The Evil Dead

[00:00:00] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David, don't know what to say or to expect. All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check.

[00:00:19] I believe I have made a significant find at the Kandarian ruins. A volume of ancient Sumerian burial practices and funerary incantations. It is entitled Naturam De Montem, roughly translated, Book of the Dead.

[00:00:37] The book is bound in human flesh and inked in human blood. It deals with demons and demon resurrections and those forces which roam the forest and dark bowers of man's domain. The first few pages warn that these enduring creatures may lie dormant, but are never truly dead. They may be recalled to active life through the incantations presented in this book. It is through the recitation of these passages that the demons are given license to podcast the living.

[00:01:02] Is it possessed? It is possessed. Very good. Right? What else were you going to do? I guess you could do the weird words. I was thinking that. There's also the Linda singing, like, we're going to podcast you.

[00:01:23] Or you could do the cards. That would be fun actually. Actually lots of great lines in The Evil Dead. I take it back.

[00:01:28] There is. But here's the thing that I forgot watching this movie for the first time in a long time, a movie I was very obsessed with when I was a teenager and just had not seen so long. The second half of this movie is essentially a silent film.

[00:01:39] No talking. It is wild how dialogless it becomes. You know how long the script was? How long? 14 pages. Yep. Sounds about right. That's how long the script for this film was. Sounds about right. It's a research bomb for you there.

[00:01:55] I mean it's also a thing where like, I mean, we got, JJ did some talk about an archaeologist going in and excavating the ruins and finding the Book of the Dead. Yeah.

[00:02:05] JJ and Nick our researchers found a lot of stuff for this. But this is one of those movies. This is such a canonical text of like modern cult cinema. Right? Absolutely.

[00:02:16] And it's also one of these movies that is at the beginning of like every single person. Not the very beginning but is in the early stages. Halloween is maybe an earlier example of this. No, go on.

[00:02:25] Every single person who worked on this movie kind of has an identity based in I tell the stories about what it was like working on The Evil Dead. Right?

[00:02:32] I actually, and this is maybe an odd start to this episode, but yes, I was sort of commiserating with JJ because I know this must be one of those things where there's so many half truths and weird legends. Yes. This is my exact point.

[00:02:45] About them making this movie because this one guy is like, yeah, I held the boom mic. It was crazy. JJ's very good at what he does. He really worked to he was like the Wikipedia page is shockingly inaccurate.

[00:02:57] But also I was watching, I was digging into special features and this is one of the most famously re-released double, quadruple quintuple dipped. Many discs. Right. Scattered special features. I've now, I now think I own four different versions of this movie. Right. This 85 minute micro budget movie.

[00:03:19] Which I've been stocking up on them recently trying to get more comprehensive special features for the sake of this episode. But within like one featurette on the same edition, three people will contradict each other. Right. Right. So, you know, all this is a long time ago.

[00:03:33] Everything about it becomes urban legend, but it is one of those things where you're like 14 pages. I think it was supposed to be six weeks of filming. It became 12. It was 11 or 12. Right. And the budget was ostensibly 150.

[00:03:46] And then depending on who you believe, it either went up to 350 or 500. Yeah. 375 is a number I see. But don't you think it's also it's just like you're saying this. I'm just like it was a weird trying shoot. Everyone was doing a million things.

[00:04:05] And like then 20 years on, you're kind of like you just are going to sort of inflate some of it in your mind. Of course. Everyone lost their hearing. I'm trying to think of something that's not true. Absolutely. Yes.

[00:04:17] We were eating three day old sandwiches we took out of a garbage can, you know, whatever. Just the legend of these shoots. There's so many stories like that and that all the stories are based in like in some ways they were surprisingly professional.

[00:04:30] And the shoot was so much better organized than you would imagine for this kind of movie. That this movie exists is miraculous.

[00:04:36] And they were just like I was watching interviews with the actresses where they were like it was surprising when we showed up to set that they had like scripts printed. They had the sides every day.

[00:04:46] They had proper contracts figured out like in some senses they were very professional about things and other senses. It was total chaos. And there are people who worked on this movie who went on to have other careers.

[00:04:57] There are people who have sort of made their careers off of being involved in this movie. And everyone is constantly sharing these stories and going to conventions and doing retrospectives and interviews and oral histories. So there are just so many accounts of this film.

[00:05:10] A film called The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead. Which you got to give it credit right off the bat. Pretty fucking great title. Which is hilarious because they did not like the title. And it was like a pretty last minute.

[00:05:24] It was supposed to be the book of the dead. Right. Most of its life. But in that sort of like William Castle, like you know, Roger Corman sort of school of like what are three words you can put on a poster that like I can sell.

[00:05:39] There's such a beautiful simplicity to The Evil Dead. I think it's such a good title. It's so incredible. And not only is it like such a good title but it also feels like a pretty good representation of what this movie is. Yeah.

[00:05:55] Like there are obviously a lot of movies with possession and with demons and with like fucking spirits fucking with people and whatever. But I'm like how would you describe the forces in the movie? And you're like they're like evil dead. Pretty much. They're dead. They're evil. They're evil.

[00:06:12] They're dead. They're evil. And they kind of just keep coming back. But also the fact that it's called The Evil Dead. Like there's not a villain in this movie. The villain is this force. Right. Yeah. But this movie is really good. It is really good.

[00:06:28] It seems like in a I mean I don't know why I didn't know this that you are deep on this movie or were at one point in your life.

[00:06:34] Look the second I started rewatching this last night I was like I think this was kind of my Halloween at the time. The way you talk about your relationship to Halloween and I'd sort of forgotten it because I hadn't watched it in so long.

[00:06:46] But I think this trilogy really functioned that way for me and this movie perhaps was the first time that sort of primal horror film gripped me in that kind of way. But it's got everything you like. It's got practical effects.

[00:07:01] The later ones have got a lot of humor. That's why Evil Dead 2 is like perfect pantheon movie for me because it's all of it. I love Evil Dead 2. I mean I love Evil Dead 1. I have only seen Army of Darkness once or twice.

[00:07:14] That one I actually don't know that well. But I love Evil Dead. I love it but it was not my Halloween.

[00:07:23] I think I rate Evil Dead 2 so highly that in my memory I was sort of like and this was actually much like when we did our Cameron series. And it's like I love Terminator 2. I saw Terminator 1 once.

[00:07:36] I think Terminator 1 is the good ground you know sort of building. And then watching Terminator 2 as a slightly more adult person or Terminator 1 is like more adult person. I'm like oh I appreciate the viciousness of this. Yeah.

[00:07:48] I think I watched Evil Dead 1 like I rented it from the video store knowing like and now next week I get to watch Evil Dead 2. That's the one that everyone tells me rips.

[00:07:56] But I was surprised by how much more gripped I was by Evil Dead 1 and how how much it sort of like burrowed into me. But I haven't watched in a long time. Look this is Blank Check with Griffin and David. It is. I'm David.

[00:08:10] It's a podcast about filmographies directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. And sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce baby. All true.

[00:08:22] And this is this is one of those ones inevitable right. Since we started the show. We talk about directors being inevitable and people go they say so many people are inevitable never get to them. Campion and Ramy were two high ups on the inevitable list. Absolutely.

[00:08:36] And they were always our plan for the beginning of 2022. We flipped them because of Dr. Strange getting pushed back. But say his full name Sam Ramy. I wonder if he's a Samuel Samuel Ramy Samuel M Ramy Samuel M Ramy. I don't know what the M stands for.

[00:08:51] I believe the name of this miniseries is podcast me to hell. I got no beef with it. I just think we should at least talk through the other option salute some fallen soldiers. I put a valiant effort behind me of dark cast. No you didn't. I did.

[00:09:10] I wanted you said it once. I did not say it once. I said multiple times. And then when Ben protested that our suggestions were not sweaty enough you were like I said pop me of darkness like you already angled it.

[00:09:20] No no I'm saying you didn't even get it right. It takes a couple times. Sure. I'm sorry. That's the process. You did throw out pop me of dark cast right. Ben threw out one that was really good. Do you want to repeat it Ben. Do you remember.

[00:09:34] Oh yeah absolutely. It was Potter man three casts. Yeah really really good. I remember it being spider pod three cast. I remember it being that. Oh that's spider pod man three. I don't even know spider pod three cast.

[00:09:51] I remember distinctively is that the thing I remember is that you put cast after three. There's nothing after three in a galaxy regular title right. You're changing the whole sort of like right. The calculus of how we come up with these titles.

[00:10:05] I think I threw out a simple podcast for love of the podcast for part of the podcast. Yeah you know how is just such a hall of fame title. It truly is I think like just as a title of a film. Yeah right.

[00:10:22] So more than anything else I kind of want to salute that title. We're talking about evil dead being a good title and it is. And obviously evil dead to dead by dawn dead by dawn is an incredible subtitle. It is.

