First Batch of Evil Dead Rerelease Dates Announced | /Film
No Canadian dates announced…yet. But still, I can’t believe this is even happening. So if you’re fortunate enough to be in one of the listed cities for the initial screenings of the G.O.A.T. horror film (and you’re a horror fan/film geek), then I guaran-damn-tee that you’ll have a gory good time peeping this revolutionary and unrelenting low-budget indie classic while surrounded by an army of loyal deadites (like myself). Join us…
The latest additions to The Auteurs library:
- The Evil Dead
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- The Dead Zone
- Creepshow
- Cannibal Holocaust
- The Brood (just off-screen)
I’ve been waiting for The Evil Dead to be officially added to the database for 4 months now. Seeing it at the top of the Recently added list this evening put a big smile on my face. And what a great class of films to be inducted with (all listed above). Anyways, if you consider yourself a cinephile or feel that you have a well cultivated taste in film, then check out The Auteurs. It’s the coolest site and community for film that I’ve ever personally encountered. And here’s my profile (which you can also access via the headers at the top of this page).
The incomparable Bruce Campbell, from my most favourite (and as a result, most listened-to) audio commentary, which can be found on the Elite Entertainment Edition, Book of the Dead Edition and Anchor Bay Ultimate Edition of The Evil Dead (all of which I own, naturally). Worth the price of admission all by itself and a guaranteed hilariously good time in digital versatile disc form!
In related news, 30 years ago today, principal photography began on The Evil Dead (on November 14, 1979 during an uncharacteristically freezing fall season in Knoxville, Tennessee). Additional shooting (pick-up shots, re-shoots, stand-ins, etc.) and post production for the film would not be completed for another 2 years. And the rest is LEGENDARY horror history.
![Night #31: The Final Night
One of the most notorious so-called ‘video nasties’ of the early eighties, ‘The Evil Dead’ really has earned it’s place in the horror movie hall of fame. Probably the first significant horror movie of the eighties, it set a new definition in gore, shocks and filmmaking that, in many ways, has yet to be rivalled, even though director Sam Raimi has gone on to bigger, though not necessarily better, things with the Spiderman series.
Unlike previous movies that have displayed such qualities, like Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘The Evil Dead’ has a hearty injection of black humour running throughout, making the over-the-top gore on offer easier to stomach. The special effects are pretty nasty and very unsophisticated, as you would expect for such a low budget feature, but they never seem out of place, fitting the context of the movie perfectly…Bruce Campbell has become a massive cult favourite since starring in this movie and its sequels, mainly due to him adding some over-the-top quirkiness to the [Ash] character, but in this first movie his performance is fairly low-key, even though you do start to will him on towards the end of the movie – to end his torment and your own.
The main star of this movie, though, is the unseen force that lives in the woods. Raimi and his crew built several different camera rigs to enable different views and angles throughout the movie. Usually simple devices made out of timber with a camera mounted on the front, it is this kind of maverick approach to filmmaking that comes across…and makes a simple movie a much more satisfying movie…There are subtle nods to previous horror staples – the tool shed, with its rustic handtools and hanging relics, is evocative of the house in ‘…Chainsaw Massacre’, the shots of the moon and setting sun echo Romero’s ‘Night of the Livng Dead’, whilst there is a torn-in-half poster of Wes Craven’s ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ hanging in the basement – as if to acknowledge what has gone before, and set a new level of terror for a new decade.
Overall, this movie still stands as one of the defining horror movies of modern times. Just as ‘…Chainsaw’ and ‘…Living Dead’ were perfect ‘drive-in’ movies for their era – movies that were meant to be shown on the big screen – ‘The Evil Dead’ was perfect for the then-new medium of video, inspiring a myriad of impersonators well into the 21st century…it is with this truly innovative original that Raimi laid down a template for eighties horror that, nearly thirty years on, still delivers the goods.
(Horror Society)
This is the lucky 13th year in a row that I have viewed The Evil Dead on Halloween night (edit: FYI, I broke out my well-aged Anchor Bay limited edition VHS copy from 1996 for some good ol’ analog griminess). And what a perfect way to cap off my first ever Sh-October horror-thon of 31 straight nights of horror movies. I gotta say that this was a lot of fun, especially when I got into the groove and nightly routine of things (not that the task ever became a mundane chore or anything). To the keen horror geeks amongst you, you may have noticed numerous patterns in the way that I had sequenced the entire order of films (usually in bunches of 2 or 3). For example, films #30 and #31 were both directed by Sam Raimi (and there are many more associative patterns scattered throughout the lineup). Anyways, I hope to have enough unique horror movie choices leftover to do it again next year. And I hope that you enjoyed following along as well as partook in your own horror movie marathon to celebrate the spooky occasion.
