Team Splattenstein. What? When? Who?
Team Splattenstein (formerly known also as Sarastus Productions) is, or better said was a finnish independent moviemaking group (a member of ”Findie”, Finnish independent cinema association ry) which was active for 10 years during 1994-2004. The driving force behind the whole “concept” was a gathering of splatter/gore/horror/trashmoviefans who alongside with a huge friendbase decided to make some splattermovies of their own – as the techniques behind the “movie magic” were something almost everyone of them was interested in. Nevertheless, seriousness was never part of Team Splattenstein's work - "Hell no! If it feels like work - forget it!" could easily have been the punchline of our productivity. As quoted the members of the team: "Quality (if there ever was any, hah) was always the sideproduct of simply having some laughs while shooting the scenes.", it's evident that if you're looking for some intelligent shit, you're definitely in the wrong site...For 10 years the ambition to create more and more “professionally built” and better stuff burnt in the hearts of the team, but everything comes to an end one day… It was simply due to time- and financial matters that Team Splattenstein decided to withdraw from the active scene here in Finland. The final film, 2019 Il Ultimo Silenzio (2004) was the ultimate highlight and “showcase” of the talent (or talentness) of the team, and according to them “it could not be topped with the present dedication and possibilities to make these films, so there’s no real flame anymore to do this, as we feel it has more and more become a burdon than a pleasure…”Most active members of Team Splattenstein
Tony "Sleeping beauty" Reponen
Tony came in just before the filming of Splattenstein 2000. He was just about to start making his own debut film, Vanki (Prisoner), but luckily he joined us, as the main team of that procuction seemed to be more or less rip-off. Tony can handle almost anything on the set (including effects, photography, stunts etc), but in the editingroom the man's pretty much useless... Practice! One of the driving forces behind many movies, but early morning wakeups are impossible - even if they're being agreed on beforehand... Real sleeper, hah! All in all, one of the most important team members...YEAR OF BIRTH: 1976
FAVOURITE MOVIE: Any movie with actor George "Big Ape" Eastman in it...
FAVOURITE ALBUM: All soundtracks made by Goblin
QUOTED: "(at 11:50AM) What the fuck! I No-one wakes up at 10AM, not even for a shooting and a daytrip into another town..."
Mikko "More blood" Pohjola
One of the original members from the 1994 era and the actor of Count Splattenstein. He really should spend more time drunk or in a hangover-like state, as he's much calmer then. Even though nothing is ready for the shooting, everything must go on schedule - that's why almost all of the scenes look somewhat hasty. By the way, he got the golf-club used in the legendary scene in S3D (the ones who've seen the film know what we're talking about here) from his father, who had no clue that it would end up being used as a part of a special effect...YEAR OF BIRTH: 1977
FAVOURITE MOVIE: Hard to choose between "Death Wish 3" and "2019 After the fall of New York", so I'll pick Mark Dacascos actioner "Drive"...
FAVOURITE ALBUM: King Diamond: Abigail
QUOTED: "...I was so drunk after that W.A.S.P -concert so I fuckin' puked, but I had to wake up 08AM to edit the final scene of 2019 Il Ultimo Silenzio..."
Kristian "Krisse" Salhi
Krisse also joined the horde in the S2K-era. His ambition has always been more actor-wise, and he has not participated in the post-production. When "action" is yelled, he really transforms into something else - just look at his maniac-like performances in S2K or S3D... At one point he was the only bloke who had a car - guess did we phone him often? Hah!
YEAR OF BIRTH: 1975
FAVOURITE MOVIE: Almost any Sylvester Stallone movie... Get Carter (remake) could be number one.
FAVOURITE ALBUM: Paradise Lost: Icon
QUOTED: "I'm not that into splatter and trash, I always try to give the best of me, even if I know the result is gonna suck big time..."
Wille "The effectmeister" Pohjola
One of the original members from the 1994 era. Wille is the f/x-wizard of the team - a real Savini! You can't imagine the smell when we opened the plastic bags containing the used effects from the previous movies (we never washed them) They smelled like fucking rotten puke! Still, Wille made the fakeheads etc. so they could be used again and again... In the making of 2019 he was injured pretty badly on his knee - it looked like it was driven over! Yet, not a word of complaint even this time...YEAR OF BIRTH: 1980
FAVOURITE MOVIE: XXX
FAVOURITE ALBUM: XXX
QUOTED: to his brother, Mikko Pohjola: "Relax, bastard!"
Jussi "Seagal of the team" Väisänen
Also one of the original members from the 1994 era. Has been on supporting roles almost the whole 10 years, but in 2019 things changed - why the hell wasn't he used as a lead before? The answer is simple: we needed "killable" characters and he was always around and "ready to die"... Has studied Aikido for several years and has a huge collection of rare old vinyl-records (such gems as mint-conditioned first pressings of all Black Sabbath -records and a vinyl-version of Mayhem's "Deathcrush" can be found from his collections)YEAR OF BIRTH: 1977
FAVOURITE MOVIE: Marked for death
FAVOURITE ALBUM: Black Sabbath: Paranoid
QUOTED: "I watched Rambo III, the stickfight-sequence in the beginning is my inspiration for the one in 2019..."
