CAL: Why DEADWORLD?
What was it in the series that you thought would make a movie?
DB: From the beginning, way back in '86, we wanted to make DEADWORLD into a
feature film--it literally screamed to be made. And who better to bring this dripping,
brain-splattered epic to this country's darkened screens than the Dementia Brothers!
CAL: Seeing as how most movies rarely
resemble the original source material and are mostly just bastardizations of the basic
premise, what can we expect from your adaptation?
DB: We've thrown around a lot of ideas--change this, change that--but we keep coming
back to the elements that we love best about DEADWORLD. The quick way in which we're
thrust into a world already full of zombies without a lot of meaningless build up. A lot
of movies would take twenty minutes to a half-hour just to set the scene and then
introduce the zombies. Not this movie! Baam! Within five minutes there's going to be a
full blown attack sequence--just like in the comic. We're not going to spend a lot of time
wondering what happened to the world, how it happened The world is over-run with zombies,
that's just how it is--no one really knows the answer. All our characters know is that
they're in a fight for their lives every minute of the day. They are trying to live
through the end of the world and push back the evil that's already taken hold of the
Earth.
CAL: So what was it that attracted you
to DEADWORLD beyond the somewhat typical zombie fest that is in so many other pictures?
DB: We love the story, it's realistic characters--their interactions, the way they react
to the horror around them--and especially the settings. Since we are from the midwest, we
immediately responded to the film's visual and atmospheric potential...the vast empty
cornfields, the small deserted towns, the attack on the decayed riverboat. Our past films
have all dealt with these same visual motiffs and DEADWORLD seemed like a natural
progression for us. Throw in a chain-smokin', Harley-ridin' King of the Dead and all of
the elements for a landmark horror flick fall ghoulishly into place! If you think King
Zombie is a bad ass in the comic, just wait until you see him in this movie!
CAL: Obviously the movie would have to
appeal to more than just the hardcore DEADWORLD fans but what can the true fans of
DEADWORLD expect from the movie?
DB: Basically, we want every warmie fan of DEADWORLD to walk out of that darkened theatre
and think "Damn, that was a great fucking movie! That's the movie I would have
made!"
CAL: What have you guys done in the
past to prepare you for taking on a feature film like you have planned for DEADWORLD?
DB: Dementia Brothers Pictures won an Award of Excellence at the 1988 Chicago
International Film Festival with our short film UNEXCUSED ABSENCE. The film is about a
brilliant but frustrated high school teacher who is so fed up with the lazy, ignorant
students that he invents a serum and injects it into the kids in an attempt to turn them
into geniuses. He makes a few mistakes along the way and turns a number of his students
into drooling, froth-mouthed monsters that he keeps chained up in the boiler room of the
high school. Fun stuff.
CAL: So working for zombies would be
something new for you or have you done work with the walking undead before?
DB: Right now, we're fully into post-production on another short horror film called DRAG.
It's a story of a woman dragging a dead body through a post- apocalyptic zombie-plagued
world We feel that DRAG in its dark, uncompromising tone, is the perfect lead-up nightmare
to DEADWORLD.
CAL: You said before that you had some
other scripts in the works. Are they of a similar vein to what would be expected from
DEADWORLD?
DB: We have several screenplays being shopped around L.A. One is titled SLICE, the story
of a crazed, axe wielding grade school teacher. The other script is SKINWALKERS, an epic
tale of resurrected Indian demons taking back their land by any bloody and horrific means
necessary.
CAL: Any last thing that you want the
DEADWORLD fans to know about the movie?
DB: Mark has a very fluid visual style. The camera is always moving. DEADWORLD will be one
of the most visually dynamic horror films ever made. We are young, energetic film-makers
with a passion for high-energy, head-splitting movies, but more importantly, the Dementia
Brothers are horror fans! We are determined to make the greatest kick-ass Zombie flick to
ever hit the screens! And we mean it. Get ready for the gore!
