Ash vs. Evil Dead

[Hollow]

The hand (trapped in the bucket and weighed down by the books) has had to say farewell to its arm.

Hahaha...of fucking course...I'm so stupid.

Oh dear.

[madhair60]

Don't worry mate,  I only just got that too!

[Ignatius_S]

I was going by a quote from Brian Yuzna, the producer:

Ah, actually the wiki has this to say about how the film came about:

Ah, thanks for that. I had a quick look at Lurker at the Lobby, which has interviews with Yuzna and Gordon. Gordon says that he was recommended the West story after looking into doing a horror film. I do recall him confirming that they toyed with a stage version and then one for television - what I think is most likely is that the film idea came up, leading to the store, which led him exploring other creative possibilities as he was so taken with the tale (I think it was on an interview on a DVD I have of the film, where when he talked about reading the story, it was a wow! moment) before hooking up with Yuzna.

Going back to a possible Evil Dead influence, I certainly wouldn't discount it... at the very least, it confirmed that there was money to be made!

I only saw Re-Animator for the first time last month and I don't get it. It wasn't bad or anything, but I didn't think it had anywhere near the creativity or originality of the Evil Deads. I didn't find it remotely shocking either.


27 years old I was! Maybe it's just one of those things, like when people watch Holy Grail for the first time in their 30s and don't see the fuss either.

Cool glowing liquid though.

Amongst other things, it's a nice take on the mad scientist trope (as mentioned, it reflects university politics in a contemporary setting) and although the film boasts some fine performances, Combs gives an electrifying performance. There's a lot I like about the film, but his performance really stands out for me. However, I can very understand why someone wouldn't particularly care for it (or downright dislike it) so this isn't to say 'it's a great film'.

However, I really don't see your reaction is due to an age thing myself - I would have been roughly the same age as you (or maybe older) but more importantly, Re-animator has remained a cult film with a strong following and it's increased that following over the years. More than a fair few people have articulated why they consider it such a good film (and I think it's reasonable to say that not everyone loved it the first viewing) - such views may not be shared, but think they are understandable.

[Famous Mortimer]

I also loved it (Re-Animator) and really enjoyed part 2 (never saw part 3, for some reason). Might be worth a buy.

I didn't realise they'd progressively cleaned up all the oddities from "The Evil Dead", though. Raimi ought to know to leave well enough alone, and I completely agree with whoever said the combination of a producer in shot alongside the fantastic camera work and all that is part of its charm.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Enjoyed the second episode a lot, a bit slower pace wise but the dialogue still shone, and there was some nicely creepy moments with the Mom there. Not a lot to say about it, but I'm pleased it's still fun when Raimi's not behind the camera.

[Mister Six]

Saw Re-Animator for the first time last year and loved it - when I realised it had

Spoiler alert

not one, but TWO evil mad scientists

[close]

I fell in love with it. Also, yer girl there has great boobs.

Sadly, I've heard the sequels aren't much cop...

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Looks like they've sorted the effects out this week, with with buckets of proper gloopy blood and everything. CGI seems to have been a stumbling block for Raimi ever since Spider-Man which, even for the time, had some really bad effects.

[Garam]

This is Evil Dead reaching its logical conclusion as a sitcom.

[Ignatius_S]

Humble Bundle is doing an Army of Darkness comics bundle – two days left. https://www.humblebundle.com/books/morebooks

Saw Re-Animator for the first time last year and loved it - when I realised it had

Spoiler alert

not one, but TWO evil mad scientists

[close]

I fell in love with it. Also, yer girl there has great boobs.

Sadly, I've heard the sequels aren't much cop...

If you like the first, then I would say definitely check out the other two – personally, I prefer the third to the second one.

For a long time, the second one had a bad rep – my feeling is that too many people were happy to accept the 'sequels suck idea' without watching it and often – particularly with hacks – people were repeating what they had read without actually watching it. These days, there's a lot more positive things said about it.

Although it's a messier film than the first and the parts were greater than the sum, I found it highly entertaining. One of the issues, arguably is that Yuzna was an inexperience director

With the third, I'm rather surprised when others think the second was a lot better. As a film, I thought it felt more cohesive and enjoyed West's new theories – special effects are excellent. One criticism that didn't bother me (and I was surprised by how much it did for some) was the Spanish production undermining the US setting.

