CULTURE: Filmmakers raising hell

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"What if you received a letter from hell?" is the opening line in a popular video, "A Letter from Hell," about a usually off-limits topic.

Tonight, little children across the country will traipse from door to door costumed as various denizens of the underworld: goblins, devils, zombies, ghosts and demons. The holiday's origins are borderline theological in that it acknowledges the existence of "hallows," an old English word for dead spirits.

And a dead spirit is who wrote the "letter."
Click to view the video:

"Dear Zack," says a voice-over from "Josh," a teenager. "I died today. It's a lot different than what I expected."

An accident scene and a ghostly tunnel flash onto the screen.

"Right after the wreck, I could feel my spirit leaving my body," Josh says, his words appearing in red letters on a black background. "It was the weirdest thing, Zack."

The teenager goes on to recount his appearance before several angels, one of whom casts him into a holding cell.

"He finally told me only those whose names were written in the Book of Life would get into heaven," Josh says. His tone then turns accusatory.

"Why haven't you ever told me how to become a Christian?" he asks. A note of terror enters Josh's voice.

"I can smell the burning sulfur and brimstone," he cries. "I am damned forever."