Jacken’s Blog

The first R-rated film I managed to get into was a film about an Science park getting infected by virus, I can still remember my disappointment, after going around for a week thinking about how much cooler R-rated films where. Anyway, the next film blew me away. It was American Graffiti. At the time I saw the film I was already interested in American muscle cars and Rods. A lot of the older kids in Jakobsberg had built race machine and rolled around cruising. And I wanted one to. So to finally be able to see this much talked about film was fantastic. One of the ushers smuggled us in and put us up in the front. And I was mesmerized. Must have been around ten years old. Problem was, we also had a big bag of beers which we drank, and after an half an hour my friend Peter started to puke on the floor. So we had to move to rear seat to get away from the stench.
I saw that film three times the consecutive days.

A Swedish film that really spooked is as film called Hets. Mr Ingemar Bergman has written it. It’s about a school with a really nasty teacher called Caligula. Skillfully played by a great swedish actor called Stig Järrel. And he scared the crap out of my 8 year old self. Well, the whole film did. Total mind-fuck. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
My father got to know Stig Järrel later on in life. The nicest person you would met. My father had a massive stroke, and Stig Järrel sat down and recorded his thoughts, did some reading for my father to have at the hospital. What he could have done, had been to just take any of the audiobooks or films he did and sent them. But instead he goes through the trouble of recording specifically for my dad. I think that’s very noble of him.
And If you are a long time reader, you know I like name dropping where I can. I just cant help myself.

Going back a couple of years, I remember seeing my first horror film Them!. It was a science fiction horror movie about gigantic radioactive ants attacking people. Must have been around six years old. I watched it behind a curtain so my father wouldn’t see me. Later when I tried to sleep, I was scared shitless! This was at our house in Åland. It’s very remote, and when you turn off the lights, it’s pitch-black.

Later on they started to show films at the youth center where I lived. The first one I saw there was Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman. But I was convinced that It would be crap, because I hate sports. But what a film! You know you made a film with impact when you can say a catch-frase from the movie like “Is it safe?” and most people knows immediately.

So the next time they showed film at the youth center, my hopes was up a bit. The film this time, Vanishing point, THE ultimate car film. I saw it again just a couple of months ago and it still holds up. But the thing that really impress me is the cinematography. It’s stunning.

I’ll continue this list later. Please write a comment on films that changed you as a person.