The Dead Next Door (1989)

The government sets up a Zombie squad after an epidemic has made the world run rampant with living corpses. Raimi, Mercer, Kuller, and others head off to Ohio to try and find a cure to the ... See full summary »

Director:

J.R. Bookwalter

Writer:

J.R. Bookwalter

Stars:

Pete Ferry, Bogdan Pecic, Michael Grossi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pete Ferry	...	Raimi (as Peter Ferry)
Bogdan Pecic	...	Dr. Moulsson (as Bogdan 'Don' Pecic)
Michael Grossi	...	Mercer
Jolie Jackunas	...	Kuller
Robert Kokai	...	Rev. Jones
Floyd Ewing Jr.	...	Capt. Kline
Roger Graham	...	Dr. Franklin
Maria Markovic	...	Anna
Jon Killough	...	Vincent / farmhouse zombie
Scott Spiegel	...	Richards
Jeff Welch	...	Cmdr. Carpenter
Michael Todd	...	Jason / Van driver
J.R. Bookwalter	...	Lloyds
Jennifer Mullen	...	Powers
Joe Wedlake	...	Dr. Savini

Storyline

The government sets up a Zombie squad after an epidemic has made the world run rampant with living corpses. Raimi, Mercer, Kuller, and others head off to Ohio to try and find a cure to the epidemic but soon run into a crazy cult of zombie lovers who are set on preserving the zombies and letting a new world be born because they believe that it's God's will. When Mercer gets infected with the zombie virus, Raimi and the others must work quickly to find a cure and avoid the cult.

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Plot Keywords:

Zombie | Virus | Extreme Violence | Undead | Tongue | 

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Taglines:

How do you kill something that won't die? Where do you run when they're everywhere?

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Morte

Filming Locations:

Akron, Ohio, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amsco Studios, Suburban Tempe Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sam Raimi used his pay from Evil Dead II to fund this film.

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Crazy Credits

Filmed in "Amscovision" -- A Process where camera rigs are made out of 2x4s and PVC pipes.

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Connections

Referenced in Robot Ninja (1989)
movie poster

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Soundtracks

"Out On The Road"
Written by Mick Corcoran
Performed by Willie & The Wagon Wheels
© 1989 Mikk Music

User Reviews

The Dud Next Door.......

With a voice dub from the always awesome Bruce Campbell, oodles of "cult classic" comments/reviews, and a DVD release from Anchor Bay, you'd be led to believe this is truly a lost gem resurfaced. Wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Give a 18-ish man-boy (J.R. Bookwalter) two weeks worth of grocery money and let him indulge his crippled "genius" through a Super-8, and this is what you get. Every minute of this movie is saturated in ineptitude. The plot is unimaginative to the extreme, the gore is laughable, the acting is beyond HORRIBLE, and the original actors voices have been clumsily dubbed back in (why???) complete with loads of woodenness.

Looking for something more specific? How about that most of the characters in this movie have names like Raimi, Carpenter, Savini, etc., and get this- The zombie loving cult leader's name is Rev. Jones. Wow, how original; must have taken weeks to come up with that one. The "sets" are a real joy to behold too. Double-wides, abandoned houses, and a high school serve oh-so-realistically as hi-tech labs, government offices and a cult headquarters. Get the idea?

"TDND" isn't low-budget- It's NO-budget and worthless in every aspect. Bookwalter is still at it today, nearly twenty years later, and is just as talent deprived (ie- Ozone) as he was when this piece of trash first came out. Surprise, surprise.

(The 1 star- It's for Campbell.)