Kelv-1

Good chance is that if you asked an average person on the street

who Kevin Smith was, they wouldn't have a clue. Others might say

he's a comedy genius who has made four of the most important

films of the nineties and is one of the best speakers in the history

of show business. I fall into the latter. However, Mr. Smith may be

much more famous in, say, another ten years time. He is working

on the new J. Lo film 'Jersey Girl' and is planning to make a new

'Fletch' film, both of these will improve his star-o-meter (is there

such a thing?). I have had the great opportunity to speak to Kevin in

the flesh and also see him do his Q&A live so I was very excited

about this new three hour epic. Some people may think, at three

hours, this is a fan only topic but with it's entertaining stories and

Kevin's great style of talking, this is for anyone who has a tiny bit of

time to spare. This documentary, lifted from Kevin's Q&A tour is a

gold mine of information here. Take a look at this and at his other

DVDs and you will come out knowing every bit of information about

the man himself, Kevin Smith. We hear him talk about the

infamous 'Superman' script, his protesting for his own film

'Dogma', his first sexual encounter with his wife (in painful detail)

and how he met the man he made famous... Jason Mewes! (Yeah,

he mentions that affleck guy too). While the entertainment value of

certain stories differ, never once is it boring. Lie back, put your feet

up, get an alcoholic beverage of some kind and watch 'An Evening

with Kevin Smith'!

Horror sequels aren't always what you want them to be. Mostly,

they are just in need of desperate cash so the idea of a sequel

comes to them but with Evil Dead 2, they made a difference... 'The

Evil Dead' was a dark, disturbing and plain horrific horror movie

that had you jumping out of your seat but 'Evil Dead 2: Dead by

Dawn' is a hilarious comedy. Funny, weird and "Groovy"! This film

has it all: A man mutilating himself (funny, of course), swallowed

eyeballs, A severed hand killing people (the inspiration for 1999's

'Idle Hands') and, of course, a decapitated dancing corpse. Yes,

it's a horror movie with a difference alright and while some fans of

the original 'Evil Dead' will be dissapointed that this is less horror,

more looney tunes, others will be delighted at this film's strange

and original premise: Of taking the original film and totally flipping

it on it's head, simaliar to what 'Gremlins 2' did a few years later.

Unlike that film however, this film picks up right where the original

left off right at the very second. Ash, after a long demon filled night,

is once again attacked by the evil force in the morning and falls

unconscious. Later on when he wakes up, it is almost night and

the horror is starting again. This time, the evil is almost mocking

him to the point where they possess his hand and start killing him

with it. But Ash is soon to be joined by four others, who are also

seemingly doomed mainly by the strange demon down in the

cellar by the name of Henrietta. It's up to Ash to kick some demon

butt. For me, 'Evil Dead 2' just improves on the original but isn't

anywhere near as good as 'Army of Darkness'. Still, the film is

entertaining right up to the twist ending and for many this is the

ultimate in horror comedy. A film that has spawned endless

copycats, some excellent and some just doing it for cash, 'Evil

Dead2' is THE original.

Released twenty years ago, 'The Evil Dead' is still a film that holds

up today. An unusual mix of grim horror and laugh out loud black

comedy, this first film of a trilogy has got more cult followers than

you could imagine. Girls, women, men, boys and children flock to

see this movie. While some moments aren't as shockingly original

as they were back then, most of it is still scary and holds up well.

The film opens with our hopeless hero Ash, his girlfriend Linda,

his sister Cheryl and their friends Scott and Shelly heading off to a

deserted cabin in the woods supposedely for a weekend of fun

and games. However, what starts off as fun turns into terror with

the discovery of the 'Book of the Dead' in the cellar and the tree

rape attack of Cheryl (an amazing scene, by the way). With his

friends possessed, all Ash can do is kill them without mercy

beforeb he becomes the evil dead's next victim. Many people over

the years have complained about the violence but upon watching it

today, it seems surprisingly tame for an 80's horror picture. And

yes, I AM watching the UNCUT version. To me it doesn't seem as

shocking as it would have been twenty years ago. Bruce Campbell

is genius in his role as Ash. In this film, he plays Ash as a witty,

intelligent, good looking college student who likes to hang around

with his pals but in the next two, he would be a bumbling idiot who

gets hit on the head a lot. Here, Ash is a normal guy who finds

himself surrounded by dead incarnations of his friends and there

is a great look on his face around the middle of the film that says

perfectly "I'm all alone and surrounded by the living dead". A lot of

these character traits are thanks to Sam Raimi, writer and director,

who has wrote a genius script and directed it like a pro. He's even

created his own type of shot! For me, 'Evil Dead' is my least favorite

of the 'Evil Dead' trilogy with 'Army of Darkness' being my favorite

but that doesn't mean to say it's a bad film. It's a grim, disturbing,

humorous and violent look into the ultimate holiday gone wrong.

An absolute must see!