So then…a Scerry Xmas to all and to all a good night.](http://13.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksem31NYak1qz4ddwo1_500.jpg)
Night #31: The Final Night
One of the most notorious so-called ‘video nasties’ of the early eighties, ‘The Evil Dead’ really has earned it’s place in the horror movie hall of fame. Probably the first significant horror movie of the eighties, it set a new definition in gore, shocks and filmmaking that, in many ways, has yet to be rivalled, even though director Sam Raimi has gone on to bigger, though not necessarily better, things with the Spiderman series.
Unlike previous movies that have displayed such qualities, like Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘The Evil Dead’ has a hearty injection of black humour running throughout, making the over-the-top gore on offer easier to stomach. The special effects are pretty nasty and very unsophisticated, as you would expect for such a low budget feature, but they never seem out of place, fitting the context of the movie perfectly…Bruce Campbell has become a massive cult favourite since starring in this movie and its sequels, mainly due to him adding some over-the-top quirkiness to the [Ash] character, but in this first movie his performance is fairly low-key, even though you do start to will him on towards the end of the movie – to end his torment and your own.
The main star of this movie, though, is the unseen force that lives in the woods. Raimi and his crew built several different camera rigs to enable different views and angles throughout the movie. Usually simple devices made out of timber with a camera mounted on the front, it is this kind of maverick approach to filmmaking that comes across…and makes a simple movie a much more satisfying movie…There are subtle nods to previous horror staples – the tool shed, with its rustic handtools and hanging relics, is evocative of the house in ‘…Chainsaw Massacre’, the shots of the moon and setting sun echo Romero’s ‘Night of the Livng Dead’, whilst there is a torn-in-half poster of Wes Craven’s ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ hanging in the basement – as if to acknowledge what has gone before, and set a new level of terror for a new decade.
Overall, this movie still stands as one of the defining horror movies of modern times. Just as ‘…Chainsaw’ and ‘…Living Dead’ were perfect ‘drive-in’ movies for their era – movies that were meant to be shown on the big screen – ‘The Evil Dead’ was perfect for the then-new medium of video, inspiring a myriad of impersonators well into the 21st century…it is with this truly innovative original that Raimi laid down a template for eighties horror that, nearly thirty years on, still delivers the goods.
This is the lucky 13th year in a row that I have viewed The Evil Dead on Halloween night (edit: FYI, I broke out my well-aged Anchor Bay limited edition VHS copy from 1996 for some good ol’ analog griminess). And what a perfect way to cap off my first ever Sh-October horror-thon of 31 straight nights of horror movies. I gotta say that this was a lot of fun, especially when I got into the groove and nightly routine of things (not that the task ever became a mundane chore or anything). To the keen horror geeks amongst you, you may have noticed numerous patterns in the way that I had sequenced the entire order of films (usually in bunches of 2 or 3). For example, films #30 and #31 were both directed by Sam Raimi (and there are many more associative patterns scattered throughout the lineup). Anyways, I hope to have enough unique horror movie choices leftover to do it again next year. And I hope that you enjoyed following along as well as partook in your own horror movie marathon to celebrate the spooky occasion.
So then…a Scerry Xmas to all and to all a good night.
1 noteOH. MY. GOD!!!!!!
This is the BEST news that I’ve heard in a long time!
Grindhouse Releasing has been doing SO MUCH great work in bringing well-deserved attention to some of the greatest exploitation cult horror movies of the past 30 years (namely by releasing definitive editions of Cannibal Holocaust, Pieces and The Beyond). But this. THIS takes the bloody cake. FUCK! (in a good way) Bob Murawski and Sage Stallone: I could literally kiss you guys. From the official press release:
“Nothing can prepare an audience for what they are about to see, because nothing punishes an audience like EVIL DEAD - especially on the big screen,” says Bruce Campbell. “I’m really glad it’s back. People are gonna be hurt.”
HO-LY SHIT! Testify, Bruce! I never, ever dreamt that this mother of all cult-classics would be brought back for an official theatrical run. I would have done ANYTHING to see this on the big screen. “Any. Fucking. Thing.” (c) Jack Torrance. And now it looks like the only thing I need to do is wait out for the announcement of future midnight screening dates and cough up the ticket price (which I will gladly do over and over and over again for as long as The Evil Dead is re-released in theatres…I can’t believe I just typed that!).
