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Rise of the Dead (sometimes stylized as ROTD and at one point knows as TFTV vs. The Rise of the Dead) is a 2014, pre-apocalyptic, horror-comedy short-film written by Joshua and Man-E Kerr and directed by Joshua Kerr. It serves as a spin-off and parody to Another Zombie Movie. It was produced by Inclement Films, TFTV Productions, and NSM Studios. This was the final film to be produced by TFTV Productions. The movie follows a group of teenagers who go camping in an isolated area in the woods, only to discover that flesh eating undead are on the loose. It was released May 2014 to mixed-to-positive reviews.

Plot
The film opens with Dr. Davis (a reference to AZM) shooting his test subject in the face. He then dials a number and says that he fears that he has caused "The Rise of the Dead". He is then attacked and killed by his thought-to-be-dead test subject (named "Two-Face" in the credits.) Afterwards, the opening credits start, revealing that Dr. Davis was working on a serum called "Time Injection". His subjects start showing strange and violent side effects. The opening credits end with with Davis's three subjects escaping. After the credits, the film introduces a film crew made up by Noah, Stephen, Sultan, Josh, Sabri, and Man-E. They film a scene and Josh (the director) cuts. He calls a wrap and asks if the crew is ready for a "super intense" camping trip. Josh asks an unseen member named Taylor (a reference to Taylor Irizzary) if he wants to join them. Taylor replies with "Not a chance!"(No doubt, a reference to Taylor Irizarry barely appearing in any TFTV/Inclement Films project). The scene ends with Josh saying that he'll call Selena to see if she's coming with them.

With everything packed, the group heads out to the camping area. Selena says to Josh, "Quite a nice camping area. Where'd you find it?" Josh replies with, "I knew a guy who knew a guy who knew my cousin's roommate. So it was a challenge to find." The word "challenge" echoes through the woods as a zombie's hand rises out of the ground (a reference to the original movie concept). After a few moments of comedy, the movie cuts to the next day. Josh goes out for a bike ride. Deep in the woods, his bike breaks and he has to fix it. The zombie, Two-Face finds Josh and attacks him. The scene cuts to much later as the group searches for Josh. They find a bloody pair of headphones and a walk man (both belonging to Josh) and hear loud screeching. They see zombies coming up a hill and run away, shoving Man-E to the ground. He lands near two zombies coming out of the lake and then runs away. Man-E makes his way to the campsite where another zombie is. He manages to "kill" it and then tries to get to the car, only to see a pack of zombies tumbling towards him.

The scene jumps to the rest of the group in a barn, discussing what's happening. They seem to have been separated further, as Sultan isn't there. Sultan runs into the barn. The group celebrates that he's alive and asks if he saw Man-E. He says that he didn't. The group is left in dismay. They start to remember how Josh used to play jokes on people and how Man-E used to burst through the door dramatically. Just then, Man-E dramatically bursts through the door, only to be knocked out by Sabri with a shovel. After Man-E awakens, they meet another group of people: Aslan, Ed, Lydia, and Aylissa. Aslan tells them that he and Ed had come to the campsite before (inferring that he could be the "cousin's roommate") and ran into zombies as well. He says that he and Ed came across Lydia and Aylissa in the barn and they've been trapped there for twenty eight days (a reference to 28 Days Later), living off of ice cream cones and duct tape. The conjoined group decides to stay in the barn for an uncountable amount of days. During one of these days, Sultan loses his thumb. After a zombie enters the barn, the group gets fed up and decides to fight back. They gather up some weapons and leave the barn to fight. During the fight, Selena is killed and eaten and Stephen gets bitten. They retreat to the barn where Aslan and Ed find a map to a lab. They decide it's the best hope for their friend and go to the lab. Upon leaving, they discover that Josh has been infected. Sultan hits him in the face and they run. Ed is then willingly eaten by a pack of zombies. Once they arrive, it's revealed that they were being followed the whole time by Two-Face and his horde. It is also revealed that Dr. Davis was only trying to achieve immortality with the help of "dark science" (science fused with the occult). Another reveal is that Aylissa and Lydia are two of the test subjects from the opening that haven't turned yet. And another is that the zombies can only be killed with fire. Zombies break through the drywall and swarm Sultan and Aslan. Sabri and Noah escape, leaving Man-E to fight off the horde on his own. He sets off an explosion while being eaten and kills quite a few zombies.

Noah states that they need to go back for Man-E because "he's one of us! Don't you get the point?" Ironically, a bit of debris then stabs him and he tells Sabri to go on without him, as more zombies approach. Sabri runs away, only to be surrounded by zombies. A stranger in a truck runs over them. They step out of the truck, revealing that it is Josh who actually never died or was infected. He gets Sabri in the truck and they drive off. Josh tells his tale of survival, leaving out how he escaped from Two-Face. He stayed hydrated by drinking his own urine and soon made it back to the barn where he was knocked out by Sultan. He found the gun and the truck and tried his best to find them. The truck only has enough gas to get them to the barn. They pull up to the barn and find two katanas. The film freezes as they face off against the zombies an it fades to credits.

An after credit scene reveals that the virus has spread worldwide. The detective who rescues Josh and Sabri from a cellar states that, "At least it can't get worse than this." It is then revealed that aliens are looking down at earth, waiting for their chance to strike. The rest of the credits then roll.

Cast
Joshua Kerr as Josh, an aspiring director who has an obsession with 80s pop. Joshua Kerr expressed desire to play a jerk who becomes a hero in the end.

Sultan Jenkins as Sultan, a cinematographer who was reluctant to join the camping trip. Jenkins was approached with the role in hopes that he'd have a bigger part in a film. "I sort of...kind of got my wish, I guess."

