The Curse of Valburga is a horror film that reflects the golden age of slasher films that ravaged film screens around the globe during the mid-'70s and early '80s. Iconic murderers such as Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 1984), Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984), Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th, 1980), etc., that keep on murdering in all of their horrifying glory, are timeless. But we dare to claim The Curse of Valburga and its secrets are on the side of these icons because it will shock horror fans with shudder, screams and pools of blood that every proper horror film needs to offer.

We plan to finish this film, full of  black humour, abundant amounts of blood and violence, at the highest level of quality. And we also wish to distribute it as broadly as possible and to furthermore empower the area of this otherwise marginalized genre. Bonus? A drop of erotica.

The crew has a decades long history working in cinema world and gained even more experience working on full-length feature Killbillies (2015) winning 25 international awards, 9 of which for the best feature film.

The film cast is a collection of renowned Slovene actors, such as Marko Mandić, Tanja Ribič, Jurij Drevenšek, Jonas Žnidaršič, Saša Pavlin Stošić, Katarina Stegnar, etc. A part of the cast are also established names of the music industry, who also did some acting, Niklas Kvarforth (Shining), Grega Skočir (Big Foot Mama) and Davor Klarič (Devil Doll). Soundtrack is going to strengthen already energized atmosphere of the film, deepening the story even further for the audiophiles. We prefer those with big and loud speakers.

Suitable for listening in the car with open windows also in winter. One part of Soundtrack is made by Niklas Kvarforth and Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) under the name Blue Detective, and the other part is made by Jani Mujić (2227). Yes, it will be loud.

Two cheating brothers made a couple of bad business decisions in their past. Being in financial troubles, they make up a fraud. They organize a touristic visit to a local mansion. Hoping for a profit, they make up a mysterious legend about the history of the manor. In the old days, it would suppose to be a home of count Dracula's cousin, the bloody baron of Valburga. At the first public tour, a picturesque companionship gathers: Swedish Satanists searching for a long lost Satanic relic, French vampire-hunting Goths, Russian porn producer with actors who are test shooting for a new porn film and passionate beer lovers from Germany. Visitors are not aware that a group of native inhabitants from the dark dungeons of the mansion, with their own agenda, preys on them. The true secret of the manor is about to arise, bloodier and scarier than the one imagined. This is the horror in all of its darkness. This is The Curse of Valburga.

The film builds a story through convincing acting, subtle situational comedy, perfected visual effects, prudent directing and daring visual image made of top scenography and costume design. Multiple award winner D.O.P. Nejc Saje has been keeping his professional eye over all of the production. To achieve greater visual pleasure, the filming location was one of the most beautiful baroque mansions of this side of Europe. Everything is well spiced up with inhumane amounts of blood, where anatomy connoisseurs will scream in terror and excitement over what they will see. (And don't forget about the porn actors).

With your help, we can put a funny bloody film on the market, with iconic new murderer, that people hungry and thirsty of blood demand and need. (And because we are out of money to advertise the film.)

The genre of horror is far more complicated and complex than a couple of hectolitres of blood and pieces of corpses. A horror film is the King of the genre films and therefore demands uniform costume design, scenography, acting, special effects, music, directing, etc. in order to achieve convincing and quality performance. It can not be made with everyday and easily accessible resources. This is why quality thrill like The Curse of Valburga is demanding and expensive.

Instead of winning applications, getting sponsors and dealing with such unvirtuousness, that demands content adaptation for years, we decided to go with total artistic freedom and shoot the film as we think is right, and not as the sponsors think it is.

We crashed our piggy-banks, sold our useful internal organs and gathered a team of experienced professionals from the world of film and music. We started working on the film knowing we do not have a lot of money. Every one in the crew sensed an interesting story that can result in even more interesting final product. Knowing that the payment might come late or maybe never, crew still decided to help creating this bloody genre film. Literally, everyone we contacted, joined. We needed to threat only three of them.

We believe our work is worth a lot. We all took time, tried hard and selflessly made the best of it to make the vision come true. For our effort we would like to recieve an honest and fast payment.

The shooting took place last summer under the burning Sun and in dark and moisty cellars. Working day lasted for more than 12 hours and the effort finally paid off. We are extremely pleased with what has been shot and if we wanted to stop at this point, we would deserve the faith of some of the characters in the film. Let the imagination flow.

