The Dead Next Door

1989 film

1989 (1989)

Running time

84 min.CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Dead Next Door is a 1989 zombie horror 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 as Richards
Michael Tolochko as Randalls
Bruce Campbell as Raimi and Cmdr. Carpenter (voice only)

Production

Sam Raimi served as executive producer on the film under the pseudonym 'The Master Cylinder' using a portion of his payment from Evil Dead II.^[1] Bruce Campbell supervised post-production sound and dubbed the voices of two characters, Raimi and Cmdr. Carpenter.^[2] The movie was produced over nearly four years, in Akron, Ohio. Although unsure of the exact figure, in an interview director J. R. Bookwalter estimated that the film cost $125,000 to produce.^[3]

The film was shot on Super-8, which is an amateur grade film generally only used for making home movies. Everyone involved worked on the film for a deferred salary.^[3] The film is notable for highly graphic gore effects.

Critical reception

AllMovie 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".^[4]

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.^[5]

References

^ "The Dead Next Door (1989) - Trivia - IMDb". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
^ Miska, Brad (2017-08-04). "Zombie Classic 'Dead Next Door' Gets 2K Transfer". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
^ ^a ^b Albright, Brian (2012). Regional Horror Films, 1958–1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews. McFarland. p. 42. ISBN 978-1476600420.
^ Firsching, Robert. "The Dead Next Door (1989) - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
^ "Tempe DVD: DEAD NEXT DOOR, THE (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD)". tempevideo.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.