''The Dead Next Door'' is a 1989

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

film written, produced and directed by J. R. Bookwalter.

Plot

In the near future, the world falls victim to a plague of violent carnivorous undead humans, and a black-ops elite team of soldiers, nicknamed the "Zombie Squad", has been enlisted by the government as exterminators to control the growing epidemic. While on a series of routine containment missions, the soldiers stumble upon a mysterious religious cult which wishes to protect and enable the zombies, believing them to be a punishment ordained by God. Within their compound may be a cure to the virus causing the plague.

Cast

* Pete Ferry as Raimi * Bogdan Pecic as Dr. Moulsson * Michael Grossi as Mercer * Jolie Jackunas as Kuller * Robert Kokai as Rev. Jones * Floyd Ewing Jr. as Capt. Kline *

Scott Spiegel Scott Spiegel (born December 10, 1957) is an American screenwriter, film director, producer and actor. He co-wrote the screenplay for ''Evil Dead II'' with longtime friend, film director Sam Raimi, with whom he attended Wylie E. Groves High Sc ...

as Richards * Michael Tolochko as Randalls *

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' horror series, beginning with the short movie '' Within the Woods'' (1978). He has also f ...

as Raimi and Cmdr. Carpenter (voice only)

Production

Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the first three films in the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present) and the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed the super ...

served as executive producer on the film under the pseudonym 'The Master Cylinder' using a portion of his payment from ''

Evil Dead II ''Evil Dead II'' (also known in publicity materials as ''Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'') is a 1987 American comedy horror film directed by Sam Raimi, who co-wrote it with Scott Spiegel. The second installment in the ''Evil Dead'' film series, i ...

''.

supervised post-production sound and dubbed the voices of two characters, Raimi and Cmdr. Carpenter. The movie was produced over nearly four years, in

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Although unsure of the exact figure, in an interview director J. R. Bookwalter estimated that the film cost $125,000 to produce. The film was shot on

Super-8 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The formal name for Super 8 is 8-mm Type S, distinguishing it from the ...

, which is an amateur grade film generally only used for making home movies. Everyone involved worked on the film for a deferred salary. The film is notable for highly graphic gore effects.

Critical reception

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

wrote, "very stylish for what is essentially an epic-scale home movie .. this remains Bookwalter's best effort", comparing the film's fast pace to that of a "live-action video game".

Soundtrack

The score for the film was composed by director J. R. Bookwalter. The soundtrack has been released on CD and in MP3 format by Tempesound.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dead Next Door, The 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1989 films 1989 horror films American splatter films American zombie films English-language horror films