S3E19: It’s Dead Easy!

Ever been haunted by a movie? “Tales From The Crypt Presents Dead Easy” is a movie that, to this day, still haunts us.

The Harlequin character we created for “Dead Easy” had ‘franchise!” written all over him! He had “Great Movie!” written all over him, too.

“Dead Easy” is the movie we should have made instead of “Bordello Of Blood”. It was the movie we started to make. Hell, we spent six weeks in New Orleans prepping the movie, scouting locations and setting up shop. Then Universal Pictures (our studio) pulled the plug and the rest is history.

But, our loss is now your gain! The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast presents a TABLE READ of the unproduced second TALES FROM THE CRYPT branded feature film DEAD EASY. The one that “got away”… .

Our cast for the table read: SEAN ASTIN, JAKE BUSEY, TIA CARRERE, BRETT CULLEN, JOHN KASSIR, CHELSEA REBECCA and LESLIE ZEMECKIS. As the CRYPT KEEPER might put it, it’s an entertainment SPOOK-tacular!

Unmade Classics

Some movies become “Unmade Classics” because they go unmade. They become the cinematic equivalent of zombies.

DEAD EASY is one of those movies. We set out to make it as the second “TALES FROM THE CRYPT” feature film (after the very successful first feature “DEMON KNIGHT”:”). Alas, three weeks before the start of principle photography, our studio – UNIVERSAL PICTURES – cancelled “Dead Easy”. Instead, they had us make a movie we didn’t want to make – BORDELLO OF BLOOD. And therein lies not just a tale, but the basis for this whole podcast!

As our first season wound down in 2022, we wanted to 1) celebrate and 2) raise some money for a charity we feel strongly about – the Motion Picture Home. Crypt fans had been asking for years about Dead Easy. In particular, they wanted to read the script. They wanted to know – did a hard copy of the script even exist?

The answer was – yeah – a copy of Dead Easy’s production draft did exist – and, so, we decided to let the fans experience it – for better and/or worse. And, so, we put together a table read. Our casting director VICTORIA BURROWS did some more of her Cryptian magic and pulled together a great cast. Sean, Jake, Tia, John and Leslie all have Crypt connections. Brett and Chelsea were new to the Crypt fold.

As it’s a table read, it’s technically rough in places. We apologize for the audio quality – and the occasional sound of trains passing. Hopefully, you’ll get seduced by the story we wanted to tell – and all the coulda-shoulda-woulda’s had we made “Dead Easy”.