The Deader The Better (2005)

Mike Matei / December 19th, 2005

Classic-style horror film I made in 2005 as an homage to the Universal Monster classics and zombie films like Night of the Living Dead. My idea was to combine the old Black & White atmosphere with the red splattery gore of modern horror films, so I decided to make the blood in color.

The cemetery set was in a garage. I built all the gravestones. In horror movies, the caretaker is usually the first character to die. (The Wolf Man, 1941, for example) A cemetery being in the #1 setting where supernatural things occur, he is kind of stuck in a trap. My idea for The Deader the Better is that this is the movie where the caretaker fights back.

The idea of colorizing the blood came from indecision. I wanted to capture the look of the classic black and white horror films, but I also wanted to show some blood. So I kept the blood red. Also, as a kid, I used to draw gory comics. I’d use a pen or pencil, but would use a red crayon to color in the blood.

This was the last “film” I made before AVGN. It stands as an example of some of the horror films I plan to make in the future on a bigger scale.

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