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BOOK OF THE DEAD

An Unoffical Sequel / Spin-off to the EVIL DEAD TRILOGY

"THEY FOUND THE BOOK...

NOW, IT'S GONNA SALLOW THEIR SOULS!"

THE FIRST FILM FROM TWILIGHT PRODUCTIONS!


THE STORY --

Four thrill-seeking ghosthunters venture into the woods in search of the famous cabin containing the Book of the Dead and find themselves facing not just the power of the Dead, but their own nightmares along the way. 

BEHIND THE SCENES

This short film was developed strictly for a Psychology class back in high school, when the BLAIR WITCH craze was coming to an end.  The project, itself, was the second of two films I would tackle in the class (P.O.V. being the first).

The goal was to shoot a film dealing with a certain element of psychology and how it effected individuals.  Of course, the group of four I had chose fear since we all knew and thought fear would be the easiest approach to go.

Together as a group they elected me develop the concept of the story, even though we pretty much had had a round table discussion to iron out the main approach.  Once again, we went for the easiest approach to the material and opted to go for the BLAIR WITCH approach since it was cheap and quick.

So as group, we went on location to the woods behind actor Billy Gaines house and shot for three days.  The shoot was plagued with problems -- actor issues, equipment issues, effects issues, and rain. But in the end the film was finished and quickly developed with no budget.

ORIGINAL RELEASE:  NOV. 2002

ONLINE RELEASE STATUS:  UNDETERMINED
CAST

Ricky Burrnet

Billy Gaines

Pedro Pinto

and

Derek Sharp

RUN TIME: 30 minutes

 

INTERVIEW

WHERE DID THE INITIAL IDEA FOR THIS FAN FILM COME FROM?

Really more than anything I think the idea for this film came from my love of EVIL DEAD.  The film though not as funny or as dark as the original EVIL DEAD or its sequels really just came from me falling into the idea of elements from the sequel and wondering what happened to the BOOK in the aftermath since we never really get that answer in ARMY OF DARKNESS. 

The other elements just came naturally from a quick fix plot, which didn't really help this movie become what we were all hoping for.

DO YOU THINK THIS FILM DID THE EVIL DEAD FILMS JUSTICE?

Honestly no.  To the cast this wasn't really a film and I think my own inexperience on the project cost the intergrity of it and made the subject matter really step away from the original goal.  The film was pretty much improv. so that led to a number of problems and the cast had so many conflicts.  It was a wonder the film even managed to get made at all but I think the grade helped make that possible.

HOW DO YOU THINK IT STANDS ON ITS OWN?

On its own its a BLAIR WITCH parody with total camp.  It could even pass itself off for one of those direct video parodies that was big business around the time WITCH became a big hit on video.

WHAT WOULD YOU CLASSIFY THIS FILM AS IN YOUR MIND?

It's my HOUSE: THE SECOND STORY.  A part of me wants to neglect the fact that I did it but it always finds a way into my conversations, when it comes to horror comedy and the like.

HOW DID THE AUDIENCES REACT TO IT?

I think the class that saw it suffered through the long sequences and there were plently of them.  They took the camp well which I hadn't expected and they tried their damnest to really just get through the film.  At the time I first showed it to an audience I took the film too seriously which in reality the film wasn't at all and the audience knew that. I didn't. Go figure.

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?

If I had more time than three days to shoot the sucker I would have made a more cohesive plot and enhanced the film visually.  There are literally no effects and the plot just struggles to get where its going.  We walk, talk, walk, talk and nothing happens.  When something does the audience just didn't react.  It was just "Oh, something is happening...not interested." I've thought about just cuttting the film down to something more cohesive and refocusing the story or at least what I can of it, but I don't see that idea coming into play in the near future.

ARE YOU GOING TO TACKLE A SEQUEL AT SOME POINT?

I think I will when I have the right group of actors and I have a little bit more of a balance with special effects.  More than anything I want to pick-up where ARMY OF DARKNESS left off at this point and really expand the story with classic EVIL DEAD 1 and 2 elements in a larger location.

