider audience than the usual handful of readers in the underground (although nothing beats being an underground writer, of course). AWE don't pay their booklet writers a fee, but they let you pick a handful of DVD's from their catalogue + you get the DVD the booklet is written for.

The DVD came out in March and all together it was a pretty exciting experience. The booklet is 4 pp and has text on the centre spread. Obviously, I decided to write an introduction about the booklet author (i.e. myself). I mean why the hell not! I remember the very first issue I ever read of this world's (or any world's) coolest fanzine Oriental Cinema. The editor of the zine, Damon Foster, said: Don't just sit there and waste away! Try and promote yourself in whatever you do. 

Thanks, Damon. I've always remembered that (by the way, Foster now lives in Arizona where he makes a Satanic TV show about Devil worshipping and dangerous animals which Damon just thinks are cute!). 

Everything that I know about fanzine writing I learnt from reading Oriental Cinema. No kidding! So far I'm the only AWE booklet author who has had an urge to tell the reader who he actually is. I must admit I don't quite understand the other writers and their being happy with this anonymity. Oh well. Their choice I guess.

    

Stay Sick! #5

As is the case with Banned in Britain #3 Stay Sick! #5 is also on the way! There's still quite a bit of way to go, not least because in the years that have passed since #4 I have kept changing what I want to include in the mag. Actually, I could easily have put out an issue long ago, that's how much material I've already got lying around in my drawers (well, computerised drawers!). But although I'm working on new issues of both magazines I'm definitely planning on an SS! release first! But hopefully I'll get both mags out before the end of the year. Content wise it'll be a very different magazine to what regular readers are used to. Both in terms of contents and look. I'm going for a professionally printed edition this time! No more home made stuff. No more DIY magazine. No more endless trips to the office supply store to get laserprinter print!! That's for damn sure. I am sooo sick of home made magazines!! My own home made magazines that is. I'm not going to reveal anything about the contents except to say if you're an old reader you might get a surprise. ...and the usual crowd of rabid "Italian cinema is God and new American horror cinema sucks" protesters amongst the Danish film collectors will probably go into a seizure when they see the magazine, hahaha. They might as well start foaming right away, hahaha.

Banned in Britain #3

BiB #3 is definitely on its way! It's been laying low for awhile but now it's on the move! When I originally started the fanzine it was to write about splatter movies. Well, I still love splatter movies but now I'm also totally in love with the wild and crazy movies of The Philippines and Indonesia. Those countries don't really make no-holds-barred movies anymore but they sure did in the 80s and I think it would be a pity to dismiss all these totally entertaining movies just to keep the magazine a kosher soapbox for splatter movie rants. I'll still cover the old genre but as I said it would be a pity to overlook these wild films not least since they're almost overlooked by everyone else! I still haven't found just ONE magazine that for instance covered the over-the-top Filipino war movies. Or did a feature on Barry Prima. Or Eva Arnaz. Or out-of-this-world amazing director Arizal. Well, if that's not reason enough to write about them then how about this: They are awesome!! They're totally crazy and... even more crazy!!! So, there. Decision made: We write about them. LOL. I have no idea when the mag is gonna come out but hopefully sometime this year. I should point out tho that one reviewer who does write (enthusiastically I might add) about these films is Fred Adelman in his eFanzine "Critical Condition". I highly recommend it.

Welcome to It's Grim Up North publishing

Hello, I'm Jack J and this is my new blog for my wee underground publishing house! Haha!! That cracks me up every time!! "Publishing house". LOL. Look, I put out two small film fanzines and that's about it. I've also written a couple of DVD booklets for Another World Entertainment (AWE) but obviously I have nothing to do with those releases as soon as I've handed in my work. Everyone else who makes a DIY fanzine doesn't even talk about publishing a mag! Well, I know I'm not fooling anyone but to me it's just a fun way of dealing with all the stuff that goes into making a fanzine, I mean the stuff other than writing the reviews! You know, hard work such as putting copies of the mag into envelopes and walking all the way down to the mailbox, having to scan tons of video sleeves, sending off stuff to the printers, or to have groupies come over (you didn't know?? Yup, fanzine editors are popular among groupies, very much like rock stars). Someone else goes to footy matches on Sundays or gets fucked up on substances. Me, I collect psychotronic films and once in a blue moon I put out a zine about some of them. That's all it is, it's not gonna get me rich or anything. Usually I break even in regards to what I've spent printing and distributing the bloody thing but that's about it. It's purely for the love of it (ahhhh).

