Super8Shorts.com - Before The Evil Dead, The Super-8 Shorts

While many have seen the iconic horror movie The Evil Dead, and its sequels Evil Dead II & Army Of Darkness, fewer know is that its creators & friends had a legacy of Super-8 Short film making stretching all the way back to their childhood in the late '60s. It's Murder, Within The Woods and The Blind Waiter are among the most prominent examples, but there were nearly seventy shorts made from 1969 onwards.

Here, you can purchase official & professionally produced DVD sets directly from the original film-makers, containing many of the shorts made by Bill Ward, Scott Spiegel & Josh Becker. Above you can watch a promo video, or see each DVD set available below.

Payments are managed through a Paypal Shopping Cart, and the shipping is calculated on checkout. Worldwide Airmail shipping is $8.50 for one, $12.50 for 2-3, and $18.00 for four or more DVDs. Shipping will usually take between 1-2 weeks depending on your location.

This first official DVD set was released in August 2017. It contains eleven of the earliest shorts made by both Bill & Scotty. It's available in 'Standard' & 'Deluxe' versions. They're both the same, although the 'Deluxe' set comes with four rather than two photos, and they're signed by Bill & Scott.

Inside the DVD case; booklet & photos, with DVD disc

The set laid out; booklet, cover, photos & DVD disc

Items laid out; booklet, DVD disc, photos & case

The 'Deluxe' signed set of four 6" x 4" photos laid out

Here is a complete list of everything you get in both 'Standard' & 'Deluxe' versions;

• One dual layer DVD containing the eleven shorts, each with an optional commentary track from Scotty, the DVD promo, motion menus, and full color printed disc artwork.

• A black standard DVD case with color glossy DVD sleeve.

• A four page handmade vintage style booklet, with an introduction from Bill, and notes on each short from Scott.

• 'Standard' set only - Three replica photos; one 6" x 4", and two 4" x 4".

• 'Deluxe' set only - Four 6" x 4" replica photos, signed by Scotty & Bill.

• A packed DVD-ROM folder, including; Both Scotty & Bill's raw unedited PDF notes for the DVD booklet, 132 Super-8 Shorts related behind the scenes, promo & miscellaneous photos, Super-8 Shorts Related Newspapers, Magazines & Text Files, information on the Super-8 Shorts Josh Becker used to sell, the Super-8 Shorts Score Project, and an offline backup of the BookOfTheDead.ws website as of the 13th of July 2017.

The list of shorts included runs at 67m 16s in total, and play in chronological order. The titles, dates & running times are as follows;

1. Inspector Clutz Saves the Day (1969) - 9m 00s
2. Pies & Guys (1971) - 3m 22s
3. Corny Casanovas (1971) - 6m 08s
4. For Crymin' Out Loud (1973) - 4m 31s
5. Piece of Mind (1973) - 6m 49s
6. A Night in a Sanitarium (1973) - 10m 13s
7. Loose Loot (1973) - 4m 50s
8. Three Smart Saps (1973) - 7m 38s
9. Three Pests in a Mess (1974) - 7m 35s
10. Booby Bartenders (1974) - 4m 26s
11. Curse of the Werewolf Teaser (1974) - 2m 38s

Scotty in a monster mask aged 13, in 1970

'Standard' Price $30

'Deluxe' Price $40

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Our second official DVD presentation was released in October 2017. It contains eleven further shorts directed or co-directed by Scotty, along with some of Bruce Campbell's early TV commercials, intercut with vintage 60's, 70's & 80's intros, credits, trailers, adverts & promos picked by Scotty from his extensive VHS, 8, 16, & 35mm collection.

Inside the DVD case; booklet & photos, with DVD discs

The set laid out; booklet, cover, DVD discs, & four random photos

Items laid out; booklet, DVD discs, photos & case

The complete set of twelve replica photos available, laid out

Here is a complete list of everything you get. It's only available as a 'Standard' option, no signed 'Deluxe' version this time;

• Two dual layer DVDs containing the eleven shorts & extras, each with an optional commentary track from Scotty, stop-motion animated menus, and full color printed disc artwork.

• A black standard swing-tray double DVD case with color glossy DVD sleeve.

• A four page handmade vintage style booklet, with notes on each short from Scott.

• A random selection of four, from a total of thirteen 6" x 4", 5.5" x 4", and
4" x 4" replica photos from Scotty's collection.

The list of 'featured' items play in chronological order, and run at 142m 29s alone, but 227m 28s including all the vintage adverts, trailers, promos and such. All the shorts have an optional commentary track by Scotty, as does some (but not all) of the additional material. You can see the list of the 'featured' items, with dates & running times below, or 'Click here' to expand the full running list.

2. Half-Wits-Holiday (1974) - 10m 58s
5. All The Worlds A Stooge (1974) - 6m 01s
16. No Dough Boys (1974) 11m 17s
25. The Singing Nutzs (1974) - 7m 45s
32. I'll Never Heil Again (1975) - 19m 41s
35. The James Hoffa Story (1975) - 12m 52s
39. James Bombed In 'Here Today... Gun Tomorrow' (1976) - 17m 57s
45. The Ghoul - Ch.62 Show Segments (1978-1979) - 11m 29s
48. Attack Of The Helping Hand! (1979) - 4m 58s
51. Compilation Of Shorts Clips (1974-1979) - 6m 57s
55. The Blind Waiter (1980) - 15m 29s
59. Torro, Torro, Torro! - Scotty's Edit (1981) - 3m 28s
65. Cleveland Smith Bounty Hunter - The Producer's Cut (1982) - 9m 09s
77. WHYT Radio Bruce Campbell Snake Commercial (1984) - 0m 29s
84. WHYT Radio Bruce Campbell Puppies Commercial (1984) - 0m 30s
89. Breakdancing Stooges (1984) - 2m 50s
96. WNIC Naturally Funny Bruce Campbell Commercial (1985) - 0m 31s

Bruce as James Bombed, with Tim & Rudy as henchmen, in 1976

Bruce with Sam in The Blind Waiter, in 1980

As fans will want to know specifics, the Attack Of The Helping Hand! transfer here is uncropped, brighter & better quality than featured on the semi-bootleg 2002 German Dragon Films Entertainment Intruder R2 SE PAL DVD, as is Torro, Torro, Torro! ; which is also edited differently. Cleveland Smith Bounty Hunter is a different edit to Josh Becker's official release, but The Blind Waiter is largely the same, also less cropped.