[00:10:35] But drag me to hell was just like seeing that on a fucking poster hearing the announcement Sam Raimi is going back to horror his movies called drag me to hell. So excited. Podcast me to hell. I'm sorry I already forgot. I think it's podcast me to hell.

[00:10:49] Great that's what it's called. It's decided. Yeah. Right. Some kind of sound effects Ben. I'm taking a stamp. I'm putting it on the ink pad. Sure. Anyway I've been looking for ages about whatever this movie was even in the Kandari. Yeah exactly.

[00:11:10] Well you know guys I mean we shouldn't spend too much time on this but I did find this old tape player in the woods recently. Ben was going through the boneyard also known as the haus of Liam or no this is this is

[00:11:24] your childhood home in Jersey where the jeans were buried. Well I would yeah I mean I was I happened upon some woods and I found an old tape player and I thought maybe we could just quickly play it on the pod. It's a wild idea.

[00:11:42] I don't love sidebars on this podcast. I like to stay focused on the movie at hand and I don't see how this has anything to do with the film we're talking about today. But yes I will allow it briefly if you want to play this tape.

[00:11:52] OK here here I am. OK I've got the tape. Oh OK wait so it's not even a file on your computer. This is a reel to reel. Yeah yeah. I'll just get the tape queued up here on the player and play. OK that doesn't sound like English.

[00:12:19] No it doesn't. I'm hearing some buzzing right now sort of a head crushing feeling like a truck is driving through the room. A little bit a little bit of that. OK. I'm sort of wondering if that wasn't a good idea actually. I don't know. I feel great.

[00:12:44] You guys always have eyes that are bleeding black mud right. Yeah. That's so that's it. We're just we're done with that sidebar and we can move on with the rest of our episode. Right. I mean I think there's no reason we need to acknowledge this ever again.

[00:12:57] I don't think it will come back to haunt us. But but this is this is one of those incredibly famous debut film stories in so many ways. Right. Absolutely. It's it's this is the kind of legend.

[00:13:13] So like you say some people hear the Spielberg legend of like that kid just kind of conned his way onto a back lot. Right. And sat in an empty office and started taking meetings. Yes.

[00:13:23] You know with with Rami it's like yeah him and his friends went in the woods and they made like one of the most iconic movies horror movies ever. Like I think that's so much of the I can do that. The legendary status of the movie.

[00:13:36] Yes is that is the like they just did it. Yeah. They just said let's make a movie. Who do I have. What do we have at our disposal. And then one of the special features I was watching that was I think from 2006 that was

[00:13:49] like a lot of people involved the movie but also Edgar Wright and Eli Roth and a lot of the sort of children of the evil dead. That class of filmmakers talk about this movie.

[00:13:59] Joe Bob Briggs horror film sort of historian was was sort of saying like I think he was the one who said this that like you see so many of these types of movies where it's

[00:14:10] where it's like a bunch of film loving kids got together in the woods with a shoestring budget and they figured something out. And he was like this was the first time I'd seen one of these movies that didn't feel like it was written to the limitations. Right right.

[00:14:25] Because even to this day. Yeah. I'll see a really good horror movie. Yes. But you definitely you have that thing in the back your head saying like this person wrote a one million dollar script. Right.

[00:14:37] And they wrote it in this genre because they knew it's a genre you can raise a million dollars. You know like horror. You know like I don't think that's cynical. No no. I don't have a problem but like you do sort of right. You're like right.

[00:14:50] This is set in a house or right. This is right. It's something like that. And like you know Rob Tapper Ramey's regular partner producing partner especially for these early films Renaissance films.

[00:15:02] Pictures was sort of saying that it was like Ramey was you know when he was starting out. I mean he's obviously from this sort of super eight generation right. And then as he's growing up is more seriously making films with his friends and everybody

[00:15:18] but that like horror was not the thing that he was developing that he was more into comedy and drama and that they had made the short film within the woods that got some traction and they immediately realized this thing that many if not most young filmmakers realize

[00:15:33] you can always sort of get a horror movie finance within a certain budget. It's one of those things that is just endlessly sellable. Look we got a lot of context that I want to give you then I'm sure you have some for me as well.

[00:15:46] But all of that to say it is incredible when they sit down and there's the strategically minded like we're writing a movie that we know can get made and we know we can make within a limited budget. It's our friends. They're in a cabin in the woods.

[00:15:57] It's contained all this sort of shit that then this film is loaded with so many fucking ideas. Sure that's true to me. Almost too many. Yeah absolutely right now that I'm on the weird contradictory nature to this movie is like

[00:16:10] he just went off and did it but also what he did is insane and feels like is not desperado you know right or you know you're El Mariachi I'm sorry. El Mariachi I'm trying to that's another one like that. It's not a witch project.

[00:16:24] It's not a witch project but forget the Blair Witch Project of course because they don't slack or slack clerks. I mean all these obvious right. Right. Yeah. Me and my friends just made this right with El Mariachi you have the he likes you know sold his blood. Yeah.

[00:16:40] You know like they'll get the lore of like oh you know his dentist gave him 10 grand you know whatever we're going to talk about it with this. Yes. All right. Well the evil dead the evil dead Sam Raimi podcast me to hell. We're doing it.

[00:16:55] Look the man is as Griffin said an obvious candidate for our miniseries always has been. He's got a new film coming out Dr. Strange in the multiverse of madness. I don't know what that's about his first in nine years eight years first film in nine years.

[00:17:12] I suppose it was originally going to be eight but sure then there was a pandemic. Yeah. Oh yeah. But let's wind it back because Sam Raimi I mean well this is the guarantor. Sure.

[00:17:29] I mean I want to multiple it is it is it is it is it is our first film guarantor. I just want to wind it back one more second because I don't think we properly introduced

[00:17:37] the person who took out the real world tape recorder because this is a guest list episode which means when my when my co-hosts hold his phone up. Yeah. No I agree. Which means we have the time. His name is producer Ben. Hey what's up.

[00:17:52] But he also goes by some other names for do or bend the Ben Dueser the poet laureate the meat lover the tiebreaker the fart detective our finest film critic the peeper birthday Benny Hello fennel not Professor Crispy the fuck master dirt bike Benny White Hop Benny

[00:18:03] Soak and Wet Benny the Haas Mr. Positive Mr. Positive close personal friend of Dan Lewis the voice of reason Santa Haas the commish wishful Ben Hosley would. He's also graduated to a series of different titles over the course of several miniseries

[00:18:14] such as producer Ben Kenobi Kylo Ben Benite Shyamalan Ben say it say anything dot dot dot Ailey bends with a dollar sign Warhawks Purdue or Bane Ben 19 the fennel maker Robo Haas Benglish Mr. Incredible Eat Drink Ben Haas Beetle Vape Juice the Haas public enemies

[00:18:27] Haas go of the ditch at the Jersey stop making Ben's with his pig in the city Ben Haas Lee met Sally dot dot dot the secret life of Ben's with his own down the great mouse fart detect

[00:18:35] the Haas break kid Ben's in the Haas with two Z's Ben skate from new Haas and Bronco Benny I just wanted you to slow down for the last because I don't know them as much as

[00:18:43] I don't know them as well but no no it's okay it's okay we don't need to yeah I got it yeah Haasica no of the ditch of no it was just so wait so wait so Carpenter is Ben

[00:18:56] skate from new Haas yeah Singleton is look all these are up for revision I want another swing at the Carpenter we can do a lot better than that yeah a little lazy with the Bronco

[00:19:08] Benny that's what I know I just wanna cuz I feel like it was a little moment in the sun Bronco Benny just feels like the best one I he Ben is mythical in a Bronco Henry

[00:19:19] type way Wow Wow Bronco Benny I mean I'm he's here with us today here I'm mythical yeah I'm excited to talk about this movie a lot of chains in this movie and so you're saying

[00:19:32] that that that real real tape recorder which include chanting in a language I didn't understand you're saying that that was announcing a new miniseries it was just asserting what we already know that this is a new miniseries yep okay so that's normal and that's totally

[00:19:45] normal and whatever we're just gonna will happen nothing else will happen no I don't think so nothing will be awoken no nothing will be awoken I agree that this is not the

[00:19:56] only instance of this but this is a rare instance within our show where the first film is absolutely unequivocally a guarantor because yeah yeah and it has a bit of an odd journey to getting

[00:20:10] there because this movie has a very slow burn in terms of release nonetheless nonetheless it's the calling card but it's also that you know and again again he has other you know like movies that sort of leap him further up the ladder or what I guess he graduated

[00:20:27] in a way I mean I think there is an escalation with the three ash movies I think simple plan takes him to a different level by his own admission of just sort of like you graduated

[00:20:42] to showing you're not a bag of tricks filmmaker yeah and then spider-man obviously takes him to another level with a level that's sort of I guess my god for in my head I'm like

