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Here is the low­down on a prac­ti­cal film­mak­ing guide geared towards any­one inter­ested in mak­ing their own inde­pen­dent hor­ror flick — from a guy who has done time in the horror-filmmaking trenches.  Danny Draven’s The Filmmaker’s Book Of The Dead is a com­pre­hen­sive guide that cov­ers every­thing from script­ing to sell­ing the fin­ished prod­uct, all based on real-life lessons that Draven received mak­ing his own films, and also includes inter­views with the likes of Tom Savini, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Debbie Rochon and many more.  Better yet, you can sam­ple the book before you buy it by going to the bot­tom of the text, where a link will allow you to access a chap­ter of the book in PDF form (it’s called “War Stories & Advice From The Trenches” and it’s pretty damn enter­tain­ing).  Read on for all the fright-filming details…


Survive tight bud­gets, wardrobe mal­func­tions, alco­holic vam­pires, and more to cre­ate your own heart-racing hor­ror film!


“Danny Draven’s book, The Filmmaker’s Book of the Dead How to Make Your Own Heart-Racing Horror Movie is a ter­rific new ‘How To’ for aspir­ing indie hor­ror film­mak­ers. In fact, there’s a ton of great infor­ma­tion packed inside mak­ing it a great go-to ref­er­ence for any­one involved with indie pro­duc­tion, not just hor­ror. If you want to learn how to make a hor­ror movie with­out enrolling in film school, this book is where your jour­ney should start!” —Todd Debreceni, Makeup Effects Artist/Designer, Author of Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen Making and Applying Prosthetics (Focal Press, 2008)

Sharing his per­sonal film­mak­ing expe­ri­ence, award-winning producer/director Danny Draven reveals how to cre­ate a spine-tingling hor­ror film from start to finish.

Readers will not only dis­cover how to craft the story, but also how to mas­ter using pro­duc­tion tech­niques, music, light­ing and edit­ing to thrill audi­ences. Straight-from-the-set tips will help read­ers avoid com­mon film­mak­ing pit­falls, and exten­sive infor­ma­tion on mar­ket­ing and dis­tri­b­u­tion will show you how to get your film out to the public.

  • Write, pro­duce, and dis­trib­ute your own low-budget but high-quality hor­ror film.
  • Find even more hands-on hor­ror advice and over an hour of video extras on the com­pan­ion web site!
  • Classic behind-the-scenes footage from Puppetmaster, Blood Dolls, Dead Hate the Living and more cour­tesy of Full Moon Features.

Readers will learn from ground­break­ing hor­ror leg­ends such as Lloyd Kaufman, Toxic Avenger; Robert Kurtzman, From Dusk till Dawn; James Wan, Saw; Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare of Elm Street films; Stuart Gordon, Re-Animator; Tom Savini, Night of the Living Dead; “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis; Charles Band, Trancers; David DeCoteau, Puppet Master 3; John D. LeMay, Friday the 13th: The Series; Debbie Rochon, Tromeo & Juliet; Reggie Bannister, Phantasm and many more!

The Filmmaker’s Book of the Dead

ISBN 13: 978–0-240–81206-9

PUB DATE: March

US PRICE: $39.95

EUR PRICE: €29.95

GBP PRICE: £19.99

SAMPLE CHAPTER! — Click on the fol­low­ing link to access a free PDF of Chapter 9: “War Stories & Advice From The Trenches” — Filmmaker’s Book of the Dead — Chapter 9