Back in the ’80s when I was doing mini-comics, I came up with a character “Rat Bastard Dad.” He was supposed to be the most horrible father in the world. I was trying to get in on the anti-hero wave launched by Matt Feazell’s Cynical Man and Anti-Social Man. But the character just seemed too nasty at the time. I abandoned it before releasing a mini-comic with him. Turns out that if I’d made a “Rat Bastard Dad” comic, I would have been doing a pale imitation of the father at the center of Wim Verstappen’s VD from 1972. This movie features the worst cinematic father who didn’t chop up his family with an ax (although he comes close).
Cornelis van Doorn (Dakota‘s Kees Brusse) runs what seems like an unusual business empire. He has a slaughterhouse that processes cows and pigs. He also uses part of the factory for his contraception business. Now you might think this is strange tandem, but they are related. Turns out that part of the animals are full of hormones that are the active ingredients in birth control pills. He basically has cornered the romantic night in Holland. And Cor (as his friends call him) has a lot of romantic nights around town. What does his wife think? Turns out his wife (Soldier of Orange‘s Andrea Domburg) was his father’s young mistress. Dad and her even had a daughter, Els (Frank & Eva‘s Maartje Bijl). When dad died, he left the mistress shares in the company. Cors decided to marry her, get the shares and adopt Els. That’s right, Cors adopted his sister as his daughter. Making matters even complicated, Cors is having an affair with Els. Cors is a father, brother and lover to Els. But that’s not the end of it. Turns out Cors has a lot of children around town. He has a system where when his girlfriend gets pregnant, he gives her enough money to start a tobacco shop, arranges for a gay man to marry her as cover and then Cor vanishes. He’s not too heartless. But be fearful when he wants to get back in a kid’s life. He “reunites” with one unsuspecting son and puts to moves on that guy’s girlfriend. Don’t worry about the son as he does something horrible too. Cors gets tired of the meat and birth control business and so he’s searching through his children to see which one should take over the family business. But does anyone want the company? There’s a whole plot about how Cor doesn’t seem to care health standards and testing his products. Everything about Cors is a risky proposition.
VD is like a concentrated season of a primetime soap opera like Dallas or Dynasty. It kind of lays down the blueprint of those shows with a rich industrialist at the center of a tawdry lifestyle. Except J.R. Ewing was never this amoral. I don’t know if the producers of either show watched VD, but they would have learned quickly that they can’t give us a main character who is this big of a horndog. Cor would not find himself allowed on U.S. broadcast TV. On HBO’s Succession, Brian Cox’s rich industrialist was like Cor since the two men look for a leader to take over the company. But Cox didn’t want to keep it in the family that hard. The only cinematic father I can fully compare to Cors is Noah Cross (John Huston) in Chinatown. And that movie came out two years after VD. Cors blazed a path in creepy rich businessmen in ’70s cinema that doesn’t seem equaled after all these years.
Director Wim Vertappen doesn’t hold back on how Cors makes his money. His camera takes us to the killing floor so we see how a cow and pig becomes a beef and pork. This can be as disturbing to watch as Cors’ family reunions. Kees Brusse is brilliant as Cors. He has this look of an upper-class swinger and the morality of a bottom feeder. He’s a walking Daddy Issue. By the end of the movie, you’ll view Cors as the ultimate Rat Bastard Dad. VD is the perfect film for people who want to see a next level prime time soap opera about rich people who are really wicked.
The Video is 1.33:1 full frame. The 2K restoration brings out the vivid moments in the slaughterhouse. The Audio is Dutch LPCM 2.0 mono and DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono. Both will let you hear Cor’s weird plans. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by film historian Peter Verstraten lets us get to know a bit more about Scorpio Films and Wim Verstappen’s career. He gets into the slaughterhouse footage. We also learn a bit more about Dutch cinema.
Festival of Love (34:49) is a short black and white film by Wim Verstappen from 1969. The movie centers around film festivals and an affair that a couple has while attending them. Things get extra weird at the Venice film festival.
Photo Gallery includes over a dozen images of posters and press photos.
Scorpio Films Trailers includes eight films from the legendary Dutch studio that are out on Blu-ray from Cult Epics. Blue Movie was their big international hit.
Cult Epics present VD. Directed by Wim Vertappen. Screenplay by Wim Verstappen and Charles Gormley. Starring Kees Brusse, Andrea Domburg, Guus Oster, Hugo Metsers and Sonia Barend. Running Time: 107 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: May 26, 2026.
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