[00:20:50] why does he get spider-man but you know what we'll get to that we'll get to it but but here's the thing like just before we dig into the context of him that is another reason

[00:21:01] he's fascinating is he is one of these guys we're just sort of talking about this right before we recorded who really became like a cult filmmaker in a modern way not just

[00:21:13] in that his films had this big sort of cult following behind them but that he was viewed as this like folk hero that everyone who worked on his movies people memorize the names of

[00:21:23] like who the model makers are you know there's a little bit of that in Carpenter's career certainly there is and we were saying like Kevin Smith someone who will never appear on this podcast has that as well you know where there's like the stories about the film

[00:21:37] getting made all of the collaborators everyone involved in them becomes a comic-con sort of like perennial figure all of that and I also think Ramey is someone who benefits from the early days of the Internet and comic book store culture where people were just like

[00:21:52] it's like the record store like you know who's really fucking cool is Sam Ramey agree with all that but even before the Internet you know the Fangorias and yes you know all that like that's the horror cult circuit the 80s and 90s people feel kind of

[00:22:08] they're rooting for him in a way I know his brothers and how they collaborate and the Bruce relationship and Bruce is like the original king of the comic-con Bruce you know and then like the car his car is always in it the fake shim all that shit

[00:22:25] that feels like he's at the beginning of a thing if not the first right he's in the early days of a thing that's now become much more of a thing which is like you watch an Edgar Wright movie looking out for the Cornetto rapper or whatever you know

[00:22:38] you understand who his old friends are that he's bringing back and like Ramey that builds around him in the early days and it has persisted alright let's do some I have things to say about this open up a dossier

[00:22:53] and by the way JJ and Nick usually send us a dossier as like a Google Drive link but this time it is a hard copy bound in human flesh of course and it's talking to me and I'm gonna draw it for you I'm acting like I'm possessed

[00:23:07] it's very funny it's a good performance Sam Ramey born in Royal Oaks, Michigan we all know it we love it we've all been to Royal Oaks, Michigan we all know it Detroit suburb he's from Detroit he's Jewish gotta stan his parents are

[00:23:25] I think his mom owned a lingerie store like they're like local shop owners is he Jewish and Italian? straight up Jews Jews from Russia and Hungary conservative Jews conservative meaning the kind of Judaism they practice not their politics and like you said these movie brats

[00:23:48] he's a little 8mm kid he's watching movies his dad's taking him to the cinema he says Fantastic Voyage I think was one of the first ones for him his older brother Ivan becomes a doctor writes a lot of stuff with him and then you have Ted Ramey

[00:24:04] his younger brother who's an actor yes there's a third brother there's many others who I will talk about as well fourth brother you mean? oh third brother third brother of Sam fourth boy likes movies loves television also crucial I think to all these guys

[00:24:20] because you're watching the reruns of old movies on TV which is a new thing in the 50s but also watching like the big Saturday movie and all these but also he loves the Three Stooges which he's obsessed with huge humongous and sort of a big influence on him

[00:24:33] part of his entire filmography I think everyone on The Evil Dead and all these books talks about how he would reference evil Three Stooges sketches right? like about visual stuff like that where are you on the Three Stooges by the way? I feel like we've united on this

[00:24:47] where we're both kind of like only seen in little bits yeah I feel like there are no beef with them I don't want them beating me up don't make me go over there and whack you upside your head and poke you in your eyes David

[00:25:00] right make my eyes cross or whatever and go like I feel like there's certainly a type of person who thumbs their nose at the Three Stooges and goes like they're not intellectuals they're no Laurel and Hardy Marx Brothers they're no Laurel and Hardy right

[00:25:16] there's that sort of divide I have never really been into them but I also have no judgment of it whatsoever and I will say I've watched a lot more Marx Brothers than I have Three Stooges Three Stooges would be in circulation when we were kids I guess so

[00:25:29] it is weird to think that we were like of the last generation where there just wasn't that much children's television where sometimes it would be like there was an hour of Three Stooges on some deep channel I guess so I never watched a lot of it

[00:25:41] but I was like familiar with them I've certainly seen some of it well I have news for you both I love the Three Stooges and I watched them the most out of all of the other groups you've referenced wow what a surprise sure who's your guy okay

[00:25:56] it's Curly okay because Curly is like kind of like lovable he's like he's a victim and he's just kind of like goofy and he's the one who's like yep and he does a great move sometimes or he spins around on the floor and gets too excited yeah

[00:26:14] I'm a victim of circumstance wait he's like that he talks like a Brooklyn guy yeah alright anyway another thing that the Rameys all love magic big influence again you can kind of see it in shoestring filmmaking right like having to this movie is using

[00:26:28] every technique in the book so that is the one that I love so that in fact is what makes him friends with his high school classmate Bruce Campbell yes hunk yeah big chin star of the evil dead and just one of these things you love

[00:26:43] when two people just find each other that early on in life and are like you care about this shit as much as I do and their careers are able to completely develop in tandem you know yeah yeah you just think of like just like how fucking lucky

[00:26:55] is it those two guys end up in the same high school that they find each other it's it's it's it's it's it's the big chin star of the evil dead and just like how lucky is it those two guys end up in the same high school

[00:27:11] that they find each other it's it's it's beautiful and makes me happy yeah I I will note it's not that I mean it doesn't I don't think it's like something that comes up a lot but he has an older brother

[00:27:29] Ellen Sandweiss, who's in this film, Josh Becker, Scott Smithey, they're all, they're called the Michigan Mafia. They're all in this little sort of like Michigan kid movie drama sort of circle, I guess. Well, let's also mention- They're all doing plays, they're all making little Super 8 movies.

[00:27:44] Who else does Sam Raimi and his crew hang out with all the time these days? These days? No, in this time period. Oh, okay, back to that, because I don't know who Sam Raimi's hanging out with these days. He and Jon Favreau seem very close. Uh, who?

[00:27:56] The Coen Brothers. Well, the Coen Brothers, I don't know about that. When do they hang out? Like, not in high school, right? The Coen Brothers, of course, are from Minnesota. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Not in high school. I know you were just invoking the actresses, but-

[00:28:11] They're in high school. They're in high school with them. Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. No, I just know the fact, I'm sorry if I'm jumping over in time here, but like the Coen Brothers always cite the exact thing we were saying where it was like Sam Raimi was the

[00:28:21] first person we knew who made a movie, who suddenly made that leap where you're like, Oh, you can go from being the guy on the couch talking about what you would do to just fucking doing it. Yes. Now we'll talk about Joel Coburn later. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[00:28:34] I was jumping ahead. He is coming up. I'm so overeager. So, you know, they're all making their little Super 8 movies. They all go to Michigan State, I think, or some of them do. Raimi goes to Michigan State and Bruce Campbell goes to Western Michigan. Oh, boy. Jesus.

[00:28:49] I don't, you know. But at Michigan State he meets Robert Tapert. Is that how you say his name? I think it's Tapert. Whatever. The guy who produced this movie, right? Another one of his chief collaborators.

[00:29:01] Because then he, I mean, they do another just weird facet of Raimi's career that I do think factors into him getting the Spider-Man job is that the two of them become the kings of daytime syndicated adventure shows.

[00:29:15] That Tapert and Raimi have their Xena, Hercules, Jack of all trades, Briscoe County. It was a moneymaker back then, right? Tapert, of course, now married to Lucy Lawless, has been for the last 30 years. They have kids. They're happy.

[00:29:30] And then he and Tapert also have Ghost House Pictures, which has been very big for them for the last 25 years doing, yeah. Here's the thing that I think is interesting. Producing horror films, Next Generation. You know, they start making their shitty little movies.

[00:29:43] One of them is called The Happy Valley Kid. They make it for like a thousand dollars. And they would start showing them at like on campus. And they would make like, say they spent a thousand dollars, they'd make five thousand.

[00:29:54] So they actually had a little bit of a pipeline in their brains of like, okay, you can turn money around. That's where Tapert, in this thing I was watching, said he took notice of them was like, oh, it's not even

[00:30:04] like that they're good filmmakers is that they have some weird show-busy moneymaking instinct here. They figured out a model. There was some weird thing they figured out in terms of like, they'll pay you to put on an event at the college

[00:30:19] and that's greater than the amount of cost to rent the equipment to do that. So they could get paid by the school as if they were like bringing in outside entertainment almost. It was something like that.

[00:30:28] I'm getting it wrong, but yes, they were making money off of screening their short films. They were. This is Rami's quote. We would run an auditorium space, run newspaper ads. We'd sell tickets. We acted as our own projectionists. And it was a great learning experience.

[00:30:42] We would sit among the audience as they screamed, this sucks. After a while, out of self-defense, we would make better films. But the thing that Tim Filo, who I think is the DP, I think that's how you say his name, on Evil Dead says,

[00:30:54] is when you project the movie out of a Super 8 projector, you have to keep, this is how he puts it, you have your hand on the control trying to keep the sound in sync. You're doing a mix on the spot.

