Just ask anyone on the internet and they will be more than happy to tell you - Uwe Boll's House of the Dead is one of the worst horror flicks ever. Full stop. Hell, they might launch into a scathing anti-Boll's diatribe while they are at it and suggest that Dr. Boll would be better off dead. It's more than possible. In fact, it's probable. So with a reputation such as this, no one in their right mind could possibly entertain the idea of making a sequel to such a universally panned piece of work, could they? Surely not…

Alas, horror is big business these days, and even films regarded as complete and total disasters can spawn a sequel or two if they return a decent profit, and somehow, despite the fact that 99% of people who saw it hated it, House of the Dead did manage to make a profit, and as a result we now find ourselves looking down the barrel at House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim. Screenwriters Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer (Alone in the Dark) were given the monumental task of turning the House of the Dead franchise into a less despised entity, and with Uwe Boll out of the directors chair and a trailer promising us much zombie fueled mayhem, fan expectations are actually higher than one would expect.

With the film already having made its its premiere on America's Sci-Fi channel before a Region 1 DVD release on March 21, screenwriters Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer took time out to talk to Digital Retribution about House of the Dead 2, the art of screen writing, and their previous collaborations with the notorious Dr. Boll.

Digital Retribution: Could you tell us what goes through your mind when you sit down to write a sequel to one of the most universally despised horror films of all time?

Michael Roesch: At the point when we started to write the script for HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2, the first movie hadn't been released yet. But even back then, without any reaction of the public, neither director Uwe Boll, nor producer Mark Altman, nor any of the other producers were happy with the first movie.

Peter Scheerer: And we thought we could only win. It was clear that the first HOUSE OF THE DEAD was not the movie everybody had hoped for. So our plan for the sequel was easy: Avoid as much as possible of what had been in the first movie. We wanted to get back to the roots of the HOUSE OF THE DEAD franchise. The games are first person shooters, it is all about action. So we wanted to focus on the AMS team, and their fight against the zombie hordes.

DR: There was no shortage of genre fans lining up to let the world know exactly what they thought was wrong with House of the Dead. Did you take any of these comments into consideration when throwing around ideas for the sequel?

PS: It was not difficult to see what was wrong with House of the Dead. And so like every screenwriter or director we always try to write a movie we would like to see in the theatre. Otherwise it would not work.

MR: We are very aware what the fans think - and often we had the same thoughts. We are horror fans, so we are interested in reading the opinions of other horror aficionados out there in the internet.

DR: Did you draw any inspiration from the video games for House of the Dead 2?

MR: Yes! We wanted to make a movie more true to the HOUSE OF THE DEAD games.

PS: We focus on the AMS agents. We´re sending a platoon of special forces, like the Marines, to the very heart of the zombie plague, to a point of no return, and then let hell break loose.

DR: Did the two of you get to spend a lot of time on the set?

PS: Unfortunately not! We were at that time out of the country, working on another project.

MR: But we would have loved to hang out on the set, maybe be even an extra at one of the big zombie battle scenes.

DR: What inspired you to set the sequel around a college campus?

MR: To be honest, this was a wish of the producers.

PS: We had first another location in mind, where we could send the AMS agents to.

DR: Does the campus setting allow for some Revenge of the Nerds/Animal House style hijinks in the film, or is everyone too busy blasting zombies to indulge in such juvenile activities?

PS: There were no such scenes in our original draft, but Mark Altman later added some scenes.

MR: Mark is a writer himself, he wrote some great movies like FREE ENTERPRISE. So he rewrote our script later together with Mike Hurst, the director. It's the job of a director to change and shape a script acording to his vision.

DR: Uwe Boll managed to cram a great deal of action and gore into his first installment. What can we expect from the second serving?

MR: It´s a completely different movie than the first HOUSE OF THE DEAD movie, but there will be still non-stop action and a lot of blood and gore!

PS: All the blood and gore scenes will be on the DVD, which will be released by Lions Gate end of March.

DR: Given the reaction to the first House of the Dead a lot of fans will be lining up to see if the sequel could possibly be any worse. Do you think this will provide a ready made audience and guarantee the film a certain level of success?*

PS: A lot of people are curious about the movie. We haven't seen the movie yet, so we are curious too. But we think it will be a success because the HOUSE OF THE DEAD franchise is such a great game series. There are so many fans who want to see a HOUSE OF THE DEAD movie which is more true to the games.

MR: It´s such a great game franchise. It deserved a sequel which brings the mood and tone of the game more faithfully to the screen.

DR: Just for the record – will House of the Dead 2 feature any video game footage?

PS: Short answer: No. (So we were told)

MR: The video game clips were a disaster, so we´re glad that the new movie is "video clip free"!

DR: Horror fans will be pleased to see Ellie Cornell appearing in the sequel, but didn't she kind of die from amputation related injuries in the first film?

MR: Her character was not in our original draft, Mark Altman added her later while rewriting the script!

PS: Hey! It's a zombie-movie. I mean, it's all about dead people coming back.

DR: The two of you have worked together on a number of projects and even share the same official website. Where did you meet, and what made you decide to team up and tackle the world of film together?

