Hello, and welcome back to my monster- fest!
I’ll come right out and say it: I am a HUGE Bruce Campbell fan. Also, it should be known that I’m not one of the many who just suddenly became Campbell fans after he became more of a household name through ‘Burn Notice’ and his cameos in the ‘Spider- Man’ films; I’ve been a fan of his ever since I was about 9 years old, when my family and I would gather around the TV set on Friday nights to watch ‘The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.’
It just seems that his protagonist characters maintain such a wonderful balance between being laugh- out- loud funny, and being genuinely heroic. They’re easy characters to both laugh at and cheer for. I actually met Campbell a couple years ago at a comic convention and got him to sign my copy of his autobiography “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B- Movie Actor†(Great read, btw), he’s a really nice guy and the Q & A session he did afterwards was freaking hilarious.
So, in that spirit, for the next theme I’ll be doing for the next several days, I’ll be looking at some of my favorite horror films starring Bruce Campbell. Of course, I cannot properly do such a theme without opening it by looking at the first well- known film he did, the cult classic ‘The Evil Dead.’ Made in 1981 by director Sam Raimi, it was the epitome of an independent, underground movie that made it big. ‘If Chins Could Kill’ has several chapters dedicated to all the hell that Campbell, Raimi and the rest went through in making ‘Evil Dead’ and getting it distributed, plus interesting comments on how they did some of the effects in it.
The story concerns a group of college students: Ash (Campbell, obviously), his girlfriend Linda, his sister Cheryl, and their friends Scott and Shelly. They go on a trip to a cabin in the woods they’ve rented out. They initially have a good time, up until they discover a trapdoor leading to a spooky- looking cellar. Down there, amidst the various clutter, they find a few interesting items: A still- functional shotgun with a few shells, a recording device with an active recording on it, and a book. The book, for those unfamiliar with the series, is the Necronomicon, the Book of the Dead. A Sumerian text detailing their burial practices and countless occultic rituals, written in human blood and bound in human flesh (And with a really creepy- looking cover).
Upon examining the book and playing the recording on the device, the teens hear a research scientist reading some passages from the book out loud. Playing this is apparently enough to once again wake the demonic forces in the woods, and they soon possess the bodies of the teens one by one, turning them into horrible, homicidal monsters, until Ash is the only one left with his own body to fight for survival against the things that used to be his friends, and try to live through the night.
It’s hard to really come up with legitimate complaints about ‘The Evil Dead,’ as most of what might be considered complaints can be easily attributed to the fact that it’s a no- budget independent film. The closest thing to a legitimate complaint I can come up with is its gore, which is something that could definitely put off some people. It is easily the goriest film I have looked at or plan to look at this month, and the only NC- 17- rated film I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Also, as someone who’s seen the entire series, this first one is easily the least funny out of them, but then again, it clearly wasn’t intended to be as much of a comedy film as they are, so it’s ok.
‘Evil Dead’ has a lot of good qualities, though. Bruce Campbell gives a good breakout performance as Ash. He’s not as cool, funny, or heroic as he is in the sequels, but he still does a very good job. The cinematography is wonderful for a no- budget film. The camera angles are quite diverse, and all fit their scenes perfectly. Even though all Raimi and his cast and crew had to film in was an abandoned cabin and its surrounding woods, they definitely make the most out of every square inch of the area, making it all look as isolated and ominous as possible. The makeup for the demon- possessed teens and other such visual effects are absolutely wonderful for a no- budget film, especially for a quite funny stop- motion scene in the film’s climax. It is also a genuinely scary movie in several scenes, especially those involving the girlfriend Linda in her demonic form.
That’s about all there is to say about ‘The Evil Dead.’ If you're a Campbell fan or a horror fan in general with a strong stomach, by all means see if you can check it out. Come back tomorrow when I talk about the second one!
