How Long 'Til Skynet?

My buddy Phil was mucking about with an AI art generator and he sent me this.

It's Bjork as Danny from The Shining. He then proceeded to ask me for ideas, for which I shot out “Scarlett Johansson as Ash from The Evil Dead.” of the cuff. A few minutes later I get this...

I for one welcome our robot overlords...

Come Get Some!

Yes, this is a rare post about a new release. It doesn't happen very often these days, but once every few years (Halloween 2018, The Sadness) I feel compelled to type out some thoughts on the film of the hour. That film today is Lee Cronin's new Evil Dead flick.

I had a lot of fun with this one, much more than I did with Fede Alvarez's 2013 remake. Looking back on my review from ten years ago, I was perhaps a little harsh. For what it was, it was fine, but Cronin's offering is a much stronger piece and I think a legitimately good horror movie. 

Predominantly, I wager this is due to the likeable cast of characters. Apart from Jane Levy and Jessica Lucas (bless her) I didn't give a rat's ass about anyone in the remake, but here, this crew was just a nice family that unfortunately DJ'd their way into tragedy. All the performances are solid, especially Aussie Alyssa Sutherland as the matriarch-turned Deadite - do we still call them that? She brings a tremendous physicality to the role, adding pinches of The Joker and Pennywise into her portrayal to really make it sing. Some of her line deliveries really got the crowd going.  

I think the fresh location (a soon to be knocked down apartment complex) really helps this movie, as well. While it is mainly confined to one floor, thus not going full Demons 2 as I had hoped, they still utilize the environment to the fullest. And not unlike the new Hellraiser, the filmmakers found interesting ways to expand the lore, in addition to keeping the effects as practical as possible.

 

Speaking of which, Evil Dead Rise is very bloody. VERY bloody. An estimated count of 1,700 gallons of blood seems low in comparison to the remake's apparent count of 70,000. Although, Cronin did say that due to the pandemic, blood shortages caused them to have re-use it as much as possible. Can you imagine? I kept thinking about that during the final act, man the actors really earned their pay on that stretch of the shoot. Great stuff.  

Lily Sullivan as Beth in Evil Dead Rise

Evil Dead Rise is just well put together, with good pacing, particularly once the blood hits the fan. All of the callbacks to the original trilogy - of which there are many - felt earned and not simply fan service. Additionally, there are many other classics to which Cronin pays homage, including The Shining and Aliens - the latter heavily in the climax, even down to the Horner infused score.

I think my only knock on this movie is that the bookend sequences seemed unnecessary. I imagine it served as a doorway to make more Evil Dead films, but those scenes seemed a tad clunky in contrast to the main story. A minor gripe.

Lastly, I've been thinking about why Rise works so much better than its 2013 counterpart, even rhough they share almost exactly the same tone. Perhaps it was just expectation. A decade ago, the marketers decided to plaster “THE MOST TERRIFYING THING EVER” on their posters (it wasn't), while Cronin's crew instead focused on the family element that just happens to be one of the main strengths of the piece. Oh, and they gave us cheese graters after the movie...

So, yes. I approve of this latest Evil Dead film. It was a lot of fun to see with a crowd, and if you feel so inclined I recommend you do the same. 

Gifrific: Kandarian Covid Test

Source: Do I need to say???

Full Moon Over Niagara.

I worked the Full Moon booth at Niagara Comic Con yesterday and it was a gas. It had been sometime since I'd been to a non-horror con and the cosplayers were out in force. It's always fun to see what those crazy and creative cats come up with every year.

I should take this opportunity to mention The Deadly Ten. Full Moon is making ten features back-to-back all over the world. In fact, Halloweed Night starts shooting in Vegas tomorrow. Now, the really cool thing is that by going to the website you can watch live streams of these films being made.

Even if you're not a fan of the FM catalogue, you gotta admit that is kind of cool and unique. No one knows how this is gonna go, so why not check it out and be a part of history!

Anyhoo, enough shilling. I was chained to the booth most of the day, but I did get to grab a photo with this super soul swallowing re-enactment of the Evil Dead cabin. I asked if I could sit in the chair and read the book and they said, “sure, just not out loud.”

Good times!

Hail To The Chin.

This week saw the release of Bruce Campbell’s third book, Hail To The Chin: Further Confessions of a B-Movie Actor. Campbell describes this autobiography as “Act Two” and picks up where his first one left off at the onset of the 2000's.

While I think his debut If Chins Could Kill was a little more engaging, as it went into details about his early days with the Renaissance Boys and his rise to B-movie icon, Campbell has much to regale us with from the past fifteen years. I am an avid fan and even I had forgotten just how busy he’d been over the last decade or so when it was all laid out in print. I think my only glaring disappointment was that there were significantly less photos and visual aids compared to his first book. 

Hail To The King begins with Campbell's short lived action show Jack of all Trades and then he takes us through the aughts, including his turn as Elvis in Don Coscarelli’s beloved Bubba Ho-Tep, his adventures shooting The Man with the Screaming Brain and Alien Apocalypse in Bulgaria and his extended run as Sam Axe on the USA Network’s spy show Burn Notice.

