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![]() Except in the UK - where it found
moral outrage and reached legendary
status.
Partly because of the "Tree Rape" scene
Sam is sad he shot, 'Evil Dead' led the pack of
"Video Nasties" - films the local government
sought to ban outright. Me? I'm in love with the
Video Nasties…
Yep. Seems 'The Evil Dead' was pretty
successful in the U.K….
The Evil Dead films would subsequently
have problems with censorship that border on the
absurd. But we'll talk about that in a
bit…
Did You Know??
Evil Dead began a bit of coded
communication/one-upmanship between Sam Raimi
and Wes Craven. Raimi saw 'The Hills Have Eyes',
where a 'Jaws' poster gets ripped apart. He
assumed that Craven was implying that Jaws was a
kind of safe, poppy horror, and that Craven's
creation was real horror.
So as a joke, Raimi ripped a 'Hills Have
Eye's poster and placed it in the cellar above
the workbench where Ash and Scotty find many
props. Craven responded by shooting a scene in A
Nightmare on Elm Street in which Heather
Langenkamp completely ignores the fact that 'The
Evil Dead' is playing on television.
Shotgun blasts on the first Evil Dead
film were done with REAL SHOTGUN
LOADS.
Joel Coen was an assistant editor on the
film.
BROKEN HEARTS AND NOSES - or I'd
Rather Be Back in the Woods.
With the middling success of 'The Evil
Dead' all about him, and most of the critical
praise of the film devoted to his gonzo visual
inventiveness, Raimi found himself courted by
Embassy Films.
![]() He was signed to a deal, and his
first and only film for the studio was
'Crimewave.'
Produced by - and, oddly enough,
co-starring - the amazing (and all-over-the-map)
Edward R. Pressman (a man who
courts acclaim for shepherding films like 'Wall
Street' and 'Das Boot', yet is also responsible
for 'Street Fighter: The Movie'), 'Crimewave' is
a bizarre throwback to old-fashioned
Hollywood.
Or something.
Part screwball comedy, part slob comedy -
the film never really figures out what it wants
to be. Probably because of a sickening level of
studio interference.
Embassy walked all
over its sophomore director - they shot down his
choice for the male lead, maintaining that Bruce
Campbell wasn't a name actor (they subsequently
hired a guy who wasn't a name actor - somebody
wanna' tell me what Reed Birney's doing today?).
They tore the script (co-written by Joel and
Ethan Coen) to pieces, fired Raimi's editor, his
composer…
Sam pretty much pretends the film doesn't
exist. And while that may be the right decision,
it merits a look just to see how Sam gives the
streets of Detroit the same surrealist skew he
gives the woods of Wadesboro, Tennessee. It's
worth a look for some demented set pieces and
gags (the Hall of Security is hilarious). It's
worth a look for the most inspired performance
(in a career full of them) of Brion James'
life.
You'll marvel at the odd level of
offensive stereotypes and non-P.C.
sentiment.
You'll find yourself quoting the Reynaldo
character ("Hey baby, why don't you come back to
my place? We'll have a Scotch and
Sofa!").
Sometimes it feels like The Three
Stooges…sometimes it feels a little Monty
Python. Sometimes it feels like a complete
mess.
Films so horribly tortured in their
genesis don't often perform well, and
'Crimewave' was no exception. Sam was angry.
Embassy wanted nothing to do with him. He was
released from their employ and back at square
one.
Luckily, Irwin Shapiro had been angling
for a sequel to a little cult horror flick, and
after Stephen King put in a good word with Dino
De Laurentiis - financing was
secured.
Sam was going to re-open the Book of the
Dead.
Did You Know??
Crimewave is also called "The XYZ
Murders", "Broken Hearts and Noses", and "The
Two Craziest Killers in the World", depending on
where in the world you saw it.
Brion James is proud of the fact that his
performance in the film is not dubbed, but is in
fact, his own voice.
EVIL DEAD REDUX
 Sam and crew went into the
wilds of Wilmington, North Carolina (where our
friend Dino De had studios) and began work on
the Sequel to the Ultimate Experience in
Grueling Terror.
