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Synopsis
A very hungry man is granted an apple pie free of charge, but fails to notice it was from an evil warlock who wants something in return.
Characters
Production History
After the release of October 2013’s HOnTED DOG, Ralph and Casey decided they should make Halloween horror short films a tradition. On August 18, 2013, a teaser image was posted to social media, teasing the title page of a script that read “Untitled Halloween Project”. Like HOnTed DOG, this new project would have to have a title that was a food-pun. Soon, this “untitled Halloween project” became Apple Die, a movie about an enchanted apple pie.
From the get-go, it was known that Apple Die would have to involve a witch, given the rich history between witches and baked goods throughout horror stories and international folklore. The first draft of the script featured a witch-run magic bakery that sold enchanted pies. For budgetary reasons (more specifically, not having a semblance of a budget), a bakery was changed out for a pie stand on a dirt road. The script was finished in early September, with scripts going out to actors September 9, and Ralph and Carly went looking for costumes (something HOnTed DOG had not really required). The climactic fight scene at the end of the film was also rehearsed and blocked during after-work hours. Casey purchased some props from an independently-owned costume store as well, one that said they would promote the film upon its completion.
On October 1st, a teaser poster was released to social media, featuring a blood-splattered piece of apple pie, stating “From the creators of HOnTed DOG comes a new slice of horror…”.
Production began on October 11, 2014, with the apartment-based scenes, the last scenes of the film, getting filmed first. These scenes were filmed at actress Laura’s then-boyfriend’s family’s house (which explains the curious doll collection and plethora of family photos on the walls). Because of work obligations, filming had to start late at night. The dialogue scenes were filmed first, with the fight scene portion commencing at 3 am. Laura was initially concerned about the whipped cream pie flying around, and advised Ralph and Casey the whipped cream could land anywhere except the couch. Whipped cream got on the couch on the first take. Despite the couch’s injury, production continued and filming wrapped at 5:30 am. After Ralph and Casey departed, a sleep-deprived Laura had to deal with a possum who had snuck in one of the open house doors.
Production resumed the very next day (technically the same day) for Casey and Ralph. Despite the low level of sleep, the outdoor scenes were filmed easily in a few hours with Katrina Tracy, a friend of the crew, as actress. The wrap party took place immediately and included tons of chilling.
With all the footage “in the can”, editing started, as well as the focus on the poster. The release poster for the film was made on the days October 15-16, 2013. Casey, a huge fan of word-play and double-meanings, wanted the tagline on the poster to read “You’ll Have Seconds. . .to Live”. He thought it was very clever, as it would mean you would have “a second helping of pie”, but after “to live”, “seconds” would become the seconds as they are related to time. When Ralph tested this tagline out with all of his co-workers, however, no one got it. When Ralph asked more people he knew, they also didn’t get it. Casey fought dearly for his clever tagline, going to so far as to call everyone who didn’t get it “stupid”, but ultimately would lose out to the much simpler “He was hungry, but not for death.” The poster was released to social media accounts on October 16, 15 days before the release of the film.
Editing continued during the last half of October. A rough cut was sent to Ralph on October 17 and special effects tests were sent to Ralph on October 23. Through the remaining days and late nights, the movie was cleaned up, made tighter, and completed. Cat cat Productions’ second horror film was complete! Apple Die was released to the world via YouTube on October 31, 2014.
Despite being sent the final film, the costume store never promoted the film.
