Death Walks the Streets

Infobox_Film
name = Death Walks the Streets

---

writer = James Zahn
Ben Brezinski
starring = Christian Kane
director = James Zahn
producer = Christian Kane
Daniel J. Heffner
James Zahn
language = English
budget = TBA | music = John Roome
imdb_id = 0447920

Death Walks the Streets is an American multimedia project that includes a planned trilogy of independently produced action/horror films and a series of comic books. The cross-genre series includes Vampires, Demons, Zombies, and Werewolves co-existing with human characters. The film project has been in development since 2004, while the comic books were first released on June 26th, 2008 at Wizard World Chicago with an exclusive edition limited to 333 pieces.. [ [http://www.dreadcentral.com/story/exclusive-look-death-walks-streets-0 Dread Central Exclusive Look at Death Walks the Streets #0, 06/19/2008] ]

Originally starting as a concept for one film, Death Walks the Streets has been in development since 2004. The first known public announcement of the project occurred on February 18th, 2005 in a feature article entitled "Local Filmmakers Search For Hollywood Ending" [ [http://www.deathwalksthestreets.com/media/press/dwts_2005_lakeland.pdf Lakeland News Article] ] appearing in newspapers throughout Lake County, Illinois. The following week the project received coverage in Fangoria [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060520112558/fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=3614 Fangoria Article via Internet Archive] ] and an article in the Chicago Tribune entitled "Vampires, Their ilk to overtake town." [ [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/803680321.html?dids=803680321:803680321&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+6%2C+2005&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&edition=&startpage=2&desc=Vampires%2C+their+ilk+to+overtake+town Chicago Tribune Archive, March 6, 2005] ] . At that time it was announced that production would begin in Summer 2005. Death Walks the Streets writers James Zahn and Ben Brezinski later were approached by a Chicago-based production company called Baby Galigo Studios and the project was pushed back. On December 9, 2005 Reel Chicago reported that the project was now set to include comic books and video games along with a "studio-style rollout" [ [http://www.reelchicago.com/archive.cfm?storyID=1100 Reel Chicago Article, 12/9/2005] ] and that Lionsgate was interested in the film.

In June 2006, Jason Guerrasio of Indiewire reported that the film "has sparked a following around the world, even though not one frame has been shot yet." [ [http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2006/06/production_repo_8.html Indiewire Article, 6/7/2006] ] and that production was scheduled for July 2006, with an April 2007 release planned through Echelon Entertainment. By July, the film was not yet in production, but former Angel actor Christian Kane was announced as both the star and co-executive producer in an article appearing in the Official Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magazine [ [http://www.joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=4796 Joblo.com Article, 7/25/2006] ] . In October, several members of the Death Walks the Streets cast appeared at the "Be Scared" event in Burbank, California and a similar appearance was announced for a 2007 Chicago, Illinois installment of Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors. [ [http://www.whedon.info/Christian-Kane-at-Fangoria-Event.html Whedon.info, 10/14/2006] ] On January 15, 2007 it was announced that the appearance had been canceled. [ [http://www.whedon.info/Christian-Kane-Death-Walks-The,20296.html Whedon.info, 1/15/2007] ]

On March 30, 2007, rumors of production problems became widespread due to an article published by Horror Yearbook [ [http://www.horroryearbook.com/541283/death-walks-the-streets-scam-or-movie Horroryearbook, 3/30/2007] ] questioning the integrity of the production and suggesting that corporate sponsorship was involved due in part to a nomination for "Most Anticipated Film" at the Spike TV Scream Awards, which were sponsored by Hot Topic. Two follow-up articles were aimed at one of the films Producers, who in turn fought the site via email for several weeks, ending in the threat of a lawsuit. [ [http://www.horroryearbook.com/541292/death-walks-the-streets-threatens-to-sue-horroryearbookcom Horroryearbook, 4/3/2007] ]