Aside from the broad stokes, he also delves into his continuing cameo work in Sam Raimi joints, using his own property to film My Name Is Bruce and the whack of failed pilots he did in between Burn Notice and Ash Vs. Evil Dead.

I found that Campbell revealed more about his private life in this book. While not all of it is particularly exciting – get ready to discover more than you ever wanted about Oregon – I learned quite a bit about the man. Did you know that he has once arrested for DUI or that he has a side business with his wife harvesting lavender? Me either!

Campbell at Fan Expo Toronto in 2009.

Campbell also spends a few chapters speaking about the business of fan conventions and public appearances. I think this was the part I was most interested in because I wanted to get some insight on just how much of a grind this process can be. I was a party to some really unflattering behaviour toward convention volunteers in the past, so I guess I was hoping for some acknowledgment that it can be tough to always to be “on”. Oh well, maybe he was just having a bad day.

Hail To The Chin was an amusing and brisk read about one of the genre’s most celebrated actors. As his “Act Three” begins, I am interested to see where the Chin grows from here.

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Hey all. I'm just checking before attending a friend's movie marathon all day. Here's some interesting stuff for the week.

My Head Is Killing Me.

Ahead of the anticipated second season of their horror series Channel Zero, SyFy has released this teaser.

Creepy shit, and so simple! The second season will focus on the Creepypasta story No-End House and will premiere on October 1st. I can't wait!

Bava Bound!

Remember when I was incredibly jealous of the Mario Bava retrospective that was happening in NYC and desperately hoped that it would somehow make it to Toronto? Well, my prayers have been answered! From August 11th to 13th, The Royal Cinema & Horror-Rama are bringing four of Bava's classics here.

I am so stoked for this. Planet of the Vampires and Kill Baby, Kill are two of the most influential pictures out there, Black Sunday features one of Barbara Steele's most striking performances and I've not even seen Hatchet For A Honeymoon, so this is a real treat. For more info, visit The Royal's website here.

For The Birds.

I saw this cool little construct on Bloody Disgusting this week. Reddit user murdrfaze has fashioned themselves a birdhouse replica of the cabin from the Sam Raimi classic The Evil Dead.

Apparently due to the demand, murdrfaze has decided to build ten for sale on his Etsy page. No word on when that will be, but if you'd like to read the original BD article, click here.

That's it for me kiddies, I got me some movies to watch. Have a great rest of the weekend! 

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Hey all. I'm all rested up now after a healthy dose of MST3K (still got this song stuck in my head) over the last two days. Here's some cool stuff from the Web.

Halloween UK.

I found this fantastic piece of archival material on Film On Paper recently. For the release of John Carpenter's Halloween in the UK, the distributor Miracle Films put together this beautiful cinema advertising guide.

What a great time to be alive. To check out the full guide, click here.

What You Can't See...

Keeping with the subject of  JC, (the important one) I wanted to throw up Matthew Therrien's newest addition to his Final Girls & Cinema Survivors series based on the 1980 film The Fog.

To check out the rest of the series, click here.

Sam's The Man.

Get ready to be incredibly frustrated. I found a YT video on Dread Central from 1987 which features Sam Raimi under siege in the UK about his “reprehensible & irresponsible” films Evil Dead 1 & 2.

This man has the patience of a saint. Fuck man, I don't see how people could ever take Evil Dead 2 seriously. Now that the “nanny-staters” have moved onto violent video games I sometimes forget how ridiculous these so-called experts were. Good on ya, Sam.

That's it for now. Oh, and Happy Easter I guess.

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Hey all. I hope you are enjoying your long weekend. I know I'm going to make good use of my extra time. For now, here's what I've got for you today.

Big News.

We got a couple of doozies this week. First, the rumour dropped that Sam Raimi is in talks to possibly produce and direct a film featuring The Bermuda Triangle. Now I know it's not official, but I would love this not only due to Raimi's involvement, but also because that particular phenomenon is so underutilized in film. I'll take this news with a grain of salt, but hey, Evil Dead 4 did finally end up happening in the form of a television show, so hey, anything is possible now right?

The second was the announcement of Stephen King & JJ Abrams teaming up with Hulu to make an anthology featuring King mainstay Castle Rock.

I mean, Stranger Things might have had something to do with it, but I can't believe no one thought to do this before! This has so many wonderful possibilities, and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

Mondo Games?

The artist collective Mondo announced this week that they are getting into the board game business. First up, a board game called Infection at Outpost 31 based on the events of John Carpenter's The Thing.

Come to think of it, The Thing would work as a Werewolves type party game, as well. This isn't the first time that The Thing has been adapted, as I fondly remember playing a pseudo-sequel on the PS2. 

Hopefully, this game isn't as elusive as their prints and I can actually get my hands on a reasonably priced package.

Dead By Dawn.

The 2017 New York Toy Fair is on right now, and NECA dropped these beauties for the 30th anniversary of Evil Dead 2.

Man, the likenesses on these are terrific. I so want that Deadite dear head! As if I don't already have enough Evil Dead stuff! 

Fan Expo 2016

Toronto's yearly nerd prom, Fan Expo descended on the city last weekend. I had distanced myself from the event since Rue Morgue left, but decided to go one day this year to see the sights and hang out with my buddy Schwartz.