[00:31:07] So like basically like every time you basically have to manually project the movie. And so Rami would take reels out if people got bored. He would self-edit on the fly and stuff like that, which is one reason I think the Evil Dead is really short.

[00:31:23] I think the initial cut of it was two hours. Rami was just like, no, no, no. He just wanted the most compact, entertaining. I just like that idea. Them having the live feeling of the audience. There's this thing about Rami having this sort of old school showman sensibility.

[00:31:43] The kind of William Castle-y. Right. Entertainer. There's the thing that develops with Rami later obviously, where he famously always dresses like a gentleman on set. And not in a Paul Feig. No, but he's always in a suit, right? At least often.

[00:32:03] And I think especially in the 90s people were like, that's a little bit odd. And he would always very modestly be like, I have a lot of respect for movies and the job of it.

[00:32:12] And I wear a suit so everyone on set understands that I take this very seriously. Not in a self-serious way, but I want to pay respect to the art form and the audience that we're making the movies for. I'm realizing I don't really know what he sounds like.

[00:32:24] He sounds like that. Yeah, he's just kind of nerdy and quiet. I think I've said this on the podcast before, but he did one of those Directors Guild podcasts where the directors interview each other after screening of a movie.

[00:32:36] That's a great podcast. Recently Joel Cohn and Guillermo del Toro, by the way, was a really good one. They have great episodes all the time. So he and Favreau are weirdly close. I think Favreau has gone to him as a guru a number of times in his career.

[00:32:47] He's sort of scaled up to bigger movies. And he did one after Lion King. And Rami was moderating the Q&A. And Rami makes jokes. He has bits that are clearly prepped. But he's so low-key in how he delivers them.

[00:33:02] And he goes, like, John, I remember when the first Iron Man came out. I took my daughter to see it. And she turned to me at the end of the movie and she said, Dad, they did it. They finally made a good superhero picture.

[00:33:18] Right. And everyone's sort of like, Oh, he's not talking. Oh, that was a joke! His daughter's shitting on Spider-Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Okay. Yeah, I guess. Someone like Zemeckis or whatever, I'm like, oh, I know what his...

[00:33:34] I've seen enough talking heads and I know his energy. But I'm realizing... Rami is literally quiet. Good for him! And I think he's very focused. And then all the shit I was watching... From a Western, it sounds like. But not in the garrulous Chicago...

[00:33:50] No, but also not mysterious, not self-serious. Very respectful. And Tapper had a thing he said where he was like, The sweetest, gentlest, kindest, funniest, most sort of like avuncular guy to everyone on set. And 2% of the time, he can get very brisk and sort of focused and stern.

[00:34:08] And when he's doing that, it's because he feels like there's not enough respect being shown. Not to him, but to the amount of work other people are putting towards the movie. Everyone's working so hard. Right. That's the whole thing with him. We need to pay respect

[00:34:27] to the seriousness of this art form and also the audience we're making this for eventually. That's where the weird editing on the fly thing comes into play for me. In my mind, our primary responsibility is to entertain the audience. He has his own identity.

[00:34:43] He has his own fingerprints. He's trying to make individualistic films. But if the audience doesn't like it, I failed. I don't think he's one of these, they didn't get it. Right. Trying to see what else. Bruce Campbell works as a gopher for Verne Noble's

[00:35:02] who was a famous gopher for George Stevens and teaches him the lore of the gopher. Always have a rag, always have a book, run everywhere you go. Campbell is the same as the fucking Jesus Christ Bill Paxton where I'm like, these guys loved movies so much

[00:35:28] that even though they clearly wanted to be movie stars and had leading man looks and got there, when they started out, they were like, yeah, I'll fucking paint the models. I'll scrub this down. I'll lift the equipment. They actually spent time in crews

[00:35:46] not just because they were trying to get their foot in the door but also they love everything about movies. Campbell was such a key player in this movie, not just obviously in its development and being the main actor on screen most of the time

[00:35:59] but they were like, he was producing. He was the guy who had to put the contact lenses in for all the deadites. He was moving equipment. He was doing everything. And then to also maintain this incredibly high wire performance the whole time.

[00:36:13] I have to imagine there's going to be lots of Bruce Campbell stories over these episodes because the man writes books and tells stories and is a great relator of anecdotes. A thing I had completely forgotten until he reminded me. John Hodgman? John Hodgman was Bruce Campbell's editor.

[00:36:32] That was kind of Hodgman's big entry point into the literary world was Bruce Campbell's books which sold disproportionately well and it was this moment Especially if Chinz could kill. In the 90s when online the internet was starting to make the fandoms that existed in real life

[00:36:50] all congregate together so they were louder and more visible that book sold so much better than celebrity memoirs from much bigger stars where Hollywood started being like oh is a cult following that's still a following if it has that many people behind it

[00:37:06] he's actually famous and well liked. You know? I knew about him. I'll talk about my relationship with him. Yeah sure. I feel like I kind of knew of Bruce Campbell before I knew of The Evil Dead. Sam! And Sam Raimi Who are these guys that everyone's obsessed with?

[00:37:27] What's the movie that made everyone obsessed with them? How I went into renting this movie and watching it for the first time. Raimi and Campbell they want to make a feature film what kind of feature films are getting made on the cheap? Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween

[00:37:41] The Hills Have Eyes, Last House on the Left these movies where it's like you can make them for low budgets but still need money. So they make a little short film called Clockwork have you ever seen this? I never have. I have not. But apparently whatever

[00:38:02] it's a 7 minute short it gives them a little bit of juice Within the Woods, right? So then they have this screenplay called Book of the Dead Within the Woods is something they make Sort of a proof of concept Absolutely So they go to a lawyer friend

[00:38:20] of I think like Tapert's dad called Phillip Gillis who they get introduced and I think Tapert's dad is trying to get this guy to talk them out of this be like can you talk to my kid and his friends about how the movie business

[00:38:38] is a crap shoot and you're never going to make any money and instead they come in and they show Clockwork to him on a little super ray projector and it's got like a jump scare and some shadows on the wall and all that

[00:38:51] and this quote from this guy Gillis is great he's like that type of movie is not my favorite but I was taken by the quality of it I told them what had to be done to raise money that they would need to do blah blah blah blah blah

[00:39:03] right and he said I'll do the legal work for you but it's going to be it's going to be thousands of dollars and they said we don't have that kind of money he said ok fine I'll take a piece of the action you give me two shares

[00:39:20] how much is a share in your movie and they said $10,000 so he said I'll take two shares for doing the legal work and afterward I was so impressed with their industry and talent I bought another share and a half myself now here's the great quote here's the killer

[00:39:34] I was satisfied with their integrity my judgment has been bidicated by the way they've treated all of us investors ever since I got a check last year from them and it's the second one it's a six figure check

[00:39:46] with Hollywood accounting I could have just gotten my money back but that would have been it but those kids are honorable so they keep paying out the original evil debt investors because this thing fucking makes money forever because like you're saying I feel like every few years

[00:40:02] we have a new DVD it looks like the book of the dead and the fans are like you got me it's legendary if you're a fucking Ramey Stan they've cucked you so many times I'm buying it for the 10th time absolutely so we love it

[00:40:23] then they make within the woods which is like a 30 minute version of evil dead I've never seen it, have you seen it? no there's a crappy copy of it on YouTube is all I could find I was hoping it was on one of the discs

[00:40:35] I think they are not proud of it we don't really try to spotlight it anymore the biggest thing is that the dynamic is flipped what's the actresses name? Hedlweiss oh and Sandweiss who I didn't realize is Jessie Hodges mother who's that? she plays the agent on Barry

[00:40:58] she's a very good actor who I like a lot but she essentially and married to Beck Bennett Jessie Hodges cool family cool extended family tree there she essentially occupied the ash roll in within the woods it was the more standard final girl thing she has to survive

[00:41:22] and Sandweiss says you asked if it was a good script no it sucked we were all hitting each other over the head with axes but Sam was good at being imaginative Joe Bob Briggs said in this featurette which was like A if you outlined the events

[00:41:43] of evil dead to people it just sounds like a series of cliches there's nothing in how you describe it to people that makes it sound any different from a thousand other movies you've watched right? there's no sort of twist and then on top of that

[00:41:55] the things that could be construed as twists are things that never work like the guy survives the protagonist is never that's true that's a good point Edgar Wright had this line most horror movies follow the format of them getting picked off one by one of course inventive kills

[00:42:18] evil dead essentially halfway through he's the only one left and instead of it being people getting picked off it's him getting picked on is what Wright said which I thought was a really good way of expressing what's so unique it's true everyone's kind of pranking him

