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Book Of The Dead Preservation (* unfinished project *)

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 (Edited)

A project by Bigrob and ReverendBeastly

BOOK OF THE DEAD - A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PREMIERE THAT TOOK PLACE AT THE REDFORD THEATRE, DETROIT 15th OCTOBER 1981

http://www.horror-wood.com/EDEAD.jpg

This is what we are planning to do. The plan is to recreate the original premiere. The film that was shown was titled Book of the Dead and what we aim to acheive is a slight re-editing and preservation of certain elements that are not availble on DVD. The information of this release can be found in The Evil Dead Companion book

Thes are the specs of the SL DVD we hope to acheive

: Original Fullscreen ratio of 1:33.1 (with the missing sfx shot of lightning hitting the tree restored.)

: Original 1.0 Mono soundtrack (restored from the Japanese Laserdisc, no 5.1 remixes or tweaks here!)

: Original Premiere title (new title BOTD will be recreated for this release)

: Special Features Include -

  • On screen text commentary by Bruce Campbell (text will be taken from The Evil Dead Companion)

  • Within The Woods short movie (Hopefully!!)

These specs are TBC at the moment. The Re-editing and DVD authoring will be done ReverendBeastly. I mearly suggested the idea and supplied the materials.

any ideas for this release please feel free to share them! any cover art would be nice as well!

stay tuned

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I soooo want this. Are you going to use the original Elite dvd, since it's fullscreen, or do you have another video source? Since reading "If Chins Could Kill", I've always wondered about the first version of Evil Dead. I have a really horrid copy of Within the Woods somewhere that I'd offer up for you, but hopefully someone has a better version then the mpeg I have.

I've got better things to do tonight than die! - Springer, Transformers the Movie

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I too have the horrible copy of Within the Woods if you need it. I wish there were a better copy than that. Anywho, great ####ing idea for a fan edit.
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yep, we will be using the OOP Elite DVD for the visuals. We're gonna edit in the missing SFX shot from another source. i too have a copy of Within The Woods that i grabbed off demoniod. Not great but watchable. there i a good copy floating about in the Bruce Campbell project somewhere.

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The fourth disc of the Evil Dead Trilogy boxset, that came out here in Britain from Anchor Bay UK, also has the full-frame version of ED1. I've no idea if it's better quality than the Elite disc though. ABUK also included it in their Box Of The Banned boxset.

And isn't there an old, old trailer for ED under the title of Book Of The Dead? I'm sure I've seen one advertised on Raimi Super-8 bootleg compilations before. Maybe it was one they cut together before Irvin Shapiro told them, "Fellas, if you name a film Book Of The Dead, people are gonna think they have to read for an hour and a half..."
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The version in the Anchor Bay UK trilogy boxset is apparently not the "untouched" original fullframe. There's some info on this issue at the bottom of this page.

In all of the releases by Anchor Bay, there is also some minor "enhancements" in the film itself, with a couple of frames "tweaked" to improve on the look (cleaning up some Effects Sequences - lightning strikes etc.) of The Film. The "open matte" version on the Box Set is also the newer "tweaked" version. This is a very minor issue though, but for the purists, the OOP Elite is also an option, since it's the original "untampered" version.

To contact me outside the forum, for trades and such my email address is my OT.com username @gmail.com

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the problem with the OOP Elite DVD is that it is missing the SFX shot. it will be edited in from another source

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Originally posted by: djsmokingjam
The fourth disc of the Evil Dead Trilogy boxset, that came out here in Britain from Anchor Bay UK, also has the full-frame version of ED1. I've no idea if it's better quality than the Elite disc though. ABUK also included it in their Box Of The Banned boxset.

And isn't there an old, old trailer for ED under the title of Book Of The Dead? I'm sure I've seen one advertised on Raimi Super-8 bootleg compilations before. Maybe it was one they cut together before Irvin Shapiro told them, "Fellas, if you name a film Book Of The Dead, people are gonna think they have to read for an hour and a half..."



if anyone can get hold of this, that would be great!

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Well ReverendBeastly has recieved the discs so we'll keep you updated on this!

any cover art people would like to bring forward would be great!