Working with an ambitious script
(co-written by his old chum Scott Spiegel), and
a close-to-four million dollar-budget, Raimi
shot...
…his first film all over
again.
Fans of the first couldn't figure out
what had happened. Did Ash go back to the cabin
with a new girl just for kicks? And why did he
act like he didn't know what was going to
happen?
The reality was that, since Sam had inked
the financing deal with Dino, the original
distributors weren't all that interested in
being helpful with flashback footage of the
original.
Since Raimi figured that his budget
didn't support the film he wanted to make anyway
(wherein Ash was tossed back in time and forced
to fight the Deadites in a medieval setting) -
and that few people had seen the first film - he
may as well tell the story he originally
intended. He went back to the beginning and
introduced us to a slightly tougher Ash, and a
slightly slicker, sicker batch of
Deadites.
If you'd like to figure out exactly where
'Evil Dead 2' begins, look no further than Ash
being propelled by the unseen force a few
minutes into the film. If you begin 'Evil Dead
2' right as he is swept up, you're picking up
right where the first film ends.
Pretty perfect.
This shoot was not without its
difficulties. As was the case with much of Sam's
output, he never had enough money to do what was
necessary. He also parted company with the
film's original director of photography, hiring
Peter Deming instead.
Sam was quite a bit more focused and
intense on this project (those in the know say
it was his perfectionism - crossed with a iron
will forged by the hideous treatment he received
at the hands of Embassy Pictures) - so intense
that, at one point, he railed on what he felt
was his lax crew. He told them the he was making
a movie, and that anyone who wanted to join him
could come back tomorrow.
The next day of shooting -
only Bruce showed up. Sam fired him.
Sam's anger subsided, and order was
restored. His focus and professionalism intact,
Sam finished his film and went to visit
Dino.
The executive forces at DeLaurentiis
Entertainment Group surmised that, like the
first film, any attempt to submit the film to
Satan - er, the…Motion Picture Association of
America - would be met with the dreaded X-Rating
(the commercial kiss of death to any film). Dino
was commanded by his company's shareholders to
never release X-rated product…
So a shell distribution arm, Rosebud
Releasing, was created, and 'Evil Dead 2'
creeped its way into 800 or so theaters in
1987.
It was definitely a more-assured
film - most of the world's critics agreed on
that point - but hardcore genre fans felt
cheated by what they saw as obvious comedy
creeping into the woods. The gore of the first
film was replaced by…more gore - which became
less terrifying and more absurdly
comical.
What a lot of people didn't understand -
and some don't get to this very day, despite
Sam's many interviews on the subject - is that
SAM RAIMI IS NOT A HORROR FAN. Horror movies
SCARED him as a child.
And since there's no better way to take
the edge off a scare than a good laugh - well,
there you have it. Sam felt that, if he was
going to be living la vida' low budget horror,
he may as well create something that appealed to
his sensibilities.
He began by adding great globs of
slapstick. He upped the ante by turning Bruce's
character into an actual superhero of sorts…then
went back to beating and humiliating him, as he
did in the Super-8 days. Sam loves to grab an
audience, but he's also pleasing himself in the
process.
And although he couldn't make the
time-traveling adventure he wanted to make, he
rendered a finale that guaranteed that any
sequel would be exactly that.
Did You Know??
Early drafts of the screenplay for Evil
Dead 2 featured a subplot where a newly escaped
convict leads his buddies to the Knowby Cabin to
retrieve booty he BURIED ON THE
PROPERTY.
The role of Bobbie Jo was written for
Holly Hunter.
In between shooting 'Evil Dead 2' and
'Darkman', Raimi shot a video for Iggy Pop's
"Cold Metal" single (See? He's obviously a fan
of the "Stooges"...)
Freddy Krueger's glove is nailed to the
wall in the fruit cellar. Raimi 2, Craven
1.
WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE
HEARTS OF MEN?
Raimi knows. He loved 'The
Shadow'. He had actually tried to acquire the
rights to shoot a feature film version - and
when he found that they already had an owner, he
traced them to Universal Studios.
Sam lobbied to direct the picture, but it
was not to be (instead, Universal chose another
visual stylist, 'Highlander' helmer Russell
Mulcahy).