[00:42:36] kind of being rude by all accounts it sounds like a slightly more conventional version of the cabin in the woods movie done just to show them the sort of tone and vibe of what they wanted to apparently there's this moment where Bruce Campbell who's possessed

[00:42:52] chews his arm and it looks weird and gooey they have weird latex coming out of it and that looked so cool and gross that was sort of a moment that popped and encouraged them to go bigger cartoony effects and I think also that like

[00:43:09] oh Campbell's really good at this physical shit that his weird the three stooges you know what else he's good at turning me on it's funny because I feel like by the time you get to evil dead 2 he's sort of owned his position of like

[00:43:27] I'm a parody of a handsome guy he's obviously a handsome guy but by the time he gets to evil dead 2 he understands what role he's gonna occupy in Hollywood which is like I'm a little too slick, I'm a little too cocky I'm not gonna be Bruce Willis

[00:43:40] I'm like the fake Bruce Willis you dispatch early on right? this is the one movie where you're like he's just kind of hot kind of like the hot guy you know in college or whatever he doesn't have the arched eyebrow he's not sort of doing the winkiness

[00:43:54] but he's just like so fucking committed there's even just like he's not plucking that unibrow yeah no no yeah for sure and they talk about the women cause they now all like tour conventions together and so then they produce like a documentary together

[00:44:09] about the three of them and their relationship Ellen Sandwice, Betsy Baker, Teresa Tilly they were like he was so fucking shy at the time like he was such a sweet, shy guy but he was just like so collaborative so caring, so attentive especially to the other actors

[00:44:21] looking after them but it was like Rami was the same way and then they would get big when they did Three Stooges routines like they would literally talk to each other through and then they would be like yeah boys right and they were like hilarious

[00:44:39] but I think what you wouldn't expect which is another thing that Rami sort of like lands on miraculously in the same way that like oh fuck the practical, the blood the stickiness, that's popping is the like Bruce Campbell's sort of vernacular of Three Stooges translates really well

[00:44:56] you can place it in a less comedic context but he's able to crank up the energy of reacting to a bite or the thing he has to do to himself or whatever and it just becomes so cinematic I love it whereas this movie maybe

[00:45:12] at the beginning positions him more as just like this is our friend who's like a handsome guy that has to be the thing that switches him from within the woods to this of like no he's the guy who's gonna suffer I assume so well let me keep going

[00:45:29] Within the Woods they show it in front of Rocky Horror one time someone writes it up in the Detroit Free Press this guy Tom Filo who's gonna be the DP reads that article goes to the next showing it was in front of Saturday Night Fever

[00:45:45] he goes up to Sam Raimi and Sam Raimi's like are you here to see Saturday Night Fever and he's like no I'm here to see Within the Woods I heard about you and he was just obviously impressed by the movie but figured they need a lot of help

[00:45:57] and he was basically like whatever you guys are doing I'm in just please involve me they raise 150 grand no they're hopeful to raise 150 grand but they decide when they raise 90 grand they can go and hopefully raise more DP on this

[00:46:15] and then is DP's second unit for Evil Dead 2 and then pretty much retires from the film industry well so they get their funding together they have Sandvice they have Campbell Betsy Baker had just graduated from Michigan State they talk about they're all obviously friends now

[00:46:36] but they were three very different personalities but Sandvice was kind of this intellectual serious minded Jewish girl and that Baker was more of like a type A sort of sorority girl cheerleader energy she sang I think at first they were like she's too peppy

[00:46:59] and then the third one who I get her name confused but she does this under a fake name yes which is Sarah York her name is Teresa Tilly so she had just booked a SAG commercial and she thought that this movie

[00:47:11] because movies like this did not help people's careers at this point in time they were things you had to get past in order to become a serious actor and you love doing a softcore movie exactly and not only that but there was no later revenue stream

[00:47:25] of like you get to spend the next 40 years going to conventions for this so she made a fake name to distance herself from this movie and SAG found out about it and she was suspended from working for 6 months after this movie because of the fake name silly

[00:47:39] but she was the more serious minded trained had the most on camera and theater experience of the three of them they did the auditions Henrik sorry he was the horror fan he was one of the cast even more so than Bruce Campbell I love these types of movies

[00:48:02] I'm so excited I understand exactly how this needs to be played which I think that infectiousness extended to the women in terms of them suddenly getting the joy of the thing more rather than being a little bit embarrassed they decide to film in Tennessee instead of Michigan

[00:48:21] because they thought it would be cold in Michigan actually apparently was the coldest winter in Tennessee history and Michigan was like beautiful Michigan was like very nice so they blew that so many of the stories are just about what a nightmare it was to make it

[00:48:39] there was no running water in the cabin they're all living in this shithole the entire crew and cast of this movie they were all of their time in this cabin sleeping in the cabin the guy who's the cook for all of them couldn't really cook

[00:48:53] but they had hired him for two other jobs both of which he was bad at so he sort of ended up as the cook it drags on so long that a lot of people have to leave and so by the end there's barely any crew

[00:49:07] there's really just one guy holding a microphone there's Sam and Ted you know what I mean who knows how much of this is mythology but the entire crew and cast was essentially on for six weeks seven I think but yes and then essentially the second half of production

[00:49:26] was down to five people including Bruce Campbell which is pretty much everything with just him he's basically on screen the whole time and one of the other guys is the chef so he's not really on set but it's like DP, Tapper, Raimi, Chef, Campbell Model Maker

[00:49:45] yes there's apparently a moment where Raimi fell into a deep sleep in the middle of a scene because he had not slept for three days and he just like fell asleep, laid down on a couch and could not be woken up so that sounds pretty weird

[00:50:01] but he was just obsessive about doing things over and over and over again until they got Wright using whatever techniques he needed and Wright was about a feeling rather than, this is obviously not a movie that is like you know, realistic it's not about

[00:50:19] it employs so many different visual styles that it's like he just knew the feeling of what every moment needed to be what's the vibe of this effect or this performance moment or whatever it is and then they did pick up shoots in Detroit

[00:50:35] later so the whole thing dragged on forever so it was a movie to get released properly it was premiered in 81 and came out in 83 as you mentioned of course the post production happened in New York Edna Paul did the editing and her assistant was one young Joel Cohn

[00:50:54] who sees this movie and is like I want to do something like this and that's where Blood Simple comes from we should make a small genre movie same basic thinking and obviously they continue to collaborate we'll talk about Crime Wave all these people are friends at this time

[00:51:11] which is the coolest shit in the world the composer I love the music for this movie so much it's so weird it doesn't really match with the movie entirely but I love that Joseph, sorry, Loduca not DeLuca is some pal of theirs

[00:51:29] they met through the Michigan Department of Transportation he just does some music for them and they're like they hold this big premiere at the fanciest theater in Detroit the Redford Theater is it still Book of the Dead at that point? I know when they started screening this movie

[00:51:47] it was Book of the Dead it was until it got proper distribution and Irwin Shapiro sees it and is like I'm going to take this to Cannes to the marketplace and that's where the ball starts falling Stephen King was in the audience at Cannes

[00:52:10] at one of the Cannes screenings and was like I love this and was an early champion he gives them the quote they put on the poster which they all credit with making their career it was like once you had that sign off

[00:52:22] but also like Joe Bob Briggs is talking about he's hearing about this movie from circles he's seeing it written up in horror newsletters and stuff so before it has distribution when it's like here's this movie they shot a year ago he got into the second screening ever

[00:52:37] so then once he does that he becomes another guy sort of blowing the trumpet for this movie New Line distributes it eventually but I mean this movie is a video hit they all talk about it made a little bit of impact in theaters

[00:52:53] made like a few million dollars there's been a couple years I think it was almost like paranormal activity where it's like why is this thing on a shelf horror fans want to see this yes and so it's one of those early video hits and I have video nasty

[00:53:09] I have to acknowledge that I grew up in Britain thank you and uh I'm sorry what this film which was I think an X in America and later an NC-17 they never got proper ratings no it got an X rating

[00:53:25] but I feel like it was unrated at first and then got NC-17 and X later maybe I'm wrong and then when re-released that became an NC-17 which is still the official rating of this film but now the releases go unrated I guess because who cares

[00:53:42] so I had the order wrong I apologize I'm an idiot it's fine in the UK the film had to be edited to even get an X rating and then it was indeed one of the early video nasties we've mentioned this before on the podcast Ben liked the phrase

[00:53:56] I did like the phrase and was banned it was similar to Clockwork Orange or Exorcist where I was like that movie must be unwatchably violent because it's banned well the thing that Edgar Wright said on the retrospective thing I was watching was that there was a lot

[00:54:15] finally released in 2000 to be clear the ratings board was very tight and in place for theatrical and there was not really any oversight of videos so when it played in cinemas it was heavily edited and when they put it out on video

[00:54:33] as was often the case with a lot of these horror movies there was no oversight there so they put out the American cut so then the cut on video was the exact cut that had been banned and it becomes this thing of like

