Evil Dead & Within The Woods - From Anchor Bay

As many of you out there know, we have a special BOOK OF THE DEAD edition of THE EVIL DEAD releasing on March 5th. Over the past year that we have been working on this release, we were always hopeful that the original short film, WITHIN THE WOODS, would finally be included on an EVIL DEAD home video release.

Some months back, we were thrilled to be able to do just that, as we were able to clear many hurdles that had prevented the release of the film for so long. A lot of work was done and everything was going fine. I, myself, was excitedly trumpeting this feature to attendees of the recent Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in NYC.

However on Monday, we were notified of an unexpected situation that is going to prevent us from including WITHIN THE WOODS on our DVD. I do not have further details on that. However, this is not an attempt to hold the short back for another release of EVIL DEAD down the line, or anything of that nature. Needless to say this is disappointing for us as I am sure it will be for the fans.

As a result of this, WITHIN THE WOODS is being removed from our packaging and website details, and will not be mentioned in any further ads or print material concerning our March 5th EVIL DEAD promotion. Unfortunately a few advertisements were already running that do mention WOODS, however at this stage we weren't able to recall everything.

We sincerely hope this will not dissuade anyone from purchasing THE BOOK OF THE DEAD edition come March. It will be a terrific package with several new features such as Bruce Campbell's FANALYSIS and the new DISCOVERING EVIL DEAD featurette which features appearances from producer Robert Tapert and EVIL DEAD actors Sarah York and Betsy Baker. Not to mention Tom Sullivan's sterling work on the BOOK itself which has excited everyone we have shown it to.

In the end, we did everything we could to make WITHIN THE WOODS happen, but, as many other studios have experienced, sometimes last-minute roadblocks can intervene when everything seems set in stone. We've never had an occasion where a feature of a DVD had to be dropped at such a late stage in the process, however we are 100% positive that this will not delay the street date, and that the BOOK OF THE DEAD will, irregardless of this change, a worthy and exciting release come March 5th.

We appreciate everyone's support of Anchor Bay and THE EVIL DEAD at Mobius and throughout the DVD community, not to mention the cast & crew of THE EVIL DEAD, many of whom have contributed greatly to our upcoming DVDs.

If anyone has any questions or comments please let me know.