Tapio "The Judo maestro" Taipalus
Tapio came in to shoot "Cannibal Hunt" - he had done a few films with neat effects in 1992-1994. No-one actually remembers why he wasn't on the sets of "Maahanmuuttajat", but he did the soundediting with us. Has been a friend with the main group since kids. His parents had the legendary "FilmNet"-cablechannels when no-one else did, and the uncut-versions (early 90's was a sad time, as finnish censorship chopped nearly all of the action- and horrormovies) of "Night of the Creeps" and "Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan" were the ultimate stuff to watch! His recordings were viewed until the tape was a mess... Spent the most of the "Ltn Bastard" and "2019" era in Japan.YEAR OF BIRTH: 1977
FAVOURITE MOVIE: The Fifth Element
FAVOURITE ALBUM: Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope
QUOTED: "I tried to loan "Battle Royale 2" from a fellow student in Japan, but he was a weird bloke and told me he didn't have it although I saw it on his table..."
Tomi "Beefeater" Flyckt
Mr. Flyckt is a cousin of the Pohjola-brothers, so it was quite obvious why he is in almost all of the movies - he lived close and due to relations could easily be phoned if another bloody stunt was needed, heh! One of the better actors of the team (played Ltn A.D.Bastard and Funny-boy of the 2019 Il Ultimo Silenzio). Plays in a band Sydän Sydän ("Heart Heart") - weird name for a band - which plays probably the most non-commercial commercial music in Finland... He's a vegetarian, so we call him "Beefeater".YEAR OF BIRTH: 1981
FAVOURITE MOVIE: Mantis (now this is a trash-classic!)
FAVOURITE ALBUM: Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile
QUOTED: "(we barbequed and drank after a day of filming - this is said while he was scraping some mould off from a spoiled corn he bought from the local store) It's still good - I'll just scrape the green stuff off..."
Joni "Stuntman" Flyckt
Joni is a brother of Tomi, also relative to the Pohjola-brothers, so this is starting to look like a family-affair more than a Findie-moviegroup... Always when someone did a "rip-off" and didn't show on the location we phoned Joni - he'd always be there to help if it was needed... Real trooper! Joni was the one who always after some partying had to show up right after dawn, and he was either to be hit or he'd have to jump in cold water and stuff... Yet, he never complained, and even he at some points laughed at this stuff. He played almost always more than just one character in a movie...YEAR OF BIRTH: 1985
FAVOURITE MOVIE: ---
FAVOURITE ALBUM: ---
QUOTED: "(Before the starting of a martial art-sequence, where he was to be hit with a fake-stick to the head): You know, I'm having a hangover..."
Matias "The editor" Ärje
After the "Bingo"-era we met Matias while serving in the finnish army. He was also a fan of splattermovies, and had made a few movies himself (including the infamous Mummo - which means a granny)... After serving our time, Matias became the head of OUBS (explained elsewhere) and made it possible to do a film with digital equipment... Has really wide knowledge of multimedia in general, and he's the one without whom we couldn't have made anything that pleased us probably up to this day... Has a wide collection of metal CD:s, and he desperately tries to hide them when Mr. Pohjola comes to visit, as he always tries to lend them all...YEAR OF BIRTH: 1976
FAVOURITE MOVIE: ---
FAVOURITE ALBUM: Arcturus: La Masquerade Infernale
QUOTED: ""
Sakari "Sakke The Hairmaster" Hulkkonen
Sakari is also one of the guys without whom many scenes would be less bloody - he never played any important roles, but he was always there when we needed more blood to the screen... On the first day of shooting A.D.Bastard (it was January and it was fucking freezing up here) he showed up for a 10 seconds of final screentime and he had fever... If I was his boss and he'd phone me he was sick, I wouldn't questionize it... Okay Sakke... Now your boss wont harrass you, and we can go and have more beers, hah!YEAR OF BIRTH: 1976
FAVOURITE MOVIE: 2010: The Year We Make Contact
FAVOURITE ALBUM: Impossible to choose one because there are too many, but anything by Dream Theater, Opeth or the Doors will do here.
QUOTED: "Fuck the fever... Where do I put the bloodsquibs?"
Marko "How do I have to die this time" Saaresto
The "nickname" of Marko may sound like it's given in bad taste, but it's not... Marko has been with us since 1994-era (He was the other one of the swat-agents in "Maahanmuuttajat") and he's played only two major parts... He has died in differect characters over 30 times, so he's a veteran allright... Always on time and never complaining about the bloodamounts of his "screen deaths"... He's also a filmfreak and has probably the highest IQ of the team - this time we're not kidding!.