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Chainsaws, Demons & Gore: OH MY!
For any artist (actor, musician, filmmaker, or anyone for that matter) in the film industry, one of the most important things for them is to recognize the industry they work in, and to have a basic understanding of the demographic they cater to. Those that understand this simple fact, do go a long way - one of the few reasons I admire Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan as true professionals and experts in their field, who truly know how to tap the nerve of their awaiting audiences and recognize their pulses. This basic understanding should not change with independent artists of any kind either. Which is why I like to mix up my Netflix queue with independent films from time to time. But one I had heard way too much about and didn’t get a chance to watch until very recently finally got the best of me…
EVIL DEAD
One of the beautiful things about working in the independent film industry is that you hear names like Bela Lugosi and Bruce Campbell, and you hear about how much people love them, and the kind of cult following they have… and it makes you wonder who these people are. Next thing you know, you get sucked into this whole other world, that most people wouldn’t have even heard of. Now Bruce Campbell I remembered from Brisco County Jr., a western TV show which had its fair share of a couple of seasons, but the more I heard about him and the Evil Dead series, and how Sam Raimi, the now-famous director of the Spiderman series first got into filmmaking, the more my interest in this movie piqued.
It really can’t get simpler than this…
The story: Five teenagers on vacation. One cabin. One haunted forest. No way out.
The formula: Bloody? Check. Gory? Check. Bodily dismemberment? Check. People turning into Candarian Demons? Check, check, and double check!
The demographic: Teenagers and young adults munching popcorn in a theater, where the guy is hoping for the girl to get scared and jump into his arms. (He scores, by the way.)
Leave it open for a sequel? Why not?
Most successful movies consist of spectacular performances, high production values, mind-blowing special effects… oh, right, and a damn good story. This movie negated ALL of that. In every sense of the word, this movie was truly independent in all its forms, and THAT became its reason for success. The performances? Umm.. who cared? High production values? HA! Anything but! It was shot on 16mm! Awesome special effects? Yeah right! The blood was made from Karo Syrup (maple or corn syrup + food coloring), for crying out loud! And the budget? A measly $85,000 (which would go up later with post-production costs). You can hear Bruce, Sam, and Bob Tapert’s (producer) accounts on how they went about collecting the finances in the video below. A fascinating watch for all movie fanatics and filmmakers alike. Watch Bob’s understanding and analysis of the market, Sam’s make-it-yourself version of the steadycam, and Bruce’s account on their persistence at approaching people for money.
Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Bob Tapert discuss the financing and making of the movie…
[youtube]LmMGXOSBCSs[/youtube]
Now the sad thing about this movie was that even though the film was solely intended for the American audiences, no American distributor would even touch the film. It had to make a trip to Cannes, get picked up by a British distributor, and have a successful run in the UK, way before any of the American distributors even noticed it. This next clip discusses the very same…
Sam Raimi discusses how they got distribution
[youtube]vSMmWMIxUCE[/youtube]
And finally… (my favorite part) how they began…
Sam and Bruce on their earlier films
[youtube]-fw8ZCAPYLI[/youtube]
From the few people I have heard talk about the film and witness this film first-hand in the 80s, I’ve been told that it had an initial cold response, but picked up after the video games for the same released. Could anyone confirm this? (t! I’m lookin at you here!)
I don’t want to make this into a review, but I can’t help but applaud the film for the way it was made in the time it was made. I didn’t have many expectations going into the film, but I was pleasantly surprised that a low-budget indie horror in those times could actually be as scary as this one was even in present day. Again, not to say I was scared and crying for my parents to come and save me, but visually, this film DID achieve a certain scary factor, which I’m sure Sam intended. The infamous tree rape scene was unnecessary, I felt, but turns out Sam felt the same way. The technicals of the film don’t need to be pointed out, save the fact that everything looks really cheaply done, and in this case, THAT is what makes this film so great (and a cult classic)! Needless to say, the sequels (Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness) are already on my queue.
