SWEDISH SENSATIONSFILMS: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers, and Kicker Cinema Paperback, by Daniel Ekeroth

In the annals of grindhouse exploitation cinema, Italy owns the giallo, Australia offers Ozploitation, and Sweden has spawned… the SENSATIONSFILM!

Sweden’s prominent and secure film legacy is associated internationally with Ingmar Bergman’s successful and high-quality works. However, even the greatest Swedish director could not resist another breed of Swedish film—notorious for laissez-faire nudity, relaxed sexuality, drugs, and shocking violence—the sensationsfilm.

In 1911, Sweden enacted the world’s first government board of film censors, provoking a century-long war against filmmakers that outlived two World Wars, communism, and the sexual revolution. In 2011, the censors finally surrendered—and SWEDISH SENSATIONSFILMS declares victory with a fiery retrospective of over 200 often banned and cut films produced during the golden age of Swedish sin. PLUS: First-hand accounts by starlet Christina Lindberg (Thriller: En Grym Film, Maid in Sweden); scores of rare exhibition posters and images, a glossary of curious Swedish customs; and an uninhibited cast of thousands, including: Stellan Skarsgård, Pernilla August, Lee Hazlewood, Dennis Hopper, Max von Sydow, David Carradine, Heinz Hopf, Harry Reems, Noomi Rapace, Marie Forså, Troy Donahue, Zinny Zan, and Ludde the dog.

Once again, Swedish Death Metal author Daniel Ekeroth delves into the arcane culture and contradictions of his homeland, returning with the first comprehensive overview of Swedish Sensationsfilms—the Scandinavian scourge of the world’s exploitation cinema.