Aaaaaaw yeah. With Volcom now counting down the days until they release their latest film ‘Veeco: A Volcom Filmmaking Documentary’ – a celebration of all their movies released in the last 21 years – they’ve started uploading some of their best movies online, one a week for free!
Great news for all sideways slipper – skate, surf and snow alike – as Volcom have consistently put some of the best movies out there in terms of both riders and creative prowess. The recently released ‘True To This’ was a great example, bring the holy trinity of board sports together into one glorious mess. If you haven’t seen it yet go seek it out and consume.
With one of the heaviest line ups ever in the history of shred you’d be very hard pressed to come up with a better three chair lifts worth of riders today.
This week it’s particularly good news for us snow surfers as they’ve posted a true classic: Escramble. With one of the heaviest line ups ever in the history of shred – Bjorn Leines, Terje Haakonsen, Mark Landvik, Wille Yli-Louma, Shaun White, Seth Huot, Gigi Ruf, Erik Leines, Bryan Iguchi, Chris Demolski and Jamie Lynn – you’d be very hard pressed to come up with a better three chair lifts worth of riders today.
Originally released in 2007, it still holds its own today. And if you can’t wait for more Volcom-y goodness, their next shred film starring none other than Pat Moore is coming out this winter – ‘Mr Plant’ – premiering in London on the 10th of October. Get involved! You can check out the trailer for that here.
In fact, as an extra treat, here is our editor’s review of Escramble from when it first came out:
Escramble
What have these guys made before?
It’s a Volcom movie, so we’re talking Luminous Laama (2001) the classic Subjekt Haakonsen (1996) and underground favourite The Garden (1994). Note the large gaps between films: these guys don’t pump something out every winter.
Who’s in it?
A shit hot team of current riders (including Shaun White, Bjorn Leines, and Gigi Rüf) plus three veritable legends: Terje, Jamie Lynn and Bryan Iguchi.
Where was it filmed?
Right across the States, plus chunky segments from NZ and a smattering of Austrian and Bulgarian action.
Best Bit
Gigi Rüf has one of those lines that makes you want to pack in the day job and head to the hills. It just goes on… and on…. and on… Seeing past masters like Messrs. Lynn and Haakonsen was also a rare treat.
Worst Bit
One horrible, horrible slam on a wooden kinked rail that’ll have you wincing out loud, and a heart-stopping moment where Jamie Lynn is caught on rocks in a couloir before triggering a slide.
Music
Laughs in the face of today’s wannabee gangsters. This is all mellow rock and dreamy electronica. It’s like listening to one of your dad’s obscure 70s records in the garage, with a big spliff on the go, In a word: ace.
Standout Section
One of the cool things about this flick is that it doesn’t have ‘sections’ as such – the riders just float into screen with no name to introduce them. Hey, it’s not about hero worship, it’s about the feeling, man…
Production
I felt all nostalgic watching this movie, because it brought up vivid memories of The Garden and Subjekt Haakonsen, back when snowboarding was relatively underground and exploding with fresh ideas. If you never watched those flicks then Escramble’s use of Super 8 cinefilm, subtitles and trippy stop animation will probably spin you right out, but for a relative old timer like me it was awesome. They’ve thrown the rulebook right out the window here and combined current riding with a rootsy, old school edit. Apocalypse Now meets a 70s home movie (starring amazing riders).
Buy this video if you’re into:
Should read, “buy this movie if you WERE into snowboarding 10 years ago, and still are.”
Overall Score:
9/10 (but hey, I like Marmite)