I also watched the off-broadway musical version, Evil Dead: The Musical, on Christmas eve, and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! For anyone in New York, I would highly recommend checking out this show. With hilarious musical numbers like What the Fuck was that?, Do the Necronomicon, and You Blew that Bitch Away!, you can’t go wrong. The musical stays very true to the movie, and blows the audience away with its “looks cheap” special effects, song and dance numbers, brilliant performances, and highlighting the mood of the movie in its under 2-hour production. For the brave-hearted, there is also the “splatter zone”, the first 3 rows, where the fake blood is spewed from onstage to its audience members to make them feel part of the action. Are you brave enough?
So if you’re not doing anything this weekend and want to check out some good ol’ indie horror, watch a “popcorn muncher”, or just plain want to give your significant other a good fright, run to the nearest video store and rent this flick! If you enjoy it, you can thank me. And if you don’t, I look forward to your complaints :)
Now revv up those chainsaws and enjoy the film with your friends! As they say… “the gore the merrier!”
19 Responses to “Chainsaws, Demons & Gore: OH MY!”
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And the post comes in at last :)
:)) yup.. sorry about the delay oz.. but i wanted to make sure i’d covered everything.. the videos especially, are a treat!
Wowo Striker this is a very informative article. Though cannot watch the videos at work place..i will def. do so once i get off work. A very nice read boss!!!
striker bhai… u actually made the point that a few of us were discussing recently - why are most of these scary movies made so cheaply? Even in the best of big studio films, these movies always appear cheap. Any specific reason?
Also spring break coming up so will take ur recommendation of watching the musical…
ravptor.. not sure if you’re referring to any film in particular.. but let me present a few in the past years.. the “scream” and “i know what you did last summer” series.. started off great.. huge blockbusters.. then the subsequent ones decided to cash in on the original. the problem here became one of cutting corners, which often happens to sequels of horror movies.. the end result? they end up making fun of the movie instead of actually making something worthwhile.. and in the process.. making the films look like cheap trash.
also, you have to realize.. gone are the days of “the shining” and “silence of the lambs” when mainstream, “popular” stars worked on horror movies. now it’s the lionsgate movies that are taking over with anything remotely having to do with horror. i personally loved both the “saw” series and “the descent”. also.. it’s easier to introduce newer talent and keep your budgets small (even if you’re a studio) when it comes to horror movies. the stars want to do “substance” movies, leaving room for newcomers to take up horror movies.. and the general notion is, horror movies don’t win awards for direction or performances or best picture.
that’s just my point of view though.. any particular movies you were referring to?
The whole of the old fav’s - Dracula, the original chainsaw movie, evil dead as you pointed out and the whole lot of others…
Also, if you compare “substance” films with the horror ones like let’s say scream, there is a lot left that could have been done.. But ur point’s right, its always newcomers in the these movies…
ravptor, the original dracula was made in 1931 by universal pictures.. definitely not the big studio it is today.. but the one francis ford coppola made in ‘92 was made on a much bigger scale, and would definitely not qualify as cheap.. as for the original evil dead, well.. it looks cheap, because it is :D it was an independent movie, and didn’t have the backing of a studio or a big budget.. also, if you’re talking about the old classics.. well, they’re “old”, that’s why ;)
I don’t admire Amitabh Bachchan any which way. A man who supports the Samjawadi party and Amar Singh is not worth the admiration.
I think he’s a good actor but if he’s going to use his fame from his acting career to campaign for those corrupt men, then I won’t support him by watching his movies. I think this site needs to really understand.
Don’t respect Amitabh’s acting skills if Amitabh can’t respect India enough to not support Amar Singh. =;
Lurking dont mix the two of them in this case…
i understand ur sentiments & respect!
But You gotta see through the surface brother!
Samajwadi Party & the crooks like Amar Singh is something he probably hates…
They saved him from Bankruptcy & he is paying back to them. Its kinda sick actually.