Man-E Kerr as Man-E, an aspiring actor who is usually the punchline to his friends' jokes. Kerr wanted to "Sort of not be a sarcastic jerk this time." He later expressed his dismay with the character, as "he literally had zero dimensions".

Steven Van Acker as Stephen, a terrible rapper obsessed with the history of guns. Van Acker accepted the role because "that's me."

Sabri Irizarry as Sabri, an irritating "generic teenager" who is addicted to texting. Because everyone thought the Irizarry's character was highly irritating in Another Zombie Movie, the Kerr brothers thought "it'd be funny to make her this really annoying girl who dies". Unfortunately, her death was switched with Selena's during production due to Selena being absent one day.

Noah Wells as Noah, a "Shop-Smart" employee who joins the group on the camping trip. The role was originally supposed to be played by Rhett Bailey with the character named "Rhett". Rhett could not make it for filming due to a busy schedule and Wells, who had tried out for the role of Two-Face, seemed like a good choice. He in fact was a great choice.

Aslan Irizarry as Aslan, a camper who was trapped in a barn. Aslan was written into the movie because Joshua wanted to see more of him in other productions.

Ed Kimpton as Ed, a camper who suffers from PTSD after witnessing his friends die. It is speculated that he was willingly eaten because he couldn't go on.

Cory Pederson as Dr. Davis, a scientist obsessed with immortality. His name is a reference to Dr. Davis from AZM. In an original draft for the script, Davis is still alive and kills himself as well as Rhett in an explosion.

Lydia LaBreck as Lydia, one of Davis's test subjects.

Xavier Williams as Two-Face, a zombie with a facial wound from Dr. Davis. It is revealed in the film that he is much more intelligent than other zombies and can talk. In an original draft, Two-Face has an emotional connection to Dr. Davis. Like a father-son connection.

Aylissa Damsen as Aylissa, one of Davis's test subjects.

Background
During the summer of 2013, Joshua and Man-E Kerr had various ideas for a horror-comedy called Within the Barn.It was largely inspired by the Evil Dead series The script had similar ideas to Rise of the Dead with the camping trip, but stopped there. 90% of it took place in the barn and instead of zombies being the antagonist, a hallucinogenic gas is released in the air, causing the characters to see their worst fears and kill each other in gory ways. The humor and overall story was deemed "too dark" and they started fresh. Man-E began working on ideas that would again be scrapped. The first act and half of the second act was half-done, but he thought it was far too intricate. In 2015, he titled it Alpha Dog. Joshua and Man-E collaborated again and began writing Rise of the Dead.

Pre-Production
Man-E Kerr stated that writing with his brother was difficult because "I think I'm just difficult to write with in the first place. Like, sometimes Josh would want a character to go left and I'd be like 'Nah, dude, he should totally go right.'" One setback was that Man-E had written 60% of the script and Josh read it. "I can't tell you how many times he'd written 'dude'", Josh laughed, "It was like he was writing a Ninja Turtles script." Josh began editing and adding more to the script. Another setback was Man-E had accidentally exited out of the script without saving it. It went from 80% complete to 40% complete. The script was completed during August 2013.

In early 2014, long after the premiere of Lord of the S'mores (a parody of Lord of the Rings), pre-production resumed. Since the film was viewed as a church production, some scenes were edited to be cleaner. Including a joke Man-E had written about suicide. "I seriously have no idea what I was thinking". Also, a scene where Josh was supposed to be listening to Madonna's Like A Virgin. "Dude, I thought it was about like...the Virgin Mary or something!" Man-E stated defensively. During pre-production, Joshua Kerr gave Sabri and Taylor Irizarry permission to add extra scenes and edit some of the script. Taylor and Sabri Irizarry added in "time injection" and the opening for the film. The opening caused major plot conflicts and Joshua Kerr had to edit the script around the changes.

Production
Once again, production proved to be stressful. "Sometimes we'd be pissed off about the heat", Man-E said in hindsight to the film, "or someone would be pissed about the script. And other times, some of us were just pissed in general." Production began in mid-March, with the opening scenes being filmed. Production on Rise of the Dead marked the first time the crew had used a Blackmagic camera and a jib. In mid-April, production ended.

Post-Production
Post production began in early April with Man-E and Joshua Kerr being more involved in the process. It was described as "more fun and laid-back than the actual filming". Taylor Irizarry, Man-E Kerr, Josh Kerr, and Aslan Irizarry all recorded voice overs for zombie sounds. During the editing sessions, Joshua and Man-E brought selected tracks from the Army of Darkness soundtrack to add a more comedic tone to the film. Some sessions included Joshua punching Man-E to get "grunting sounds". Another session included an impromptu voice over recording which would become Man-E's big speech in the film. He did not know it was going to be used in the movie and refuses to listen to it when the film is being played. Post production ended in late April.

Release and Reception
The film premiered in May 2014 and received much more praise than Another Zombie Movie. However, reviews were still mixed. The production value, stronger acting, and comedic tone were all praised, but the "smaller scale", countless flaws, inconsistencies, and mistakes were panned even worse than Another Zombie Movie.

Original opening
The original opening to the final draft of the script featured a black screen with credits as a recorded voice over of Dr. Davis explains what was happening. "Time injection" wasn't mentioned. It was known as "the formula". It also featured an opera song playing in the background. The original opening also referenced the occult many times.

Within the Barn In 2015, co-director Taylor Irizarry expressed interest in adapting Within the Barn

Sequel
When asked if a sequel would be made, due to the cliffhanger ending about aliens, Joshua and Man-E Kerr both stated that a script was half-written for a film entitled The Invasion, but they doubt it'd see the light of day.