If nothing else, they're worth watching for Combs – he's outstanding.

[NoSleep]

The second Re-Animator is actually the second half of the H.P.Lovecraft story, isn't it?

[Glebe]

The second Re-Animator is actually the second half of the H.P.Lovecraft story, isn't it?

Is it? I don't recall anything about putting wings on a guy's head in the original story.

[NoSleep]

I've just checked the plot of the story and it seems the films are only loosely based on it.

[Ignatius_S]

The second Re-Animator is actually the second half of the H.P.Lovecraft story, isn't it?

Kinda – like the first film, they lift bits from the story but they play very fast and loose with the source material. The third film has no relation to the original tale – I've read criticism about that but I don't see that an issue myself!

[NoSleep]

OT: I was trying to place where I'd heard the closing credit music for episode 2 before, thinking that it might be Deep Purple (who were featured in the soundtrack of both episodes, so far), but it weren't them but those old favourites of Jim Davidson: https://youtu.be/-B3UrB_dex8

[NoSleep]

Kinda – like the first film, they lift bits from the story but they play very fast and loose with the source material. The third film has no relation to the original tale – I've read criticism about that but I don't see that an issue myself!

I'm not certain I've seen the 3rd, I'd always had it that Charles Band produced three Lovecraft films; Re-Animator, the sequel & From Beyond (which touches on more of the Lovecraftian mythos than does Re-Animator). Must seek them all out again (I only have Re-Animator in my collection).

[NoSleep]

Looks like Band also produced another Lovecraft-inspired film; Lurking Fear. Will have to check that out.

[Paaaaul]

From Beyond is on Netflix if you've got access.

[NoSleep]

Cheers.

Now I see why I hadn't heard about a 3rd Re-animator film; it was made years later (2003), more of a comeback than a sequel, I'd imagine.

[Glebe]

Dagon is another Gordon Lovecraft adap worth checking out. It's on YouTube, in low quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YETHZNcIfts

[Hollow]

Cheers.

Now I see why I hadn't heard about a 3rd Re-animator film; it was made years later (2003), more of a comeback than a sequel, I'd imagine.

No,  it's a sequel.

It's not very good, does feature some funny post credits.

[NoSleep]

I'm sure it is a sequel, but, like a lot of old bands getting back together after years, it just isn't the same (possibly). However, I will take a look at it some time soon.

Watched From Beyond for the first time in years last night and, although, as I said earlier, there are Lovecraftian mythos elements, the overriding impression I got this time round was that it is more of a proto-Hellraiser with its central theme of pleasure/pain beyond earthly bounds. Hellraiser did it with far more style. As there's only a year between their releases it's possible that From Beyond was rushed out in the knowledge that Hellraiser was in production, given that Hellraiser's working title was Sadomasochists From Beyond The Grave (and was being filmed late '86).

[Ignatius_S]

I'm sure it is a sequel, but, like a lot of old bands getting back together after years, it just isn't the same (possibly). However, I will take a look at it some time soon....

Personally, as sequels go, I tend to prefer Beyond Re-animator - it's more cohesive as a film and there's development of West's character. The second film repeats a lot of the beats of the first film (which I suspect is something some will appreciate) and a messier piece of work.

The third film is linked to what preceded and I was particularly impressed (and FWIW, so were the people I've watched it with) with the way it was done – thought it was executed well and feel it gives decent exposition for newcomers, without being too slavish to the others.

As mentioned above, Yuzna was a green director when he made the second film - it was a troubled shoot. Although Combs (IIRC) has been fairly positive about the film, he has commented that it was thrown together and I think that comes across with the finished film. I'm very fond of all three but felt there was there was more of a point to the third, than the second but sure some will disagree!

Dagon is another Gordon Lovecraft adap worth checking out. It's on YouTube, in low quality:...

As it's such a good film (and the game, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth Dagon lifted one scene in particular) and quite easy to get hold off, it's a shame to watch a low-quality version, particularly as it's so nicely shot.