Its kinda sad to watch the biggest icon of our screen act like that.
lurking, talk about missing the point of the post ~X( samajwadi party?? amar singh?? in a post about EVIL DEAD?? :-t this article spends 3 weeks in the drafts folder and compiles ~2hrs of research so you can pick one sentence about AB and fixate on that??
i could care less about AB’s political affiliations. i respect AB because he has a certain work ethic which he has adhered to over the years, and nothing and noone can take that away from him.. and oh.. also bc.. as i mentioned in the post.. he understands his audience and caters to them.. looks like you missed that part. it’s in the first paragraph.. sheesh :-<
[-o< humko mann ki shakti dena, mann vijay karein…
lurking
even i dont like that amar singh scene too much
but tell me who doesnt have political affiliations…
just that these guys are mulayam singh yadav and all
but ya the sight of amar singh brings a lot of disgust to me
and he is persent everywhere with the bachchans ..
that just sucks!!
Ha ha ha…striker…kya likha, baat kidhar gaye…hey intersting post ya.
Oh please. Bachchan is a 60 something year old man. Don’t make him out to be a victim. I’m sure when he was busy evading taxes in the 90’s, or claiming to be a “simple farmer” to buy cheap land, he wasn’t crying.
And you know why I relate his fame and acting career to his political affialations? Because as long as you give him power, fame, and fortune, he’s going to use it peddle the crap that the Samjawadi Party sells. If you want to be friends with greedy assholes, go ahead but don’t shove that kind shit down the public’s throat by campaigning for those idiots.He is worshipped in India and he takes advantage of that for his own benefit while maintaining a fake facade of humility.
People need to really see that acting talent does trump everything else.
I’m sure Amitabh really does know how to “tap the nerve of his awaiting audiences and recognize their pulses” by going on every show and talking about Guru or declaring it a masterpiece. Or was it his publicity ploy to gift bentleys to his son or recieving them from VVC for the promotion of the crapfest that was Eklavya.
Oh the greatness of Big B.
8-|
People need to really see that acting talent does trump everything else.
***Correction: acting talentdoes NOT trump everything. although bachchans’s fans might think so
Striker Boy - I am already thinking about it …. hmmm, hmmm, hmmm….
surya, you’ll like this one i think.. especially since you liked the jungle script ;) i would even go so far as to say, you should have ramu watch it!
STRIKER!!! How did I miss this post! Oh yeah, I was in Europe!
You are right about the cold response to the original release of Evil Dead. Like many great low-budget and/or indepedent films, it is the video distribution-word of mouth that got this noticed…
But, not among my friends and I!!!
Eagerly awaiting this film, we head to the drive-in, three boys in the trunk of the car, pull into the drive-in, and it was probably my second most favourite movie-going experience ever. The place was a party - punkers, bikers, a random large group of butch lesbians (who took a dislike to the boys in the trunk), and horror fans wandering the drive through, sharing beers, cheering, yelling, and yeah, me crawling into the lap of my guy because I was scared (had to crawl, the car had bucket seats). It was more of a party than a movie, and half-way through someone called the police, who seemed to be enjoying the movie more than busting the underage drinkers (ahem) and freeloaders…
Then, me spending a week talking about how great this film was to whoever would listen, and no-one had even heard of it…
Thank’s for the memory!!!
But, this movie is a classic because it has everything a cult classic should. A great, relatively plausable storyline. Bruce Cambpell - one of my favourite actors - who knows he is a B-grade actor and works hard to entertain his audience to the best of his ability (have you seen Bubba Ho Tep?), great, cheap special effects, and it is funny…
And, Sam Raimi is remaking it. I hope it doesn’t suck…
t! better late than never :) i’m glad you found the post (how the heck did you find it??) thanks for sharing the memories! bubba’s on my netflix q..
what i love about bruce is that he doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not. he’s happy being a b-movie actor and he loves it. he’s got the cult fame, the cult name, and he can sure as hell play the cult game. how i wish we could get him on PFC…
i hope sam is able to do justice to the remake… if it can’t have bruce campbell, i really hope it has ryan ward, who played ash in the musical. he was simply amazing!
http://evildeadthemusical.com/cast_rw.htm
i loved this recent bruce campbell interview on the craig ferguson show
and this one about sam on the sets of spidey 3