Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Shredder Orpheus



Shredder Orpheus was a movie filmed in Seattle, starring mostly Northwest actors, released in 1990. It's biggest claim to fame is spoken word/performance artist Steven Jesse Bernstein had a good-sized role in the film. I rented a copy from Peaches records in the U-District and dubbed it, my copy is pretty bad, but a quick look around the Web shows you can pick up a used copy for under $4 these days. Obviously even though it's a pretty rare movie, it's not exactly sought after. But if you're from the Northwest, the Bernstein content is worth watching and the movie is so bad it's funny. The soundtrack was composed by Roland Barker, musicians Amy Denio, Bill Rieflin and Dennis Rea all played on it. And a bunch of local skaters had parts (Wez Lundry who worked at Fallout and did Pool Dust zine, Chris Vanderbrooke and a few others).

Shredder Orpheus retells the tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice, only the setting is in a post-apocalyptic Seattle. A skateboarder named Orpheus lives with friends in old shipping containers in and area called "The Grey Zone." Mostly Orpheus and his friends street skate, talk shit, and play in a band called The Shredders. He plans to marry the love of his life, this kinda goth chick named Eurydice, only she gets kidnapped and taken to Hades, which is run a televangelist, who runs at TV station called the Euthanasia Broadcast Network. Can Orpheus and his rag tag band of punky skater friends save Eurydice? And will they pull off any decent skating on their way to save the day? I guess you will have to track down a copy to find out. I doubt this will ever make it to DVD...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I friend of mine found this movie in a used video bin at a small store in the backwoods of Louisiana. It instantly became a classic that had to play on loop at all of our parties. I don't know what made me google it today, but I found your blog and am psyched about the youtube vid.

robert said...

I am glad SHEDDER ORPHEUS is finding a small but loyal audience outside of Seattle. When it was released this little film made for 160K featured many of Seattle's performance artists and actors along with the late great poet, Steven Jesse Bernstein. Many of these artists/actors have had notable careers since the film was made and most recently an S.O. veteran, John Billingsly, appeared in 2012 with a nice turn as a neurotic scientist. 2010 is the 20th anniversary of the film and I hope to have a DVD or internet rerelease. Thanks, Robert McGinley writer/director

Dr. Stockton said...

Too funny ... I was Jesse Bernstein's stunt double in this movie.