Marcie, whatever happened to your pal James?
Dark Dungeons, the Jack Chick flick put together by J.R. Ralls after a phenomenally successful Kickstarter, is almost upon us. Now Ralls has a chance to reflect on all that came before, he says he can’t quite believe how large, how professional his pet project has become.
After all, his Kickstarter was only looking for $12,500, which doesn’t exactly buy a lot of special effects, but when Zombie Orpheus came on board things changed. Orpheus’ support allowed Ralls to make a movie that was at least four times bigger than he had planned. “Movie making is an exponentially complicated process,” he admits. “Making a movie that is four times as big isn’t four times as complex, it’s more like 16 times as complex.” But it’s all worth it, he says, when fans tell him how excited they are about his project.
Dark Dungeons is about as faithful to Chick’s original as Ralls could manage, but there have been some changes along the way. There was supposed to be a third character, James, who gets sucked into the sinister world of RPGs along with Debbie and Marcie. James was meant to be the one who falls big time, and gives up his soul to D&D demons, but his part had to be cut; the film was just too long with him in it. It’s the one thing Ralls really wishes he didn’t have to do, but there was no choice.
“In film you have to ruthlessly cut what needs to be cut,” he sighs. “‘Kill your darlings’ is a common term for a reason.”
As far as Ralls is concerned, this is his last Chick flick, but he’s looking forward to seeing the end result up on the big screen. Dark Dungeons is due August 14th from Rallsfilm and Zombie Orpheus.