It was a fun time, even if I did find myself looking for things to do by the end of the day. Fan Expo did feature a “horror section” tucked off in the corner, but it was pretty anemic. Aside from stalwarts like Black Fawn and Troma, there were none of the usual players there. Even the one horror panel I was intending to check out, The Blair Witch Reunion got cancelled at the zero hour. That was a bummer. However, there's was some cool genre stuff on display.

Lawn ornaments done right courtesy of Revenant FX

This guy was committed. Dick Warlock would be proud.

Awesome Twin Peaks fan art from Blood Club

Lego Book of the Dead (I think)

I picked up some cool stuff, including the new Creepshow doc Just Desserts on Blu-ray. Also, this amazing card set for five freaking dollars!

Toronto After Dark was there as per usual to announce the first nine titles in their 2016 line-up. Not pictured is the super awesome Polish mermaid musical The Lure.

So glad The Void is playing here in October!

After feeling the absence of horror at this Expo, I realized that it doesn't or didn't really ever need to be there. The emphasis at this type of event should be on comics and cosplay, which was always a big part of it, but it felt even more so now. 

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Horror-themed conventions live on in entities like Horror-Rama, Shock Stock & Dark Carnival and will continue to flourish as attractions and not afterthoughts. That suits me just fine.

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Hey all! It's been a huge weekend of horror and sports, so this post is coming to you from the past. Check it out.

Maron Talks To The Masters.

Marc Maron of the WTF Podcast recently interviewed the impressive one-two punch of John Carpenter and Joe Dante about their careers, their inspirations and just filmmaking in general. Click on the image below!

Groovy!

Scape Goat Productions, the cats responsible for the Evil Dead 2 comic books, have a new project on the go - The Evil Dead 2 Board Game.

There is currently a Kickstarter campaign going for this, and considering they've already reached 250% of their goal, the demand is obviously there. If you'd like to have one for your very own, click here.

Silencio!

This isn't a piece of news, I just laid eyes on this gorgeous Mulholland Drive print from Kevin Tong yesterday and I wanted to post it.

Of course, the Mondo release was last year, so now it is worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars and it will never be mine, but holy moly, is it a thing of beauty. *sigh

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Hey everyone. I hope you're Halloween hangover isn't too bad.

I spent mine doing the important things, like watching a double bill of Halloween I & II, and taking care of some unfinished business.

For now, here's some genre morsels to chew on.

Hail To The King, Baby.

Ash Vs. Evil Dead is finally here, and here's a Variety piece where Bruce Campbell himself explains the origins and impetus for Ash's return.

I'm pretty chuffed with the pilot. It's in line with the universe that the Renaissance Boys created way back when, and Ash's inadvertent reopening of the gateway does seem like the boneheaded thing he would do. 

Submitted For Your Approval.

Toronto-based filmmaker Justin McConnell has been hard at work for a very long on his newest documentary Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business. He has compiled over eighty interviews with genre professionals, and is now looking for funds to help complete post production. Check out Justin's and co-producer Darryl Shaw's concise pitch video on what to expect from this project.

If you ask me, this is exactly the kind of documentary we need right now. With the tools being as affordable as they've ever been, a resource like this can only benefit young filmmakers seeking to dive into the shark-infested waters of the indie film business. So give what you can, by clicking here.

Disney Horror.

Artist Travis Falligant and Break.com teamed up to give us these horror re-imaginings of our favourite Disney princesses.

Check out this link to see the rest, it's some pretty great stuff.

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Hey all. Hope you are all having a great weekend. Here's what I've got for you this week.

The Ashman Cometh.

Comic-Con is winding down today, but we got a sizable amount of trailers to gush over, including Star Wars VII, Batman vs. Superman & Suicide Squad, but none more important to horror fans than the commercial for the new series from Sam Raimi, Ash Vs Evil Dead.

Ray Santiago, Bruce Campbell & Dana DeLorenzo in Ash Vs. Evil Dead.

I'm gonna be honest with you, I was skeptical about this. Not that it would be good, but that it would ever happen. Raimi & Campbell have been poo-pooing an Evil Dead 4 for so many years, I never believed them when they started considering it. Though I guess the successes of Drag Me To Hell and Alvarez's Evil Dead remake was enough to resurrect the Deadites once more. Anyhoo, the trailer below is nothing short of very, very promising.

After Spartacus, Starz seems like a very good place for this. I see that Lucy Lawless is already on board, so here's hoping that Raimi can bring in more of his long time collaborators, like his brother Ted and Dan Hicks. Ash vs. Evil Dead premieres this Halloween.

Prowling.

Here's a sweet limited edition poster for The Prowler created by artist Trevor Henderson.

For info on picking up this super limited edition poster, go here.

A Game That Plays You.

I discovered a super cool crowdfunding for something called Hyde the other day. It looks like a new type of Escape Room game mixed with Halloween amusement ride. But with a twist, as you are hooked up to heart monitors, which give you to power to affect your environment. Check out the video below.

You still have 5 days to contribute, so if you'd like to help this become a reality, click here for more info.