Midwest Movie Maker

Filmmaker James L. Edwards on the set of Satan's Peak  >>> Akron has given the world a lot of entertaining gifts, like Chrissie Hynde , Jim Jarmusch , DEVO , and, if you grew up roaming the horror aisle at your local video store, indie fright favorite James L. Edwards . While the rest of us were memorizing every jump scare in The Evil Dead , Edwards was actually inside the Ohio horror machine. “I grew up in scenic Akron, Ohio,” he says, “and I was fortunate enough to join the independent horror scene at the early age of 12.” 12?!? Yes, 12. “My mother saw a write-up in our local newspaper about a director looking for people who wanted to be extras in a zombie movie,” Edwards says. That movie was The Dead Next Door , written, produced and directed by Akron’s own J.R. Bookwalter (who was one of the first to answer our 5 Horrific Questions ) and executive produced by horror master Sam Raimi . Just a part of the Zombie Squad “At the time, I wanted to be a special effects make-u...

Volunteer zombies from 'The Dead Next Door' Our final five horrific questions feature - our Halloween edition - features one of my favorite horror directors, J.R. Bookwalter . And not just because I was an extra in his most notable film, the cult classic The Dead Next Door . In many ways, Bookwalter helped pave the way for independent filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith. The Akron-native dove into independent filmmaking in the late 1980s, shoring up funding, securing locations and writing his own personal guerilla filmmaking manual because, for the most part, no one else had done it yet. (Well, except maybe for Pittsburgh’s George Romero, an icon in independent horror filmmaking and one of Bookwalter’s idols. Oh, and Detroit’s Sam Raimi, who was coming off a hit with his independent horror movie The Evil Dead II and was instrumental in getting The Dead Next Door up off the ground.) After The Dead Next Door became a cult hit across the globe, Bookwal...

'The Walking Dead's shambling walkers I love The Walking Dead . Mostly because it is a well-written, well-produced, well-acted, intense horror drama. But maybe even more so because it’s filled to the gills with zombies . And in the middle of the scare season, nothing spooks me more than shambling cadavers. Zombies - or walkers, if you’re a fan of the AMC show or Image comic - are more frightening than any fictional monster you can imagine. Vampires, werewolves, mutants, reanimated slashers, idiot teens in Halloween masks - none hold a waxy candelabra to a horde of hungry corpses. It’s the multiplying mass. It’s claustrophobic. Plus the inevitability that you’re going to bump into a dearly departed loved-one. And that your loved one will likely tug out your intestines through your belly button. The Walking Dead ’s fourth season debuts Sunday. The successful show, developed by Frank Darabont, based on Robert Kirkman’s popular comic book , owes much of its setting - the...

Akron filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter >>> It was more than ambitious for the time. Forget digital cameras and Macs loaded with editing and special effects software – the kind of off-the-shelf film staples that define the modern no-budget filmmaker today. This was 1988. A feature-length horror epic shot on a shoestring budget and Super-8mm film in downtown Akron, Ohio? What was J.R. Bookwalter thinking? “It was a complete fluke,” the filmmaker says. “A once in a lifetime thing.” That fluke turned into The Dead Next Door , a thunderbolt fueled by flesh-eating zombies, tough-as-nails soldiers, genius scientists, insane cult leaders, and gore – lots of it. It was even named one of Top 50 Essential Gore Films by Rue Morgue magazine. While it was made on a ultra-low-budget, it comes from a rich horror pedigree. Sam Raimi , the Detroit-born writer/director/producer, known for both his low-budget, independent horror film franchise  Evil Dead and his big-budget, studio blockbusters, i...