I don’t know what else to say. This has been the BEST Sh-October in years! I’m near speechless at this announcement (but not quite, as you can plainly see).
Small reminder: The Evil Dead is my favourite film.
I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. I will cry tears of joy when I finally get to sit in a full-scale movie theatre to see this masterpiece of low-budget, balls-to-the-wall horror (which wrongfully gets overshadowed by its decent but inferior sequel) for the first time theatrically (to supplement the hundreds of times I’ve watched it in the comfort of my own home via numerous VHS and DVD releases over the past 13 years). By far the G.O.A.T. film announcement. WOW.
And while it’s easy to forget it these days, in 1981 The Evil Dead was a legit exploitation movie. With tree rape and everything! It seems like most people are really familiar with Evil Dead II, with its campy silliness, but The Evil Dead is way meaner and cruder. - CHUD.COM
Damn straight. And on that note, an extremely happy Thriller Thursday to you all. It’s been a great Halloweek and Halloweekend is just around the corner! Also, this Friday night and into Saturday morning, I will be hosting my annual Halloween horror film festival/drinking party where I will be screening the 30th and 31st entries in my 31 Days of Night horror-thon (which I can’t believe is almost over). And the timing of this completely unexpected but nonetheless heavenly news couldn’t be more perfect (this calls for a horrifically epic celebration). Great morning!
Within The Woods, in its entirety. In October ‘07, I had previously embedded a google video version of WTW righ’chea. It has since been taken down, which is unfortunate since anything on G-Viddy is actually downloadable (best believe I’ve got a copy of it on my computer, and it was the first video I ever put on my iPod Touch). I recommend that you DO NOT view this video in full screen because it gets pixelized like a muthaf*cka (considering the quality is as good as I’ve ever seen it…which is the only way I’ve ever seen it, that being really sh!tty). But whatever, it’s not as bad as say, scrambled cable, since you can still make out shapes and images alright. Yet I (and all the other Evil Dead fans) still REALLY want a good quality version to show up somewhere (for God’s sake, someone just leak it, as there will not be any legal ramifications since it wouldn’t be released for commercial gain, hence no royalty problems).
Regardless, if you haven’t seen this before, boy (or girl) are you in for treat! It’s a fantastic little film from 1978 (30th Anniversary Edition!), and The Evil Dead would not be around without it since it was not only the blueprint to the horror classic, but it was used to demonstrate to potential investors that Raimi, Campbell and Tapert could make a decent low-budget horror flick, which eventually helped to raise $85 000 to jump start The Evil Dead (which ended up costing between $350 and $400 000 after extensive pick up shots, inserts and editing had been completed almost 2 years after principal photography was technically finished in January 1980). Hardcore deadites will immediately notice sound effects and sequences which eventually made it into The Evil Dead in a more polished and fleshed out form (the ominous sound of tree branches/trunks snapping, for instance, created with the use of apple crates). Such a great piece of horror fillm history, right here. Enjoy.
Screen cap from the Unconventional featurette on disc 3 of The Evil Dead: Ultimate Edition. Glad to see everyone together again! Courtesy of Deadites Online (click the pic).
The Evil Dead is my favourite film. The original Elite Entertainment SCE was my very 1st DVD and the Book of The Dead version was my 77th DVD. I’m also a proud owner of the original poster art that the above DVD cover is based on (it hangs over my bed…sweet dreams guaranteed). And now, this “Ultimate Edition” (quotes ARE for emphasis) which is being released on 12/18 could very well be the 3rd time that I purchase this film on DVD (which isn’t so bad considering the nearly infinite times that The Evil Dead has been released for commercial consumption).
Upon further review, I guess I’ll be picking up this edition strictly for the 3rd disc of extras (I’m most interested in the Video Nasties debate). Although it would have been a no-brainer had a clean, digital copy of Within The Woods been included this time around. Let’s hope that, upon finding one of those aforementioned easter eggs, we encounter the following frame (previously hidden and unused on the 2003 Book of the Dead release):
"Astonishment is our natural state of mind." - Paul Harris.
"Style is what an artist uses to fascinate the beholder in order to convey to him his feelings and emotions and thoughts." - Stanley Kubrick.
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." - Bruce Lee.
"If ya ears hurt, you shouldn't listen. That means you artificial and my style'll poison ya brain tissue." - Black Thought
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