The two mags that I publish are BANNED IN BRITAIN (BiB) and STAY SICK! (SS!). BiB is written entirely in English and SS! is in Danish. Other than language they also differ in regards to what they cover; BiB started out as a full-on splatter movie mag and SS! is an all-round psychotronic magazine that not only covers movies but also the occasional book, comic book or record. I'm sure some of my Danish readers are gonna moan and wince about my future info posts being in English but I must admit I think dual language blogs are a mess. Stick to ONE lingo and keep it simple. That's what I say (and yes thanks for pointing out that I have posted in both English and Danish on my other blog En lejemorder ser tilbage, LOL).

I'm pretty much alone in the Danish and Scandinavian film underground. Banned in Britain is the only English language zine in Scandinavia and Stay Sick! is one of the very few zines in Denmark. I believe there are only two other mags here at the moment.

This blog isn't going to be daily updated like a regular blog but merely a place where I can bring you info on upcoming issues, ordering info, avability of old issues and whatever, once in awhile.

Lastly, why "It's Grim Up North"??? Well, at the end of 1990 I moved to Denmark after having spent a good deal of the 80s in London. The KLF song by that title came out soon after and for some reason it just stuck with me. I had moved from cool London to this godforsaken windy place up north. I realise the song is about northern England and not northern Europe, but still, I sensed a kinship with the mood of that track. And the rainy images from the video (obviously I'd bought a satellite dish so I could still watch UK tv) sure resembled the place I had moved to!
- Oh, and I thought it was a bloody good name for an underground publishing house, haha.

Jack J

Velkommen til It's Grim Up North publishing

Goddag kære danske (og skandinaviske) læser og velkommen til denne blog for mit ultra-mikroskopiske skrivebordsforlag It's Grim Up North publishing!! Hvis du ikke er bekendt med mig eller It's Grim Up North, så vil du sikkert gerne vide, hvad jeg udgiver: ikke en skid. Haha. Well, det er i alt fald 100 år og en madpakke siden, der sidst udkom noget. Sagen er den, at jeg er redaktør for de hersens to horror/trash/splatter/kult-filmfanzines, der hedder STAY SICK! (SS!) og BANNED IN BRITAIN (BiB), men det er som sagt længe siden, der er kommet noget nyt. Det seneste nummer af Banned in Britain udkom for snart 4 år siden og Stay Sick! udkom for... usch! Alt for længe siden. MEN jeg arbejder på nye numre af begge blade, så der ER NOGET på vej!!

Jeg overvejede længe (en hel eftermiddag), hvorvidt denne blog skulle være på engelsk eller dansk og nu blir den så på engelsk, ikke nødvendigvis fordi det er det bedste, og min anden blog, En lejemorder ser tilbage, er jo også på engelsk, men jeg syntes, det var mest passende, hvis denne også blev det. Ja-ja, jeg ved det godt; hvorfor skrive om et dansksproget fanzine på engelsk. Hvem fanden rager det ude i den store verden, at der udkommer et snollet, skide filmfanzine i Danmark. Men så på den anden side; hvorfor fanden skulle de ikke vide, hvad der sker på en dansk fanzine-scene? Jeg er sikker på, der nok sidder en eller anden ovre i Orlando og klør sig i røven og tænker: "Gad vide om der findes nogen hollandske filmblade derovre i Danmark? Satan og helvede, jeg må finde ud af det!" Eller der sidder måske nogen i Thailand eller Belgien og undrer sig. Og i øvrigt, eftersom det ville være komplet tåbeligt at skrive om mit engelsksprogede zine Banned in Britain på dansk, ikke mindst set i lyset af, at der ikke er en eneste på den danske fanscene, der gir en fløjende fis for BiB, tja hvorfor så skrive på dansk (okay, jeg overdriver, der er måske nok et par enkelte, men det er dæleme ikke mange). Een ting er at skrive til en meget lille undergrund, men det er sandelig noget andet at skrive til en læserskare, der IKKE FINDES. Og dét gider jeg ikke. Danskere vil gerne læse blade på engelsk, de må bare ikke være danske, så går den ikke! Jeg må ærlig talt indrømme, at jeg vist aldrig lærer at forstå det, men det er så også ligemeget. Jeg går bare den anden vej. Et alternativ kunne selvfølgelig være at skrive både på dansk og engelsk, men det er ærlig talt noget rod. Enten vælger man det ene eller det andet (og ved at skrive denne introduktion på dansk, har jeg allerede lavet lort i den, haha).

Min gamle blog ("Lejemorderen" blandt venner, LOL) er mest af alt stedet, hvor jeg skriver løst og fast om alt muligt, så det er ikke dét denne blog skal bruges til, men mest af alt fungere som et opdateringssted med ny info om mine udgivelser, gamle numre, hvad der er på vej osv. Og måske også lidt tips om andres udgivelser. Du skal med andre ord ikke regne med opdateringer hver anden dag.

Men anyway, velkommen til It's Grim Up North publishing-bloggen.

Jack J


PS: Denne intro er ikke en oversættelse af den engelske.