MR: We know each other since school! We started to shoot short horror and action movies on an old Super 8 camera, while we were in high school.

PS: Later we began to write screenplays. Thanks to the internet you can even work on two diffrent locations on the same script. We loved movies and we loved to make movies. But at the beginning like for a lot of people it seemed almost impossible to find a way into the film industry. But fortunately our career took off and we could sell every screenplay we´ve ever written. So we're very lucky with that.

DR: What are the benefits of collaborating with another likeminded persons during the screenwriting process as opposed to going solo?

PS: One advantage is to balance out ideas. If you are working alone, you maybe think an idea is great - but in the end it´s maybe not. To exchange ideas, to work together on concepts makes the scripts in the end much better.

MR: And it´s the enormous amount of work, which you can handle much easier if you are working as a team. Sometimes we ask ourself how other directors or screenwriters handle all this work alone.

DR: Any disadvantages?

MR: The advantages are much more than the disadvantages!

PS: That´s maybe the reason why more and more writing teams, and even directing teams work in Hollywood today.

DR: Could you give us an idea of a typical day in the life of Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer during the scriptwriting process?

MR: We work very structuredly, usually even the first draft of our scripts works very well. That´s a reason why many producers hire us. First we start to work on the concept and the storyline. We don't start to write before the storyline with all twists and turns works perfect. This takes a few weeks.

PS: You have to be disciplined. As a writer you always find an excuse why especially today is not a good day to write a scene. So I try to force myself to write every day at least some lines. Normally late in the night we send the pages to each other and discuss them at the phone. So sometimes there are long nights.

DR: You recently finished shooting your first directorial collaboration Brotherhood of Blood. Can you tell us a bit more about that one?

MR: We just wrapped BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD a few weeks ago, the shooting went very well. It´s a vampire movie! Sid Haig and Ken Foree from THE DEVIL'S REJECTS are in the movie, as well as Victoria Pratt from Mutant X. When we started the project two years ago, we planned to have a very small movie with maybe one or two good actors. But then a lot of people read the script and agents and actors loved the story and the way it´s told, and it was surprisingly easy to get a great cast - even on this size of budget. So we're now aiming for a limited theatrical release.

PS: We look forward to seeing the movie in theatres sometime this fall or winter. But first BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD will be in post production the next six to seven months.

DR: Sid Haig appears in both House of the Dead 2 and Brotherhood of Blood. What is he like to work with?

PS: Sid is great! He is a really nice guy, and a great actor.

MR: He is always very well prepared, very professional and he never complained when some special effect stuff took longer than expected. Sid is a horror legend, it is great that we got him in our movie.

DR: You've both worked in various aspects of film production, from producing, to screenwriting, to directing. Do you have a particular favourite?

MR: Screenwriting and working as producer is great, but directing is the best. Right now we are working on some ideas for our next project as directors, which we will start to write soon. It will be a horror movie again!

PS: It was a great experience to direct BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD, so we got hooked on directing. If you love to tell stories than you have to direct.

DR: What did you make of the fan reaction to Alone in the Dark?

PS: We understand the reaction of the fans. We were also not happy about how our script was changed. When we came to the project, Uwe already had three different scripts from different writers – and neither Uwe nor the producers liked any of them. Now Uwe had the problem, that - for various reasons - he had to start shooting the movie in 8 weeks. So Uwe gave us a rough storyline and four weeks to write a script - not much time. So our first draft was certainly not perfect but it worked. But then development hell started...

MR: One of the producers hired another screenwriter to polish our script. But the writer delivered a whole new script with a complete different story. This was three weeks before shooting. And now instead of staying with one of the drafts, they started to randomly blend the drafts. One scene from this draft, one from the other - it was amazing, and of course the result was horrible. They polished and changed this script several times. Every day there were new drafts until they started shooting.

DR: Does all this anti-Boll sentiment on the net seem a bit much? He's been called everything from an incompetent director to the devil incarnate.

MR: I think the criticism about Uwe in the internet has gone way over the top.

PS: It is one thing if one doesn´t like Uwe´s movies, but another thing if one wants to have Uwe killed.

DR: You've collaborated with Uwe Boll on a number of projects. Do you think this may also affect the way horror fans look at your own contributions to the genre?

PS: No, a movie is in the end always the directors vision.

MR: I think it is easy. If a movie is good, the people will love the movie. If the movie is bad they don't love it. That's with every movie and with every director.

DR: So far your work has been confined mainly to horror. Do either of you have any desires to branch out and work in other genres?

MR: There are some other genres that would be interesting, so let´s see what the future holds for us. But from all the genres horror is the best!

PS: Horror is our favorite genre, so expect more horror movies from us!

DR: What other projects can we look forward to from Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer in the future?

PS: Right now we are in post-production for our movie BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD. This will take another 5 to 6 month, so that the movie can be released this fall or winter.

MR: And we are working on some ideas for our next project. A very scary horror movie.

House of the Dead II will receive its American DVD release on March 21.

Michael Roesch (Left) and Peter Scheerer (Right) on the set of Alone in the Dark with Christian Slater and Uwe Boll.