'Standard' Price $40
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Our third official DVD presentation was released in June 2018. It contains eleven further shorts directed or co-directed by Josh Becker, along three of Josh's 2013/14 SpineChillers shorts, and two of his feature film trailers.

Inside the DVD case; booklet & photos, with DVD discs

The set laid out; booklet, cover, DVD discs, & photos

Items laid out; booklet, DVD discs, photos & case

The handmade vintage style A5 flyer

Here is a complete list of everything you get. It's only available as a 'Standard' option, no signed 'Deluxe' version;

• Two dual layer DVDs containing the eleven shorts & extras, motion menus, and full color printed disc artwork.

• A black standard swing-tray double DVD case with color glossy DVD sleeve.

• A single page handmade vintage style A5 flyer, with content listing.

• Eight replica photos from Josh's collection.

The vintage shorts play in chronological order, and run at 179m 58s alone, but 221m 35s including the SpineChillers shorts & trailers. This release does not come with a commentary track. The titles, dates & running times are as follows;

1. Public Enemy Revisited (1971) - 7m 47s
2. Additional Footage (1971) - 1m 59s
3. Oedipus Rex (1972) - 6m 20s
4. Super Student (1972) - 8m 52s
5. The Case of the Topanga Pearl (1976) - 5m 59s
6. The Final Round (1977) - 26m 15s
7. Acting & Reacting (1978) - 21m 47s
8. Holding It (1978) - 19m 15s
9. The Blind Waiter (1980) - 17m 29s
10. Stryker's War (1980) - 48m 15s
11. Torro, Torro, Torro! (1981) - 6m 46s
12. Cleveland Smith Bounty Hunter (1982) - 9m 08s
13. Sorry I Couldn't Make It... (2013) - 15m 04s
14. Are You On Your Way? (2013) - 8m 43s
15. Estate Sale (2014) - 13m 43s
16. Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except Trailer (1985) - 2m 09s
17. If I Had a Hammer Trailer (1999) - 2m 34s

Bruce in Holding It, in 1978

Josh with Ted Raimi on the set of Stryker's War, in 1980

Josh had these Super-8 shorts professionally transferred & remastered to DVD at CinePost in Marietta, Georgia (with the exception of Torro, Torro, Torro!, which is from a VHS source). It's worth noting that the vintage content available on this release is identical to the five DVDs which Josh sold through his website 'BeckerFilms.com', between 2010 - 2016. The DVD authoring has been tweaked, menus added, and given proper packaging, but the actual transfers are the same.

Further, the Torro, Torro, Torro! & Cleveland Smith Bounty Hunter transfers here are the original edits, unlike the shorter versions on DVD2, and the transfer of Stryker's War has it's original musical score, unlike the version included on the 2012 Synapse Films Blu-ray & DVD Combo release of Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except.

'Standard' Price $35
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While a small number have leaked out as bootlegs over the years, and a handful officially released, this will be the first time many of these shorts have been publicly & officially seen. The shorts themselves are made up of both footage the group shot themselves, and stock footage they had access to, along with occasional Three Stooges dialog, stock music & sound effects.

Scotty transferred many of the huge number of shorts from Super-8 film to S-VHS tape back in the 1990s, and later on to DVD, when he added/upgraded certain stock shots simply unavailable back when they were originally shot. While this material has been newly re-authored & repackaged for this release, the content of the shorts themselves (including any music) remains untouched. These DVDs are pretty much the experience you would have had on viewing these shorts when they were first shown back in the '70s. If you'd like to read more on the history of the shorts, or see a full list of the shorts made, visit 'BookOfTheDead.ws'.

Please bear in mind; All our DVDs are in Region free 4:3/Full-Screen interlaced NTSC format, written on Falcon Media DVD+R glossy printed Dual Layer discs. while the master discs have been checked through on two DVD players, two Blu-Ray players, and one HD-DVD player, some much older DVD players released before Dual Layer writeable DVDs existed, have a well known issue playing past the layer break point. One DVD player tested from 2002 was found to have this issue. While this hasn't of yet been a problem for any of our customers so far, it's worth mentioning, so you know.

While this site will remain online permanently, it's unlikely that any further shorts will be released here in the immediate short term. That may hopefully change down the line, but for the moment, it will stop at the DVD sets currently available. Of the total sixty-four known Super-8 Shorts, the twenty-two titles released over box-sets 1 & 2, consitute the bulk of the titles owned/co-owned by Bill Ward & Scotty Spiegel. The eleven shorts on box-set 3 constitue the bulk of the titles owned/co-owned by Josh Becker (leaving three of his early shorts unreleased), around eight further unreleased shorts are owned/co-owned by Bruce, Twenty owned/co-owned by Sam, and one by John Cameron.

These DVDs are only being sold via this official website, and all the profits go directly to the Shorts' creators. If you have any questions or problems please get in touch via the below email address, and follow us on 'Facebook' & 'Twitter' for any updates.

info@super8shorts.com