Easter Eggs: Go to the Extras Menu, and move the selection highlighter to the eyes of the background face. The Left Eye will play a funny edit prank – actor Tim Lovelace's laugh looped between a dialogue exchange (:32) – and the Right Eye will play footage (1:04) of, uhm, a giant painted Easter Egg on a kitchen table. Ba-dum-dum!

Begun in 1995, multi-hyphenate Michael Kallio spent 8 years finishing his debut film, ultimately enjoying the ephemeral excitement of a theatrical screening on Feb. 25 th , 2002, at a theatre in Royal Oaks, Michigan. The included “World Premiere” featurette, with a tuxedoed Kallio and producer Bruce Campbell, illustrates the kind of glory every indie filmmaker wants: a finished film, an excited audience, a ritzy premiere, and lots of hometown support for a work that hopefully will launch a prolific filmmaking career. Whether “Hatred of a Minute” – the title a spin on an Edgar Allan Poe work – will prove lucky for Kallio certainly rests with the reception of is film and the DVD, which showcases Kallio's earnest aspirations with lots of supplementary material.

A mix of goofball humor, fans of Bruce Campbell's previous tracks will find familiar references to “shemping” (when an actor appears in different roles in a single film), and the “Adam 12” effect (a constant repetition of background images, like palm trees while the “Adam 12” cops talk shop in their moving car), plus no-budget ploys like “O'Loule's” beer (with signage enhanced by strategic tape), and wine ‘with a Tuesday vintage.'

Accompanied by Kallio, Campbell discusses how a local, vibrant commercial industry can provide ample acting and production labour outside of the Hollywood film factory. Kallio's film is rough in spots, and as a first effort, there's structural flaws which sometimes affect the film's intended impact. Playing the lead is also a stretch for the director, and although Kallio and Campbell engage in sufficient production and story discussions, more details regarding the film's genesis and production hurdles are heavily lacking.

Even in his liner notes for the booklet, Kallio doesn't get into the missing years. Pity that emotional chunk of the filmmaker's struggle didn't get discussed between Campbell and Kallio on their commentary track (although Campbell 's own liner notes add a bit of background to the project's formation, along with a jab at a hypothetical “uncut” edition of the film at a later date).

Kallio's second commentary track includes contributions from sound designer Joel H. Newport. It's a light-hearted track, but most listeners will find the scope limited and repetitive after a half hour. Newport 's excellent work gives the film a dense mix of sound effects and music, but after the sonic structure of several keys scenes are dissected – incorporating organic, processed and synthetic effects – a move to another production aspect is necessary, and that can't really happen without the participation of another technician.

The remaining extras are a mixed bag, and one does get the sense Kallio tried to create diversity from his unused material.

“Deleted Scenes” begins with a silent collection of trims and unused shots, followed by 3 genuine deleted scenes with production sound and basic effects. “The Extended Scenes” gallery showcases 3 trimmed scenes, which are preceded by a text intro. (Some glaring typos mar the intended seriousness, however: “dialouge,” “burys,” “plea's,” and “step father” are a quartet of boo-boos.)

“Outtakes” strings together various bloopers, from window-boxed footage with time code, and is largely drawn from interior scenes, including the bloody kitchen confrontation between Glenn and Jamie. That latter scene is covered in the featurette “Hating Every Minute,” in which the final argument, struggle, and gore effects are assembled, with onscreen text captions comments from Kallio. Shot on grainy, dim, handycam footage, it's pretty standard stuff, though at 17 minutes, there's little variation to maintain consistent interest (although Campbell is heard, and later shown, standing with the active crew).

Kallio has since gone on to make an ultra-quickie feature, “Mutant Swinger From Mars,” and the documentary “Ladies of the Evil Dead: Two-Sided Chainsaw.”

© 2003 Mark R. Hasan