[00:54:45] your kids can just go to the store and get this filth and watch it without you even knowing about it you know all that stuff because some of the stuff they ban is like Cannibal Holocaust but then other stuff you're like wait this movie is barely

[00:55:00] it just took on some weird legend of its own because of a scene maybe or like there's Naziism or some theme that freaked people out it's so weird Child's Play 2 Child's Play 3 I don't think that was ever a video nasty

[00:55:16] that was just considered to be the inspiration for the Bulgermers which it wasn't they hadn't seen it but that was one of those kind of like Columbine there's a scene that's like that they must have and then they found that one of them had a poster

[00:55:33] that they had walked by it's some association like that and when you read about it in Britain and you can if you want it's all led by these little old lady types who haven't watched a movie in 50 years think of the children sex cauldron my thing David is

[00:55:53] they closed that place down I was such a comic book store kid Little Britain Planet boy yeah and there was a place called Village Comics that was also close to me that was on the other side of Washington Square Park that I really liked Mr. Downtown

[00:56:10] Downtown Griffin Hills baby but once I found those stores and I was just like not just like oh my god it's a store with only things I'm interested in there isn't just a section in the back but also I was just like

[00:56:24] I really like the vibe of these people as much as it's the parody of the comic book store guy they kind of scared me I was kind of afraid of them David I was intimidated by them but I do think

[00:56:36] and I'm unlocking this so much of my entire identity now was I was like god they know all of this shit and they have opinions on it I was like I want to know the shit they're talking about that was my high fidelity

[00:56:48] could I gain these guys respect sort of thing I eventually worked at Forbidden Planet but I started to know the people who worked there a little bit as I grew up but it was that thing of just like what's the secret shit they know

[00:57:03] that I'm not going to read about in Entertainment Weekly that I'm not going to see on Entertainment Tonight or whatever where suddenly Bruce Campbell is treated as being as big as Arnold Schwarzenegger in this store and I need to know what the fucking deal is here

[00:57:17] so I knew that I think by this point I think I knew that like the Evil Dead movies get goofier as they go along they become more action there's more comedy like Evil Dead 2 is every genre and I knew I think that

[00:57:36] Evil Dead 1 had this sort of video nasty reputation of like that one's intense that's the one that's just like the fucking intention that was the humorless one and I knew it had a tree rape this is my exact point I desperately want to watch these movies

[00:57:52] I feel like I'm behind the eight ball even though no one I know has seen them but these adults at stores I go to clearly have seen them and my mom and I go to a local video store TLA Video and sometimes I'd want to rent a movie

[00:58:06] and I would downplay what I knew about the content of it because my mother was still very protective about what I watched, right? so then she would ask the guys who worked at TLA Video like is this appropriate and those guys

[00:58:19] were sort of heroic for me because they were all film school dudes who would be like this kid should see this movie if he wants to see it he's clearly coming to this from some academic mind you're not going to fucking talk him out of watching this right?

[00:58:35] but I just remember the guy there my mom brought it to the counter and she was like Evil Dead, how bad is this? and he was like you know, it's like a horror movie it's all really silly it's all over cranked and I just remember him going

[00:58:54] you know, the most extreme thing that happens in it is a tree rapes a woman and there was that moment where I was like it's blown I'm not renting this movie and my mom I think was so perplexed right, she's like how could that work?

[00:59:08] what are you talking about? that's ludicrous did you watch it alone? yes my brother and I shared a room right? when Romley and I my brother and I, James, we shared a room when Romley was born, we got a bigger apartment because now there were three kids

[00:59:28] and I had my own bedroom for the first time and I had like a 6 inch TV with a built in VCR so that was like a lot of my shit was like from 10 on I'm watching movies alone in my bedroom late at night and more and more

[00:59:45] I can now be watching Alien or Predator, Evil Dead and this is like a lot of these things and then you developed a really healthy habit absolutely and I sleep very normal hours but yes I felt like I had gotten away with murder

[00:59:59] but also at that point I didn't know about the tree rape thing and I was just like that concept is disturbing me I'm watching the movie going like I'm unsettled going into it and waiting for it now this is a scene that obviously

[01:00:14] has a lot of debate around it and I think Ramey talks about feeling like he went too far with it that's not a thing he would do today and I feel like a lot of its reputation is colored by shitty screenings

[01:00:28] where guys are hooting and hollering at it in the audience which obviously that's fucked up when you watch this scene I do still think especially having seen it while it is really designed with complete horror in mind and not a sort of bloodlust war

[01:00:48] but this is an upsetting thing I think the way he presents it is we are aware that this is a turning point in the movie where you're just like this is fucking malicious and awful and traumatizing this is a movie that the first time I saw it

[01:01:02] that was sort of my feeling on it I was quite unsettled by it then I saw Evil Dead 2 quickly thereafter this is so much fun this is so goofy if the tree was in Evil Dead 2 you'd be like there's no way the film's too flippant around it

[01:01:21] there's no way but then Evil Dead 1 was kind of like Terminator 1 where you're like yeah that's the one you don't watch as much because it's darker and it's less fun and that scene is genuinely fucking upsetting to watch it puts you in a very weird headspace

[01:01:35] but I rewatched Evil Dead just now and I was like damn I should watch this movie all the time that was the realization I had this movie is so cool the right kind of freak is slick I love the vibe I'm going to say something embarrassing

[01:01:58] the movie came out in Britain commercially basically when I was 14 and your point is how did it affect you I saw Donnie Darko when I was 15 and in Donnie Darko they go see the Evil Dead at one point they're in a theater and you just see

[01:02:20] it's like a shot of the car the thing is rocking on the porch or whatever you don't really see much and I remember watching it and being like that movie looks crazy what is that movie immediately realizing it was the Evil Dead

[01:02:37] and I was like I gotta see that movie it looked so atmospheric and weird and then it just becomes the movie in my head yeah that's the movie with the zombies and the gore but then I rewatched it and I'm like yeah I love that start

[01:02:51] I love the weird creepy beginning before anything is happening I don't know if I fully landed on it I think Donnie Darko is my entree to the Evil Dead leave me alone in the grand scheme of things it's not that embarrassing this movie is like

[01:03:08] such an archetypal setup even by the time this movie has made its old hat and it's been imitated it's literally it's the joke but from the moment this movie starts there is a different energy than you so often have in these types of setups

[01:03:26] and I think there's something to the fact that like they're all just a little bit older than the characters usually are in these movies it's the difference between them being like 22 or 18 you know I do and there's just a little bit of weariness to them

[01:03:44] there's a little bit of cynicism to them so it's not that same thing where it's like they're driving to their death these fucking glib kids these dumb horny teens who need to be punished because they want to drink and screw right and without it going full screen

[01:03:58] they look like they just want to have dinner or something they all seem a little bit tired and it's such a weird grouping where it's like this guy, his girlfriend, his sister, her boyfriend and the fifth friend right it's like an odd collection of people

[01:04:15] and yes it just feels like we've just been so stressed out we should just go rent a cabin in the woods for a weekend and just sort of get away rather than that energy of like we'll go here and we can drink and no one will catch us

[01:04:27] pretty creepy that cabin in my opinion right off the bat you don't like it's vibe oh my god I would love to live in that cabin but it also looks like especially in a pre-fucking airbnb era this is the exact thing they could afford 100% but I mean like

[01:04:46] they're driving on a road quote unquote but it really just looks like the rest of the grass around it right like you barely can discern a path so this is my final point about like the vibe set up from the group immediately they're not full screen

[01:05:00] but they do have that vague self awareness of like this is like a creepy set up right just the right amount listen I 100% buy this I am that kind of guy where I'd be like well yeah the bridge fell apart it's rustic we're in the country

[01:05:16] look at this amazing house this is an amazing experience I just think when this starts out I'm buying their hangout vibe and I'm not thinking they're stupid which I think goes a long way because as you said there's 14 pages of dialogue there's not a lot of talking

[01:05:35] right it's gonna be such a vibe that carries these characters the first person to get anything going on is Cheryl is Ellen Sandweiss who draws the picture and then starts drawing the weird picture the first moment is the opening of this film

[01:05:53] but the opening opening is the Ramy cam going through the woods it's such a statement of intent I think it's obviously they couldn't afford a steadicam but like they would do something with like they would put it on wood beams and just kind of run it

[01:06:14] they call it the shaky cam they would just have a long board yeah anyway it's really cool it's not that he's the first to do this but it's that thing of just like it has a personality and in this movie that personality

[01:06:30] is giving you the sense of ominousness where you're constantly trying to figure out am I watching what's happening from the perspective of the characters because so much of horror movies is something weird happens someone reacts to it and you're seeing their POV or when has it shifted back

[01:06:48] to now the camera is the force right because this movie doesn't have like a big bad it's like there's just an evil force in the woods it's making everything around him bad and sometimes the camera is playing that force and sometimes it's not of course I'm forgetting