[Dr Rock]

With great relief, I am loving Ash vs Evil Dead from the first two episodes. Ash is back!, and he's spouting some great new Ashisms. And proper gory too.

[phantom_power]

The direction is great as well. It really carries on with Raimi's style, as does the writing and acting and pretty much everything really

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The boss character was actually less sinister as a deadite.

[phantom_power]

Mimi Rodgers was awesome as well

[NoSleep]

Looks like Band also produced another Lovecraft-inspired film; Lurking Fear. Will have to check that out.

Lurking Fear was pretty crap (for a fair number of reasons, but it wasn't Lovecraftian at all).

But I've now watched Dagon and it's a pretty good attempt at capturing some H.P.Lovecraft ambience. Some dodgily directed action sequences (e.g. how did that small can of gasoline manage to cause so much damage?)

[Glebe]

*WARNING: MEGA-POST!*

Dude, I've seen some shit on Liveleak.com, but still -

Spoiler alert

Dr Hill's decapitated body holding his disembodied head over a barely conscious girl so he can suck on her tits?

[close]

C'mon.

Remember reading an interview with David Gale, who plays Dr. Hill - there's a bit where he

Spoiler alert

attempts cunilingus

[close]

that was cut (although it's in the unrated version, natch), apparently he convinced them that his leering was gross  enough without it:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=5046980

Personally, as sequels go, I tend to prefer Beyond Re-animator - it's more cohesive as a film and there's development of West's character. The second film repeats a lot of the beats of the first film (which I suspect is something some will appreciate) and a messier piece of work.

The third film is linked to what preceded and I was particularly impressed (and FWIW, so were the people I've watched it with) with the way it was done – thought it was executed well and feel it gives decent exposition for newcomers, without being too slavish to the others.

As mentioned above, Yuzna was a green director when he made the second film - it was a troubled shoot. Although Combs (IIRC) has been fairly positive about the film, he has commented that it was thrown together and I think that comes across with the finished film. I'm very fond of all three but felt there was there was more of a point to the third, than the second but sure some will disagree!

I remember finding 2 a bit pedestrian, but I haven't seen it in many yonks... I'm actually not sure if I've seen Beyond Re-Animator. By the way Ignatius, I assume you've seen Yuzna's Faust: Love of the Damned... saw it some years back, can't remember what I thought of it but it obviously didn't make a big impression on me. And speaking of Euro-produced horror-comedy, an interesting little one that's been mentioned before on here is the Rupert Everett-starring Cemetery Man (Dellamorte Dellamore).

Another obvious '80s zombie classic that hasn't been mentioned is the Dan O' Bannon-scripted Return of the Living Dead, which is hilarious, has great zombies, wonderful performances and a cool punk soundtrack. Part II is fairly shonky watchable silliness, a second-rate retread of the first with rubbery special effects and some ridiculous gags (including

Spoiler alert

a Thriller-Michael Jackson and a disembodied hand giving the finger ripped straight from Evil Dead II.

[close]

) The gory Brian Yuzna-directed threequel has nothing to do with the first two and features

Spoiler alert

an undead chick with an extreme body-piercing fetish

[close]

. There's a couple more sequels which I couldn't be bothered with, frankly.

Watched From Beyond for the first time in years last night and, although, as I said earlier, there are Lovecraftian mythos elements, the overriding impression I got this time round was that it is more of a proto-Hellraiser with its central theme of pleasure/pain beyond earthly bounds. Hellraiser did it with far more style. As there's only a year between their releases it's possible that From Beyond was rushed out in the knowledge that Hellraiser was in production, given that Hellraiser's working title was Sadomasochists From Beyond The Grave (and was being filmed late '86).

That's an interesting theory... From Beyond is certainly quite kinky! Great effects and a lot of general weirdness, too.

This is true, but unfortunately there's been a lot of tinkering - reframing shots, digitally removing stuff from within the frame, removing frames altogether - with the first film over the course of the various DVD releases in order to mask those continuity errors, SFX hiccups, so on and so forth. The more recent releases - the ones with re-recorded commentaries - are especially bad, by all accounts.

They removed the wire from the flying eyeball in II! I generally don't like tinkering, although we'll give Blade Runner a pass.

I knew a guy who had that and said the latex smelt rank.

