ABBA, Iron Maiden, a lot of tribute bands, and a whole lot gore: it’s Bjorn Of The Dead…
Clearly topping the list of headlines I didn’t expect to write this year comes the tale of a new horror movie, with an Abba-related twinge to it.
Bjorn Of The Dead – yep, really – will tell the story of an ABBA tribute band, that just happens to find itself at the start of the apocalypse. Fairly standard stuff. Said ABBA tribute band then – along with a bunch of other tribute acts – has to try and survive, maybe save the world, maybe bang out a few tunes.
Austin Dickinson is the person who’s penned this particular tale, from an idea by Andrew Prendergast. And behind the camera on directing duties is Elza Kephart.
What adds to the WTF nature of the project though is the names that Bjorn Of The Dead has been attracting.
For a start, Bruce Dickinson – he of Iron Maiden fame, and perhaps coincidentally Austin Dickinson’s father – is set to take on a lead role. Not quite sure that he’s going to be in the ABBA group, but the way this year’s been going, all bets are, frankly, off.
The film will have cameo appearances from other names in the world of heavy metal and rock music. What those names are has not yet been confirmed.
The plan is to shoot the movie in 2024, and worldwide sales for it are underway. Curiosity value alone should sort its distribution about, but if the film actually delivered on being the first gorey moving about covering ABBA songs, then crikey. Sell me a ticket.
Raven Banner is the company whose job it is to sell the movie now, and once things are locked down, more information will hopefully be forthcoming.
Who would have thought we’d get to the end of 2023 with a story about basically The Expendables of music tribute bands, just in a blood-soaked horror movie, with that fella out of Iron Maiden?
Strange times, chums. Strange times.