DID THE FILM HAVE ANY PUBLICITY BEHIND IT?

Yeah, I tried to hype it for the class since it was going to be in a film marathon of sorts for the class.  I designed posters on some print software and brought them into the class, but very few people got to see the actual poster.  Clemens, the teacher was actually the only one to have a copy.

IS THIS THING COMING TO THE INTERNET ANYTIME SOON?

I don't think its going to be coming online anytime in the near future since number one I don't have the equipment to do it and number two I really don't think anybody wants to see this.  It's just not one of those movies that people are screaming and hollering to see online.

Unless I get some serious reception on it, I don't think it'll be online in the near future.

UPDATED INTERVIEW!

IS THERE ANY CHANCE OF A SEQUEL OR SPIN-OFF ON DOWN THE ROAD?

A couple of months ago, I would have said no way, but I've been toying around with different ideas for a sequel for a while. For me doing a sequel, would bring into question what effect Ash had on civilization and how it would play into the outer world since let's face it I can't get Bruce Campbell. I'll introduce new characters and will be playing around with actual set-ups, unlike this short-lived BLAIR WITCH-EVIL DEAD spin-off.

 

STUFF THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW

THE FILM

Shot in Three Days with zero budget.

The Opening Sequence is taken directly from EVIL DEAD 2.

Some of the photos of the cabin in the woods were taken directly from the mythos in HAIL TO THE KING.

The Mad Poet, only mentioned in this film as the creator, is based on information from both mythological texts and information connecting to EVIL DEAD: HAIL TO THE KING.

Though the film jumps abruptly to just the cameraman being the last survivor.  The script had a character being possessed and attacking the cameraman, but this sequence was cut the day of the shoot.

The art in the BOOK, which was made from brown paper bags, was taken from designs in the EVIL DEAD game: HAIL TO THE KING for the Playstation game console.

Two of the four actors opted to not act in the film.  In fact, one left within the first five minutes of production on the second day of filming.  The curse of EVIL DEAD continues on in this film as well.

The film was originally slated to be R-rated, but the film never managed to get that cut since there is no gore in the film.

The original ending had the cameraman drop dead in front of the camera covered in blood.  I opted out on this idea at the last second.

The Posters for the film included the BOOK design from EVIL DEAD 2, though the film has a prop designed especially for the film.

The film recieved an B+ since there was no definition of fear.  I was a bit ticked, but an B is a B.

The final sequence in the rain was last minute shooting before the scheduled release.  The film was suppose to be shot in one day, but a camera battery malfunctioning forced the film into a three day stint.  The third and final, unscheduled day was nothing but rain.

THE TRAILER

The opening couple of seconds is the opening from the original EVIL DEAD.  You can just barely make out the bog footage if you look carefully.

The theme playing over the trailer is Macro Beltrami's score for SCREAM entitled "Sidney's Lament (SCREAM Theme)".

The trailer remains unreleased until this day.

The trailer contains no audio couresty the dubbing equipment I had available at the time.

WHEN DOES THE FILM TAKE PLACE?

A short time after EVIL DEAD 2, but prior to ARMY OF DARKNESS.

DOES BRUCE CAMPBELL OR ANYONE EVEN RELATED TO EVIL DEAD APPEAR?

Since this film was strictly independent and had ZERO money for a budget and I know no one involved in the prior films - the answer would be a sad "no".  Maybe if a sequel, gets made...maybe.

 

THE REMAINING ELEMENTS FROM THE FILM --

The BOOK OF THE DEAD prop is still in existense and in storage, despite the fact that it's just a number of paperbags redesigned to be similar to the original book to a certain capacity. The Special Edition Book of the Dead EVIL DEAD wasn't available at the time of filming.

The Director has the only remaining print of the film. So it's very unlikely the film will be shown anytime in the near future.

 
   
 

EVIL DEAD, EVIL DEAD 2 and ARMY OF DARKNESS are all property of RENAISSANCE PICTURES. This film is purely FAN FICTION and was produced for no profit.