So it was. So the makers of Re-Animator were inspired to make their comedy horror after watching Evil Dead I[nb]I had remembered correctly that they had wanted to make a film with the sensibilities of one of the Evil Dead series[/nb]! Perhaps that inspired Raimi to up the comedy in II, then?

That's an interesting one... Lovecraft's Necronomicon is a central part of The Evil Dead, in any case. And while we're back on Lovecraft, I can't remember what I thought of The Dunwich Horror, I saw it before reading the original story, which it really deviates from. Also, must give John Carpenter's Lovecraft-inspired In the Mouth of Madness a spin at some stage, apparently it's decent enough. I've not seen Lurking Fear neither!

Edit: According to the AV Club:

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/hail-king-ash-vs-evil-dead-roars-groovy-start-227498

Which is a bit of a shame. I get why they can't use specific imagery, but you think they'd be able to reference it if they wanted to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lIImIAqf90

What were the three possible endings of Army of Darkness?

* Ash wakes up in a post-apocalyptic London.
* Ash goes back to S-Mart and fights deadites in the modern day ("Hail to the king, baby!")
* ???

Here's what Evil Dead 4 was gonna be about, apparently... clever, meta-fun idea, if you ask me:

http://screencrush.com/sam-raimi-ash-vs-evil-dead-movie

Spoiler alert

And at that point, their bold plan was to actually make a movie starring two Ashes, one from each of Army of Darkness' endings. In other words, this Evil Dead 4 would have continued Ash's journey along both possible timelines in two parallel stories: Present Ash in one, future Ash in the other.

It was a cool idea — at least I think it's a cool idea — but the Raimis ultimately felt it would have gotten too confusing and convoluted. So they decided to just focus on present-day Ash from the theatrical ending, and eventually Evil Dead 4 morphed into Ash Vs. Evil Dead. And it's great that we got that, but man; what a tantalizing what-if. An Evil Dead 4 featuring two different Ashes in two different time periods? Sounds pretty incredible.

[close]

There's been plenty of ED discussion before, lot of conflicting opinions here. While I personally thing The Evil Dead is great, Evil Dead II is more of a personal favourite movie and my was my first introduction to ED. I first came across it thanks to this, and became completely obsessed. Okay, it's not up there as a straight-up horror, but the sheer imagination, invention, creature design and wit is just flabbergasting. I remember eagerly anticipating Army of Darkness and being bitterly disappointed. Yes, it has some merits as it's own thing, but it ruined  everything with all the commercial action-adventure silliness. It's interesting because some horror fans are put off by II's comic excesses, but the tone of AoD is all wrong. Raimi and Campbell admit as much in the DVD commentary, where they scold themselves for making Ash a hero instead of running off and hiding in a cupboard!

[NoSleep]

Surely Ash had to (ultimately) be the hero in Army of Darkness to fulfil the prophecy[nb]The picture of him in the Necronomicon[/nb]?

[Small Man Big Horse]

I knew a guy who had that and said the latex smelt rank.

I found one in a charity shop last year but can't say it smelt particularly. I did plan to keep it but then discovered they sell fairly well on ebay, so did that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lIImIAqf90

Thanks for that, it's interesting if annoying info to hear.

There's been plenty of ED discussion before, lot of conflicting opinions here. While I personally thing The Evil Dead is great, Evil Dead II is more of a personal favourite movie and my was my first introduction to ED. I first came across it thanks to this, and became completely obsessed. Okay, it's not up there as a straight-up horror, but the sheer imagination, invention, creature design and wit is just flabbergasting. I remember eagerly anticipating Army of Darkness and being bitterly disappointed. Yes, it has some merits as it's own thing, but it ruined  everything with all the commercial action-adventure silliness. It's interesting because some horror fans are put off by II's comic excesses, but the tone of AoD is all wrong. Raimi and Campbell admit as much in the DVD commentary, where they scold themselves for making Ash a hero instead of running off and hiding in a cupboard!

I'm fondest of EDII too, possibly as I saw it first but also because I like the humourous element. And whilst I'm not as harsh on Army As Darkness as you I do remember coming out of the cinema a bit disappointed, and wished there'd been a bit less slapstick and more gore.