- Actors:Allan De Waal, Ole Ernst, Michael Gelting, Colin Gilder, Svend Ali Hamann
- Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: Danish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Number of discs: 1
- DVD Release Date: September 21, 2004
- Run Time: 106 minutes
It’s reassuring to know Lars von Trier was always unconventional. Epidemic, von Trier’s second feature, comes close to being a horror movie, except it keeps derailing itself to noodle while a director (played by von Trier) and screenwriter (screenwriter Niels Vorsel) improvise a scenario about a plague epidemic. Their struggles are shot in grainy 16 mm., while flashes of the intended film are in stunning 35. Epidemic is meandering enough to test the patience of even devoted von Trier fans, but it always looks good even when it looks bad, if that makes any sense, and the finale–which involves hypnotism, one of the Danish director’s early obsessions–will give a chill to genre fans looking for a “gotcha.” Von Trier regular Udo Kier pops up, and the film wouldn’t be complete without its logo: the title branded onto the upper-left corner for most of the movie. Lars, you devil.
From controversial director Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dogville, Dancer in the Dark) comes the bizarre story of a director (played by von Trier himself) and a writer who create a script about a mysterious plague that engulfs Europe, only to find their horrific scenario coming true in real life. Featuring Udo Kier (Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein, Suspiria, Armageddon), Epidemic is a dark and original horror film with a twist: Is the epidemic real, or is it only a dark figment of von Trier’s imagination?