Consequently, during the shootings and the preparations, a lot of costs have been made. It is also necessary to pay for the image and sound post-production. We have good ingredients but without professional processing, we will be only left with ingredients. We also need to finish the soundtrack, film the music videos and pay for the advertising campaign. Our goal is not only to shoot the film but also to show it to as many people as possible.

Co-create with us and become co-responsible for the creation of this abomination in the world of the 7th art. This will enable you to access exclusive crowdfunding materials and to get an insight into how the film was made before it will be available to others. But beware! The stock is limited. When it runs out, it runs out.

Did you ran out of money or you are still not sure whether to support us?

No problem. To us, it already means something that you took time and read through our campaign. You can also check our Facebook (TCOV FB) and if you find it interesting, like us. You can also share the information about the project to your friends and acquaintances, political opponents... everything helps. You are also welcome to visit our online store. Every order helps  incredibly!

This is .....The Curse of Valburga.

TOMAZ GORKIČ (director & writer) 

looks like he is always staring at the Sun. He read his first comic when he did not yet know how to read. Unlike the animals in the ZOO, you better take no pictures of him even without a flash. In the time of the occupation of the autonomous zone of Metelkova, he built a urinal according to his size. This urinal is now famous for being the highest urinal in Metelkova City. He is not a hippie.

Gorkič is a self-taught filmmaker, who won several awards for his full-length feature film debut Idyll (2014) at many film festivals at home and abroad (Weekend of Fear, Grossman Wine and Film Festival, Nevermore, BloodGuts, etc.). Just like with the Curse of Valburga, he wrote and directed Idyll, but this time he left the editing in the hands of another. As an editor, he is cooperating with the animated series Koyaa. He has directed quite an amount of short films of which he wrote the scripts for many of them. Among them, we find crime thriller Victim (2007), alcoholic-pothead film the Green Smoke (2008), horrifying Chain of Meat (2009/2010), smokers’ Elevator (2010), “Biblical” horror Between Me, You and the God (2012) and dystopic Apoptosis (2017). For more than 20 years he had been a drummer with the Deca Debilane music group.

NEJC SAJE (DOP) 

does not have a Facebook profile, but this is why he has a real life. He is the boss, but you can never notice. As much as he loves to make jokes, he loves to empty some half liter cans. For some, he looks like Cocker Spaniel because of his big nice eyes and the haircut.

Saje has been working in various areas of the film. He is the leader of STRUP production. He is also an animator. He animated short stop-motion film Courtyard (2006). As a director, he also collaborated with the animated film Martin Krpan (2017) and an experimental documentary portrait of a poet Tomaž Šalamun, Every proa poet Tomaž Šalamun, Every proper poet (Vsak pravi pesnik, 2017). As a director of photography, besides already mentioned, Rudi Omota: Hidden Chapter of Slovenian Cinematography (Dražen Štader, 2004), Vixen in Fox Language (Miha Knific, 2009), Chain of Meat (Tomaž Gorkič, 2010), Idyll (Tomaž Gorkič, 2014), Apoptosis (Tomaž Gorkič, 2017). As a cameraman he cooperated with many other films. In animation Courtyard it was the first and so far only time he appeared also as an actor.

NIKLAS KVARFORTH (Sven)

is cursed with remembering everything, even if he is dead-drunk. He does not like people (who come to the concert to take pictures with theirphones). He says that in the black metal genre people look like pandas. He believesthat if someone commits suicide because of his music, he is complimenting it. If he does not like a hat, he spits on it.
This time we will meet him as a Satanist who is obsessed with magic. Although he seems like a perfectly normal Scandinavian tourist, we can not get rid of the feeling that visiting castles is not the only intention he has while traveling abroad. His future is darker than his shirts. The film will tell us whose evil side shall prevail.
Niklas Kvarfoth is Swedish metal multi-instrumentalist who established his first black metal band Shining at the age of twelve. He is still performing with them as a vocalist and composer. He has also been working with other bands such as Behemoth, The Vision Bleak, Bethlehem, Skitliv, Diabolicum, Den Saakaldte, Funeral Dirge, Manes, The Sarcophagus, Anaal Nathrakh and others. This controversial metalhead staged his own death in the media in 2006 but he returned to the performances in the next year by the pseudonym “Ghoul”.