On June 8, 2007 it appeared that there was movement on the project when Twitch Film posted a photo of a werewolf-style creature from the film. [ [http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/creature-concepts-from-james-zahns-death-walks-the-streets/ Twitchfilm.net, 6/8/2007] ] In November an article suggesting that the film rumored to be shooting in Chicago was to shoot in Denver, Colorado appeared at Dorkgasm.com [ [http://dorkgasm.com/node/336 Dorkgasm, 11/21/2007] ] Just over one month later, several sites began reporting that the film was no longer to be produced by "Baby Galigo", and that the Producer had left the project, with the rest of the filmmakers moving forward on their own. [ [http://www.dreadcentral.com/node/25748 Dread Central, "Death Will Walk Again" 1/3/2008] ] [ [http://horror-movies.ca/horror_10395.html Horror-movies, "No More Baby Steps for Death Walks the Streets" 1/2/2008] ] [ [http://www.terrortube.com/html/Death-Keeps-Walking-On-The-Streets.html Terrortube, "Death Keeps on Walking in the Streets" 1/4/2008] ] [ [http://www.rabiddoll.com/index.php?p=186 RabidDoll, "Despite set-back, Death Walks the Streets moves forward." 1/4/2008] ]

In February 2008 movement was seen on both the film and comic book versions of Death Walks the Streets as a demo version of the film's "Main Title Theme" by composer John Roome appeared online [ [http://www.evildread.com/news_page.php?subaction=showfull&id=1201973763&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3& Evil Dread 2/2/2008] ] followed by a first-look at images from the comic. [ [http://horror-movies.ca/horror_10888.html Horror-movies 2/21/2008] ]

In April 2008, it was announced that the prequel comic book also titled "Death Walks the Streets" would be published by The Scream Factory, a new company formed after the fallout of Fangoria Comics. [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=152843 Newsarama, "THE SCREAM FACTORY ANNOUNCES BOOKS AVAILABLE @ WOWIO.COM" 04/07/2008] ]

On June 26, 2008 The Scream Factory officially launched their comic line including "Death Walks the Streets" at Wizard World Chicago. [ [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=16831&page=article Comic Book Resources, 06/17/2008] ] The books were then made available online via MerchDirect, an online merchandising company founded by Glassjaw guitarist Justin Beck.

Plot

"In the City of New Marshall, Michael Labou (Angel's Christian Kane) is reunited with his old friends after being released from prison and dreams of starting over with a clean slate & a simple life. His ties to an International Crime Syndicate known only as "The Organization" quickly come back to haunt him as he comes into possession of an ancient relic so coveted that the forces of good and evil - alive and dead - will stop at nothing to claim it as their own." [ [http://deathwalksthestreets.com/theorganization/index.php Official Website] ]

Cast

pin-offs

"Death Walks the Streets" spawned a series of prequel comic books in 2008.

Controversy

As of August, the IMDb profile for the project has been removed.

The project has been delayed on several occasions, but is currently rumored to have a 2008 release. [ [http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_8286.html Horror-movies.ca] ]

The project has been considered a hot-button issue for some fans [ [http://www.dreadcentral.com/node/2231 Dread Central] ] due to the pre-marketing of the film, while others have hailed the filmmakers for the advance buzz. [ [http://www.cincity2000.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=463&Itemid=29 CinCity2000] ]

News

* Named "Most Anticipated Movie of 2007" by F.C.P. Podcast (Episode 2.10) [http://www.myspace.com/fcpodcast]
* "Death Walks the Streets" panel announced for Fangoria Magazine's "Weekend of Horrors" 2007 [http://fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=3019]
* "Leaving Home and Hitting the Streets" - Article in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magazine #27 Oct/Nov 2006.
* "Death Walks the Streets" nominated for "Most Anticipated Film" for the 2006 Spike TV Scream Awards. User choice award presented by Hot Topic [http://www.hottopic.com/community/beheard/pollview.asp?LS=1&POLL_ID=208]
* "Kane Time, Kane Place" feature story about Christian Kane & "Death Walks the Streets", by Abby Berstein. Appears in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magazine #26 Aug/Sept 2006.
* Abaddon Concept Art at Dread Central (July 2006) [http://www.dreadcentral.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=60]
* indieWIRE Article (June 2006) [http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2006/06/production_repo_8.html]

References

External links

*
* [http://www.deathwalksthestreets.com Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/deathwalksthestreets Official MySpace]
* [http://www.unionlocal666.com/ Union Local 666 (Fan Site)]