[01:07:07] you see like the weird swamp sort of bubbling gases and fog or mist or whatever but you've also just set up this thing of like this camera has bad vibes behind it and the music is kind of weird when we get into the car everything feels neutral again

[01:07:24] but you're just like you know there's this looming presence and then yes the porch swing is the first thing which is just it's so fucking like clearly there is someone swinging the porch and then grabbing it and holding it still it's the most analog basic

[01:07:38] fucking shit in the world but it works so well and it's so innocuous that you're like that's creepy what are we going to do fucking lose our minds over this it's not blood coming out of the outlets yet um but the picture thing is pretty early

[01:07:57] that's the escalation that's the first yes because it kind of almost comes out of nowhere she hears the join us right before she does it or maybe she hears it after no no it's before I think and then she draws the book essentially I think that's cool

[01:08:15] I just always think that's cool what's that George C. Scott movie is it the uninvited is it the uninvited it's not the uninvited George C. Scott you know the seance scene where the woman is like drawing like as if because she's possessed

[01:08:31] and her performance here is so good I think she plays that moment really well the tension in her body the change room sorry it's like genuinely upsetting and the fact that she's drawing so ferociously that it's ripping through the paper and it is that thing where you're like

[01:08:47] that looks like how a drawing would look it's not unnaturally good it feels like it's chaos but then it just forms an image enough to be able to see what's going on and then David how would you describe the next kind of tangible

[01:09:02] scary visual thing that happens in the movie they go into the living room and there's like another thing that starts to tell them that things are off maybe I'm trying to think how what are you queuing up here crash a bridge goes through a window

[01:09:19] well that is true very well I hadn't seen this in 15 years I got so fucking excited and I was like Griffin you better remember to fucking do this tomorrow right it's like the exact fucking thing right I would leave right away just FYI

[01:09:39] I know that's the most cliched thing to say about any horror movie but this place sucks anyway it's a bad cabin I wouldn't go in the first place you show up and you're like what is this cabin where one whole room just has saws hanging on the wall

[01:09:53] that's early too goodbye Ben obviously would be like can I negotiate full purchase could I live here I'd take a look at that basement and I'd be like I think I've found home it is funny that it feels like this movie has a slow burn

[01:10:11] when in reality the slow burn is like 15 minutes yeah the movie is 85 minutes with credits exactly a good 40 it's just Bruce Campbell at the end there they find the book yes found in human flesh and they find a tape recorder I love the book so much

[01:10:36] the book is so good what can we say partially I knew this was coming and I ordered it and this I think is the evil dead 2 version but my wallet is now a fucking my wallet looks like it's the necronomicon it's so good

[01:10:57] and I love the illustrations inside me too I just love the whole vibe of the thing I just love this idea I think it's really effective and scary to happen upon some experiment gone wrong and the tape initiating like the tape having the reading of the

[01:11:23] seance that originally killed the creator and it's being then replayed and repeated when I saw this as a kid it just that idea blew my mind and it still to this day resonates it's such a creepy thing analog electronics something about the tape too

[01:11:48] the weird voyeuristic quality of being in the house of someone you don't know when you start looking at their objects and trying to figure out who they are there's always that weird vibe and it's a little bit creepy and a little bit thrilling let alone if you discover

[01:12:02] something that's a little incendiary like that I just think it's one of these things about just how focused and brammy knowing what he wants to do we do not dig into the backstory of this guy it does not need to be explained that much

[01:12:19] that scene tells you everything you need to know which is like oh this guy had this type of voice he's this kind of academic something clearly went wrong here we don't need to fucking dig into he's Ivo Shandor and he had a cult

[01:12:31] he just took it to a cabin I guess and that was the end of him you just fill in the blanks the other thing this movie gets at there's no way to stop this it's not like they're going to be able to go

[01:12:45] further into his research and find the thing that he didn't get to in time this movie is about there's just evil that exists out there and once you fucking open the door and let it in, you're done you're done and as much as the sequels take

[01:13:01] ash and the tv show and everything into different directions it's so much the idea of he's forever haunted by this shit and as time goes on he becomes more and more glib and sort of jokey about everything because it's a coping mechanism

[01:13:16] but his life is forever dominated by the fact that he's the guy these fucking things chase after I looked it up on the Evil Dead wiki and I love Evil Dead 2 and I have plenty of respect for the rest of the Evil Dead universe

[01:13:34] but it is kind of annoying to have to sift through I don't care whatever backstory people came up with I love the simplicity of this movie it's an evil book it's got a creepy face on it if you read it aloud, everyone's going to turn into

[01:13:49] creepy things and try and eat you I haven't seen and I will watch I've seen the first season, I've never seen the second two seasons I got the set with everything now so I'm going to watch the other two seasons but a thing I liked

[01:14:01] at least from my memory of the first season is just like I can't speak for the comics of which I maybe read a couple in the early 2000's there's been so many and they've done so many fucking crossovers with shit but

[01:14:17] I like that it's a series that always moves forward and doesn't spend too much time going back into the mythology and the deepness where it is just about like Ash as this guy continuing to live right you know? which is what I care about the gods

[01:14:36] and the curse there's some comic that explains it more you do see the guy in Evil Dead 2 right? you see No-B the academic but I do the tape is such a simple bit of scare work and as you said Ben not only is it like here's the exposition

[01:15:00] but the tape itself you've accidentally played something that not only causes the trouble but is like a document of the moment this guy fucked himself ok and here's the other thing too that I love about it's like listening to a suicide note almost or something

[01:15:19] but also you would listen it's like a horror movie where you're like well of course you're gonna play this fucking thing how could you not? like anyone would he's not being like oh this fucking idiot of course he's gonna get fucking murdered in the shower

[01:15:37] so much more than the book if they opened the book and read every page of it aloud I don't think they'd do that once the tape is playing you don't fucking turn that off that's fascinating when he speaks in Sumerian it's creepy sounding but you're not like

[01:15:53] oh this is bad news you don't know what he's saying it was surprising that there was a blue apron ad in the middle of it well it's dynamic advertising he didn't record it at the time they added it and it changes every 30 minutes yeah there is

[01:16:10] a blue apron what I find weird is that the blue apron voice is done by like a sort of disembodied dead guy that's the thing I found surprising is that they had them do the pre-recorded ad and losing his damn mind so so they play

[01:16:31] the tape recorder and I believe that's when the tree branch comes through the window I'm sorry I was just so overeager I know you were and all the kids leaning in to make the joke Cheryl leaves that night and that's when she's attacked by the tree

[01:16:45] like that's pretty much the sort of first night like series of events and the tree sequence yes like incredibly harrowing it's just where you can tell this is a real filmmaker is the best way to put it and it's the same with the Halloween or Texas Chainsaw Massacre

[01:17:07] where you're like oh yeah I like watching some goofy schlocky horror movies from the 70s but like there's so many clever editing choices being made here this is so involving this is actual evil I'm saying representation of evil like pure maliciousness and I do think despite

[01:17:28] if you get the wrong audience they might react incorrectly to this sequence I think like so many sequences like this in similar horror movies of the time are trying to have their cake and eat it too where they're just like sexual assault is bad

[01:17:40] but also look at these boobs and I don't think there's anything I don't think in the way that he is presenting this as a director there's anything titillating about it obviously there are reasons to not want to watch this I'm not uncomfortable with seeing this depicted on screen

[01:17:57] in any form but I don't think he is doing it flippantly which is usually my barometer for like sexual assault in film which is just like are you presenting this as an actual traumatic thing versus a plot mechanic you know salaciousness what have you but it does also

[01:18:15] shift the energy when she comes back into the house she's just sort of like I can't even explain what happened to me this was like such an invasion you know the energy is shifted so hugely from that point on so the next big thing is

[01:18:33] he's supposed to drive her away the car doesn't work the bridge is out she starts to panic she's like it's not going to let us leave I don't know what you're talking about again this is where I just walk away but absolutely and then like

[01:18:52] she starts playing spades and she starts reading out the cards and then she floats she levitates and then we're off to the races why have you disturbed me I'm going to eat you I'm being flippant about the evil dead but I just feel like it's very simple

[01:19:10] there's not a lot to this you woke them up shouldn't have they're bad and now they're going to possess all of you how do you stop these things you dismember them there aren't zombie rules there's not a headshot there's not a stake to the heart

[01:19:31] you have to fucking take them apart is the only shot you got so he's throwing down the gauntlet here's how much gore is implicit in the premise of this movie you have to take it to that extreme their transformation to the design I love

[01:19:47] all of them turning into these white clowny and classic but obviously it's very bloody and gross disgusting contact lenses they have to wear they're like glass contact lenses that cover the entire you have to take off right away they're blind when they're in them