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If you need that copy of Within The Woods I can help. The one from the VHS that all other copies are sourced from. I'll look at my compilation again as well maybe it has that trailer.
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drop ReverendBeastly an email and ask him. if it's better quality than the one i sent him, that would be great!

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Yeah, that would be most excellent!

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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Still looking for some cover art? I found this on Tom Sullivan's website, http://www.darkageproductions.com:

http://www.darkageproductions.com/gallery/evil_dead/01.jpg

A bit small, but you could e-mail him via the site and ask for a higher-res version?
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Ok people...an update!!!

Just spoken to Alex and he is hoping to start on this project soon!

Disc one will hopefully contain the above project as stated

Disc TWO (!!) Will hopefully contain the complete Evil Dead 2 workprint with Text Commentary by Bruce Campbell again taken from The Evil Dead Companion!!!

and there 'could' be a disc three in development!!!!

stay tuned people!!!

If anyone has any ideas for cover art, please feel free to post!

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can not freakin wait for this!!!

I've got better things to do tonight than die! - Springer, Transformers the Movie

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Other than the poster art I already posted above, here's a picture from http://www.withinthewoods.co.uk of the tickets handed out at the Redford premiere:

http://www.woodkeeper.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/horror/movies/evildead/ed_premtickets.jpghttp://www.woodkeeper.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/horror/movies/evildead/botd.jpg

They'll give you an idea of what the lettering on the opening title looked like, presumably.


Good news though - according to Josh Becker's website Synapse Films will be re-releasing Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except and Running Time on DVD with two old Super-8 movies starring Bruce and Sam, Stryker's War and Holding It.
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JESUS H CHRIST DJ!!!! YOUR A STAR!!!!

I was planning on knocking up some cover art for this and the idea i hit upon was the premire ticket on the front cover!!!!!

give yourself a pat on the back!!!!!

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*pats self*

This does sound like a really interesting project actually. Imagine if this is what the film would be like if the Renaissance boys had never met Irvin Shapiro, or the guys from Palace in the UK, and BOTD just wound up being released on some shitty video label for years, languishing in obscurity... Oh, what might have been!
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Can anyobdy confirm that there are differences/deleted material in the ED2 workprint?
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I am lazy, but Dr Gonzo and his gang of madmen should be able to pretty soon.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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intresting update

Me and my brother went dvd shopping (and to a Terry Gillaim signing) and we've managed to pickup a LE of Evil Dead which INCLUDED Within the woods as a special feature on disc two. it's a forgein release (dutch i think) and the dvd itself is limited to 1000 copies. i'll be grabbing a copy of this soon to check out the picture and sound in depth.

i've seen this version on ebay as well!

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Has anyone put out the full ~30 minute 'Behind-the-Screams' home video compilation from the 1998 EVIL DEAD 2 laserdisc? Some of it made it to the Anchor Bay DVD(s) but there's also some cool shit that didn't survive the format change. I've done my own basic laserdisc->dvd conversion but don't really have the facilities to put it out there...
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I've got the blood red LD of Evil Dead 2. i was just thinking about this the other day actually! having a few problems with my DVD recorder though so as soon as i get it up and running, i'll send a copy over to Alex along with this versionof Within the Woods i got!

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Originally posted by: bigrob
intresting update

Me and my brother went dvd shopping (and to a Terry Gillaim signing) and we've managed to pickup a LE of Evil Dead which INCLUDED Within the woods as a special feature on disc two. it's a forgein release (dutch i think) and the dvd itself is limited to 1000 copies. i'll be grabbing a copy of this soon to check out the picture and sound in depth.

i've seen this version on ebay as well!


HUH?!?! Must get a hold of this release. How's the quality of Within the Woods?

I've got better things to do tonight than die! - Springer, Transformers the Movie

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it's this version

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Evil-Dead-Import-DVD-Within-The-Woods-Bruce-Campbell_W0QQitemZ320076029697QQihZ011QQcategoryZ617QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

this shop had 2 copys left. it's only limited to 1000

http://www.websonic.co.uk/cinemastore/default.asp

and from what i saw of WTW, it looks ok. will have a better look at it over the weekend

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