MARKO MANDIČ (Bojan)

has often been seen naked in public, but instead of penalizing him, they paid him. He never wanted to play Hamlet. As every true actor he worked as a waiter while living and studying in Queens. He lives on the fourth floor and is always taking the stairs to come there. He thinks wrinkles add something to a person.
This time we will get to know Mandič in the role of Bojan, an incurable hedonist who is indulging himself in the world of alcoholic beverages, drugs, and sex. Ozzy Osbourne of the lower class 101. Marjan’s older brother is more mature only by his age but not by accepting responsibility. His outstanding communication skills could bring him into trouble because of his vulgarity, but it might happen that his sleek tongue helps him out of the problems once again. In his relationships towards people, Bojan keeps on being an uncompromising hard-ass, or even better, he is just “sticking to his character”.
Marko Mandič is a recipient of Prešeren’s, Sever’s and Borshtnik’s awards for drama. His remarkable acting talent took him abroad often; including Berlinale 2007, where he was chosen among Shooting Stars. The member of Ljubljana’s Drama Theatre played in his latest film in 2017 in Patrick Hughes’ The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Though he was already praised because of his acting in the war drama Herzog (Mitja Milavec, 1995), Express, express (Igor Šterk, 1997), criminal coming-of-age film Rascals! (Miran Zupanič, 2001), Tea (Hanna Slak, 2006) if we mention just a few of them. In Slovene film sphere, he was last seen in Overwritten in 2011 (Klemen Dvornik), that is addressing former political ideologies and their remainings in the past in a specific way, just like in the Curse of Valburga. Once he also acted in a role of an Austro-Hungarian cowboy.

TANJA RIBIČ (Ilsa)

has beaten aging and still looks like she is in her twenties. She is also an ambassador of healthy living because she doesn’t want to be a plantation of the the corporations. She is so close to Angelina Jolie that they wish each other Happy new year. Wheat damages her.
She is going to lend her body figure to the film about Valburga and perhaps even more than that. She is going to play a part of Ilsa, Hans’s wife, who enjoys enormous amounts of alcohol as much as he does. With an emphasis on the beer. She is stricter and colder than Hans is. Her husband and she came to visit Valburga accidentally while enjoying Slovenia’s many liquid delicacies. They are not the people who want to be on the front line, which might save them from the danger that is threatening visitors of Valburga.
Tanja Ribič is one of the most famous Slovene actors. She started her acting career in 1990 in film Artificial Paradise (Karpo Godina). Up to this day she performed in more than 13 national and international film productions and even more theatre plays. Many remember her from widely popular TV series such as Theatre Paradise and Our Little Clinic. In the role of Marta she also played in No Man’s Land (Denis Tanović, 2001), that received an award in Cannes, Golden Globe awards and Academy award for the best foreign language film. As a singer she published two music albums and had represented Slovenia at 1997 Eurovision competition with a song Wake Up.

GREGA SKOČIR (Mile)

is a rocker who recently found out that music is not just about girls. His main attribute are Top gun sunglasses. He isn’t fond of social media and he also does not understand it well also. He used to hate Bon Jovi and glam rockers. His first T-shirt had a Duran Duran logo on it.
Mile is going to be another one in a group of minor criminals that are about to mix everything up thus creating story’s main plot. He is not going to participate in it intentionally, but by tangling in a series of strange circumstances of his shady companionship. He is not going to give up the opportunity to finally experience something exciting after neverending wandering on the path of eternal nihilism and boredom. He will also be brought to this miserable place by his wishes to pay off some old debts. He is a problematic character and he has a very low level of tolerance. His incapability of verbal expression is usually replaced with aggressive physical reactions.
Skočir already started his musical career in high school when he became a vocalist of Slovene rock band Big Foot Mama, where he still is performing as a frontman. The band published their eleventh studio album Flames in the Paradise in the spring of 2018. He is not new to film. In 2010 a documentary film That Day of the Week about Big Foot Mama was made. In a year before, he played in short animated-feature film Cloud Catcher by Miha Knific. The first time he played in a film was in Reality in 2008 (Dafne Jemeršič).

AND MANY MORE!