It would not be the last time Raimi would
beg a studio to let him direct a comic book film
- but it would be the last time he begged a
studio dumb enough to not hire him to direct a
comic book film…
He figured that, if he couldn't nab
the rights to a comic book character - He'd make
his own.
And thusly, Peyton Westlake was
born.
This, however, is Sam Raimi's career
we're talking about, - which means that the
aforementioned birth was violent and
gore-splattered. Universal wouldn't let him have
'The Shadow', but they weren't going to let him
have his own superhero either - not without
fighting him every step of the way.
Bruce Campbell IS Peyton Westlake, right?
No. Studio said he wasn't up to it. They cast
nearly unknown stage actor Liam Neeson (He WAS
really great in 'Krull'…).
One day, Universal wasn't going to have
much of a say in the whole casting of Bruce
Campbell thing, but that day was not going to
arrive for about three more years.
And Neeson turns out to be not bad at
all, anyway. It was Liam's first step toward a
larger world - and leading man status. And he
does go through glass just like Bruce
Campbell…
McDormand, it turns out, was a friend of
Raimi's from way back (she occupied a house in
Silverlake with Raimi, Holly Hunter, and the
Coen Brothers), and the studio was delighted
that an Academy Award nominee was going to take
the female lead.
So hey - this is Sam Raimi's idea, right?
No. The script was endlessly rewritten before it
was shot.
Sam expanded his short story…his brother
Ivan worked at it…then it bounces back to Sam -
and on to Universal, where they served it up to
THREE MORE WRITERS before finally green-lighting
the thing.
But, well - at least Sam
was afforded the opportunity to make the movie
his way, right? No. Turns out that Universal
rode him pretty hard during the shooting
process.
And in the editing process, as well -
much of the film's more demented content was
excised like the good doctor. A fairly infamous
scene (one Bruce Campbell mentions in his "If
Chins Could Kill" memoirs) included a naked
Colin Friels, a box of krugerrands, and a
bed.
Now picture Demi Moore in 'Indecent
Proposal'. Now puke.
This was to come in the midst of his
charming, whirlwind courtship of the would-be
fiancé of the man he just had killed. It was to
be a devious and disgusting twist that would
send a twinge of sick down the audiences' spine
whenever Louis Strack appeared on screen for the
rest of the running time.
In the final
print, he's just one more wealthy, greasy
industrialist with a rivet gun who's responsible
for multiple murders and at least one abduction.
Yawn, right?
Still the movie remains "Raimi" enough to
be demented, hilarious, and thrilling - and it
was one of the more successful films on
Universal's release slate that year. It got a
lot of good press, and nice reviews.
Sam had an actual big-ticket success on
his hands. And a little more clout. He might be
able to make a really big movie now…
Somebody get Bruce Campbell on the phone.
Did You Know??
Bill Paxton and Julia Roberts were
considered for the roles eventually taken by
Neeson and McDormand.
While in preparation for 'Darkman', Raimi
turned down the opportunity to direct 'One False
Move' - a quiet character drama written by some
guy named BILLY BOB THORNTON.
Sam makes up for that later…
BRUCE CAMPBELL VS THE ARMY OF DARKNESS
- or "Sam Raimi vs The Army of Annoying Friggin'
Suits.
When we last left our stalwart hero, Ash
was left abandoned in 1300 AD, praised as the
Hero From the Skies.
In Army of Darkness, we do a little more
revisionist history ala 'Evil Dead 2' - the
obligatory recap distills the events of the
first two films down to about seven
minutes - and we are shown that the knights in
his midst do not instantly hail Ash as a
hero.
Instead, he is instantly at odds with the
medieval society he drops in on, setting up the
conflict that will, oddly enough, further the
Ash character's growth.
Yeah, I know - what is this
characterization of which I speak? The Evil Dead
films are nothing but cheese and gore - how can
I justify character growth?
It's there. Remember when we first met
Ashley? He was timid and too scared to fight
anything - he was busy getting knocked to the
floor by bookshelves comprised entirely of 1"x
6" boards. By the second film, we see that we've
witnessed his superhero origin story.
In 'Army of Darkness', we see that he's
got a lot to learn about what a hero
is.
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