#luminous midnight

[thedeaditeslayer]

The folks at Luminous Midnight have just uploaded this very informative interview with David Horton who worked as a production assistant on The Evil Dead. 

[thedeaditeslayer]

Talking about the ‘Evil Dead’: Filmmakers interview Anson residents.

Three filmmakers trekked deep into the woods south of Lilesville last week in search of the location for something that took place 30 years ago.

They found what they were looking for: an old cabin, mostly collapsed.

This isn’t a sequel to “The Blair Witch Project.”

Rather, it’s a documentary highlighting the locations of the first two films in the “Evil Dead” franchise.

“Surreal,” Matthew Powell said about being at the cabin site while waiting in the Ansonia Theatre on Friday for local residents to share their memories of the production of “Evil Dead II.” “That’s my favorite movie ever, so being on the place they filmed it was like holy land for me.”

Powell is the director of “Evil Dead Uproot,” a film which started off as a short documentary about Mike Pasquale’s restoration of the woodshed from the movie, but has since expanded in scope.

In a post on the movie’s Facebook page, Powell marveled at standing in the same spot as “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi.

Primary shooting for the project is taking place in Anson County and Morristown, Tennessee, where the first “Evil Dead” was filmed.

Producer and assistant director L.J. Landrum said the cabin was only used for exterior shots, and was a lot larger than what they expected, although the front and middle have now collapsed and the back room is barely standing.

“You definitely don’t get the full scale of how big it actually is,” added executive producer Dan Sellers, an Anson County native.

Landrum said this was probably the last chance for fans to look at the cabin before it’s gone, as the property owner will be clearing it out in the near future.

The interior cabin scenes were shot at the old J.R. Faison High School gym, but there were no film relics left.

“For years, I’ve said to myself, ‘I bet there’s some real cool Evil Dead stuff in there’ — and there’s not,” Sellers said.

They were let into the gym by Pastor Michael Chambers, who was also interviewed. He plans to turn the old school into a community center, Landrum said..

While waiting for interviewees, someone dropped off an envelope of photos from the production.

“That’s crazy,” Powell said, as he and Landrum flipped through them. “This is stuff that’s never been seen.”

Included was a photo of “Rotten Apple Head,” which was said to be used in several local haunted houses in the years following the movie.

Filmmakers were also given photos by David West of Rockingham, who used to work for Hedrick Gravel.

There were four people scheduled to be interviewed on Friday, but only three made it: two extras who played knights at the end of the movie; and a neighbor to actor Bruce Campbell during the production.

One of the extras was Kevin McKenzie of Wadesboro.

He recalled the suits of armor actually being made of plastic and the heat of the summer sun while shooting at the ballast pit.

“It’s surprising nobody had a heat stroke,” he said. “The only line I had to learn was, ‘Hail! Hail!’ I figured I could do that.”

McKenzie said his pay for a full day of shooting was $35 and a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

Everyone who was interviewed was given a Blu-ray copy of “Evil Dead II,” which includes the featurette “Road to Wadesboro.”

Landrum said the crew plans to come back to conduct a few more interviews in the future.

“We are just very thankful to those who came out and shared some stories with us and hope to hear from more,” she said in an email. “We are beyond thankful to the landowner of the cabin site for letting us come share his story and visit the site ourselves. He truly is one of the nicest men we have met and it was our honor to spend any time with him.”

Powell added that he’d like to get a chance to sit down with Campbell again, since the first interview — shot at a convention several weeks ago — was rushed.

Anyone with questions or about the project or who would like to schedule an interview can contact the filmmakers at [email protected] or visit evildeaduproot.com.

[thedeaditeslayer]

Help support Evil Dead Uproot.

The documentary is now looking to be funded for the shooting costs by donation. To donate to the Evil Dead 2 and The Evil Dead shooting locations documentary, you can do so at the above link.  

We are Luminous Midnight Film & Photo (Matthew and Lj ) we created our company to make movies, music videos, wedding videos and photography of all sorts as it’s a passion for both of us.  Our first goal was to always help local artist with media needs as well as couples tying the knot.  We work normal jobs weekly, weddings on the weekends and have a little one to care for every other weekend. We got wrapped up in the idea of making a documentary about the history of the filming locations for the Evil Dead movies when we met the guy who recovered part of the exterior cabin and work shed from Evil Dead 2. Being huge fans of the movies and always being interested in the locations ourselves, the idea that someone else went through that much trouble as a fan of the movie, then looking into how much fan base the locations had themselves it’s perfect for us to tell the story! When we are not doing weddings we have been traveling to the location sites and other cities for information and interviews. We have been using our own money to make that happen and we have only just begun. The savings we had is slowly going away from travel cost (hotels, gas, and food), equipment upgrades, websites, rentals and promotional items.   Our starting goal is to give us a push, plus pay us back what we have put in THIS far (est. $3,500) , This isn’t including upcoming trips, post production, more promotional items, licensing fees and well, our bills! We have already interviewed the star of both movies and have a lot of cast and crew lined up to interview as well. Our research is turning up some never before heard of stories and we hope to get never before seen photos. We have gained permission to some of the sites which will give us a longer time to be there, giving us the opportunity to have the most in-depth footage of the grounds to date! We want to help the land owners have their say and show the grounds for all those who are interested and not need to bother them anymore. Seeing as the remains from Evil Dead 2 will no longer be there.   The money we raise will help continue our research, our travel expenses (hotels, flights, gas and food), and more production rentals plus help us replace our depleting savings for emergency cost.   The funds are needed quickly as we go along… so very soon! We have trips planned to NC, OH and PA all before November, we are going to conventions to meet up with cast members and to the towns they shot the movies in to speak with locals who helped as well as seeing the properties. We plan to spend the winter editing to get this thing out there by Oct. 2017. Being that we really enjoy helping local artist out, sometimes without payment or with huge discounts just because we love making art and something that helps them capture their talents in a sharable format (video and photo). For us to reach for a bigger dream of making a full length documentary based on something we think is important and worth the effort for a lot more people to see is a huge deal for us, we have worked very hard to get all we have done this far and this money is helping two film makers make a dream come true. We never really wanted to ask anyone for help or money, but it has cost a little more than we projected and this far in we have to try and make it work, so all donations will be credited in the film, since you will be helping make it happen by helping! Also those interested will receive promotional items once we are able to get more made.   You can keep up with us and the project at LuminousMidnight.com Evil Dead Uproot Facebook

[thedeaditeslayer]

Luminous Midnight has just shared the first clip from their upcoming documentary Evil Dead uproot featuring Mike Pasquale. You can also view some behind the scenes photos on their website here.