The Man From Within The Earth Trilogy

The Man From Within The Earth Trilogy was a series of short home movies made by Brandon Kane, Christian Wheeler and Don Gerron in 1995 and 1996.

The three films were The Man From Within The Earth (1995), Return of the Man From Within The Earth (1996) and Revenge of the Man From Within The Earth (1996).

These three movies serve as the template for the Diabolical Tales series, and were originally intended to be the fourth, fifth and sixth entries in the series, with a plan to shoot new scenes and add new music, sound effects, and visual effects to each movie. However, because of the many stylistic differences from the three Diabolical Tales movies, this idea was discarded in 2002. Since then, the fourth, fifth and sixth entries in the series that the first three movies build towards remain unproduced.

The three movies are notable for introducing the characters of Agent Cooper, Zella, Master Zun, Zorak and Agent Nicholson that later reappeared in Diabolical Tales: Part I, Part II, and Part III.

Don Gerron is the only actor to continue his roles as Master Zun, Zorak and Agent Nicholson from the original Man From Within The Earth series into the Diabolical Tales trilogy, and has appeared in all six movies. Christian Wheeler, who played Agent Cooper in the original movies, also appeared in small roles in Diabolical Tales: Part I and Part III, and Jared Alcorn, who played John in the original movies, played Zellor in Diabolical Tales: Part II.

The Man From Within The Earth
Written, Shot and Edited in August 1995, The Man From Within The Earth was a schlock sci-fi/comedy set in 1957. The cast included:
 * Don Gerron as Zorak / Agent Nicholson
 * Jared Alcorn as John
 * Molly Dill as Mary
 * Rhonda Massie as Zella
 * Christian Wheeler as Agent Cooper

Return of the Man From Within The Earth
Return of the Man From Within The Earth was written and shot simultaneously with the third movie, Revenge of the Man From Within The Earth. Set in 1957, the cast included:
 * Don Gerron as Zorak / Agent Nicholson / Master Zun
 * Jared Alcorn as John
 * Molly Dill as Mary / Zella
 * Christian Wheeler as Agent Cooper
 * Robert England III as Zertag

Revenge of the Man From Within The Earth
Revenge of the Man From Within The Earth was written and shot simultaneously with the second movie, Return of the Man From Within The Earth. Set in 1958, the cast included:
 * Don Gerron as Zorak
 * Jared Alcorn as John / Zarkov
 * Molly Dill as Mary
 * Lori Sturgill as Zella
 * Christian Wheeler as Agent Cooper
 * Rhonda Massie as Zella
 * Phillip Stearns Jr. as Kutrag
 * Robert England III as Zertag
 * Brad Meredith as Major Konga

Making of the Trilogy
Each of the three Man From Within The Earth movies were shot in 5-7 days each, with roughly 2-3 hour shooting sessions each. The cast comprised of writer/director Brandon Kane and producer Don Gerron's friends and co-workers at Video Features rental store in Bloomington, Illinois, from the period of August 1995-July 1996.

The first movie, The Man From Within The Earth, was filmed within days of its initial writing, and was completed via VHS-to-VHS deck editing in August 1995.

The two sequels were written back-to-back and shot simultaneously, starting in October 1995 and concluding in May 1996 and July 1996, respectively. They were also edited via VHS deck-to-deck editing, but also utilized 90s era Video Toaster editing software.

The Man From Within The Earth Trilogy is chronicled in ''Schlock Treatment! A Secret History of the Men From Within The Earth documentary on the Diabolical Tales: Part I'' two-disc DVD set. It featured interviews with Don Gerron, Christian Wheeler, Jared Alcorn, Molly Dill, Rhonda Massie, and Brandon Kane.

Plan 4
In 1998 Kane wrote a sequel to the trilogy called ''Plan 4. Although unproduced, the script was set in 1960 and introduced the ancient villain Zalanubar to the series, which was later re-used as part of the ancient history of Agartha as recounted by Zerrath in Diabolical Tales: Part III''. Like the rest of the Man From Within The Earth Trilogy, the unproduced Plan 4 script is not considered part of the Diabolical Tales Series.