[01:20:12] all the people who worked on this movie talked about the phenomenon of prosthetic madness which is maybe five hours in you start losing your mind some of that they would capture on camera when it just feels like they're wild and out of control

[01:20:28] and then call cut and go it's time to get them out but so much of their performances is just physical moving your body in weird ways when you're possessed Cheryl does the where she kind of ravels her head around trying to think of others

[01:20:47] the thing I thought was really funny Linda was talking about the whole singing thing and that she was in the makeup all dolled up and was sort of doing bits on set you know like they were trying to figure out the first day of filming

[01:21:03] how should I move this and that and then she was doing as you do this always happens instead of someone wearing a funny thing you all sort of do bits about it and they do bits about it so she started singing in a Shirley Temple

[01:21:18] sort of voice doing cute doll shit as a bit and all the crew guys were like that makes me uncomfortable stop doing that that's not funny and her and Ramy look at each other and they're like that's interesting that got such a visceral response

[01:21:34] we had been rehearsing this where you were playing more menacing and that scared them less than you playing cute in that makeup so then they were like that's the thing and then she does this weird little child star which is creepy can't deny it weird sing songy voice

[01:21:50] creepy what else so she goes crazy she stabs Linda with a pencil she throws ash and they knock her into the cellar and lock her inside and she keeps popping up being like I don't know the movie escalates so quickly where they're not going to get picked off

[01:22:19] one by one this is like an out of control situation that's getting worse by the second you're playing on this thing that obviously most zombie movies play on where it's like I don't want to say goodbye to somebody his sort of idealistic

[01:22:33] if we can just hold this in place until the morning we'll be fine which immediately just like dooms him I would just leave I would have left already but he's like I don't want to leave people as much as it's maybe not smart that's what defines him

[01:22:52] he doesn't want to chop people up at that point David when you're saying I would leave I don't think that you can I think the rules of it I'm aware that the magic of the deadites would prevent me from leaving that's the end of the movie

[01:23:08] that's what's also such a scary aspect of it is that the evil you don't really know what form it takes necessarily how it's transferring that's what I like about evil dead Griffin likes the lack of rules me too but not only that toothpastes out of the tube

[01:23:28] this is going to haunt Ash for the rest of his life he can travel in time he can move decades can pass there's no leaving this but don't you also think something that's good and interesting it's not like oh he touched her and that's why she's changing

[01:23:51] there's not some sort of flow chart of the possession I think the elasticity of the rules is to this movie's advantage and I also think the elasticity of the aesthetic you know and 2 obviously takes us to a whole different level but like how does this manifest

[01:24:12] what does it look like what are the powers of it because it is it's just this thing in the air that then takes hold of you and it can sort of do whatever the fuck it needs to do to flip you out at that moment

[01:24:26] so why doesn't Ash get possessed? well 2 obviously deals with this more but forget 2 there's no real reason right? it's just rules boy asking a question yeah I think it's just that Ash is the most resourceful and self defensive he's obviously getting bitten by the end of it

[01:24:44] and then the movie ends before I guess he has a chance to turn well then obviously the movie has the final shot of the thing creeping up on him who knows what will happen next yeah I mean look Ash takes more damage in this movie than I remember

[01:25:03] but watching it now for the first time in however many years I was like huh it's a little surprising he doesn't get turned I thought he got bloodied up but wasn't as directly sort of attacked by them but he basically does so whatever I don't care

[01:25:23] to be clear I can handle it there's that thing too that I think lends the spirit with the guy at the center of the movie not just that the movie, the world is doing that but that Rami is getting joy

[01:25:38] out of how much blood can we dump on him how much can we poke these bruises like all that sort of shit that feels jackass-y and that there's a camaraderie to it and it's good natured and it doesn't feel like they're picking on someone

[01:25:52] which is why I think this movie does need to star a male character as much as that is the flip of how this genre always works if it's a woman I think it feels vindictive it feels cruel especially if it's a bunch of boy zombies

[01:26:06] trying to eat her and also there has to be there's that sort of dilemma moment that's pretty powerful like I don't want to chop my girlfriend up that is just I feel like it's crucial to any good zombie movies you need that kind of like

[01:26:29] I don't want to shoot X in the head or I don't want to leave someone behind or something like that Night digging okay not something I would do well yeah I have to agree with that it's a scary thing you're only doing it for bad reasons

[01:26:47] there's never a good reason to night dig why would you go out in the middle of the night and dig a hole right it's the wrong time to bury genes if someone heard you digging a hole in your backyard they would assume you had done something wrong

[01:27:02] now I know when you buried your genes in the day time people were assuming your neighbors assumed you were doing something wrong and of course the listeners know you were doing something very right but yes you've talked about that before that they thought you were burying a body

[01:27:18] so okay I'm trying to remember the sequence of events here obviously Cheryl's down in the cellar demon comes through the window and attacks Shelly turns her into a zombie a deadite right he Scott the other boy stabs her in the back and then she reanimates

[01:27:44] so he chops her up and buries them like buries the bits and then he tries to leave and he comes back possessed right Cheryl's in the basement Shelly is the first one turned Linda is the later one Ash goes to check on her and then she's like ahhh

[01:28:09] the basement dynamic is just so good because it's like we've contained this one this one's fine we'll wait for a way to solve it but then she just becomes this taunting force for a little bit she's not an immediate threat but she's this constant reminder

[01:28:28] of like you're just fucked there's no way around this because with Linda he doesn't want to chop her up so he buries her she comes back he has to chop her head off and then he's got a friend to talk to who he realizes is quickly turning

[01:28:42] and there's that desperation to those scenes of just like how much time does he have left still being able to speak to another person who is not trying to fuck with him it's really good it's a really good movie and yeah the effect of like the blood

[01:29:00] spreading on her like the weird spider webs which is really cool that's literally like they're doing stop motion they're just drawing more and more frame by frame painting on a person's flesh but it's super good Ramy, his original plan was I think he was sort of anti-stop motion

[01:29:21] maybe because it was a little overused at that point and seen as corny yeah he was worried right it looks like obviously it kind of looks like Jason and the Argonauts so he had this whole plan they were saying about like we make dummy heads

[01:29:39] but they're really thin and then we put a balloon inside and we fill the balloon with smoke and we release the balloon so it's like their head or their body parts the guy who was the main special effects guy Bart Pierce I think was one of them

[01:29:54] he was like please let me show you what I can do with stop motion and it becomes like even in the sequels that have less of this that have more animatronics and whatever it does just give a language to the movement of these things

[01:30:08] because so much of this movie is like the manic nature of the camera work of Campbell's performance where stop motion you can get those eerie rhythms and things moving too fast exactly or just moving in an unsettling speed right which they need to do

[01:30:26] and then I feel like in the sequels you have them using other techniques now trying to replicate that energy which is good it all looks so fucking good and I like by the way talking about the elasticity of it the deadites can look different

[01:30:42] they can manifest in different ways they kind of seem to they kind of go with the face they match the person they're on in a weird way there are commonalities but there's not this one size fits all effect for all of it

[01:31:01] and then two is going to go in much further directions but yeah obviously there's the whole scene with Linda where she undeadites while he's pointing the gun at her head to sort of lull him into a false sense of security they're just fucking with him

[01:31:18] they're trying to make him suffer it's so simple and it's so effective and then obviously anytime he goes near the fucking there's the bit where her hands come out of the floorboards and grab him like she's always there poor Bruce poor guy so eventually

[01:31:38] he gouges Scott's eyes out he shoots Cheryl he we mentioned he chops Linda's head off with a shovel and I guess Cheryl starts to attack him and that's when the Necronomicon is near the fireplace I'm trying to remember what I'm forgetting here it's hard to string the plot

[01:32:04] he has to use the necklace that's such an interesting scene too where he's sleeping on the couch and she finds the necklace and they do that beat with the eyes where it's like an entirely cute scene that they shoot like a horror movie those weird eye close ups

[01:32:19] where she's trying to check the box without him waking up but yes he ultimately has to use this fucking necklace he bought to fish the book out and they're like chowing down on him it's getting worse by the second

[01:32:33] the book is just out of reach, can he get it into the fire will that end everything? would you just burn the book right away? it's such a cool looking book I know, it'd be a shame it could have occurred to them earlier

[01:32:45] oh shit, the book is the problem throw it in the fire obviously one of the great moments in Hereditary where she's like that'll do it and it just sets him on fire such a good reversal of that but go on I mean I'm with you David

[01:33:01] I'd keep the book too I would at least it's just that craftsmanship with the weird eye David, Merchandise Spotlight I have a fairly boring looking 4k edition of it no steel, no fancy I now have the third 4k edition of this which is the groovy collection

[01:33:20] which is this and all of Ash vs. Evil Dead not Armory of Darkness because Universal has that one only but then that's the first collection that has all the special features from the DVDs of Evil Dead 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 of Evil Dead 1 specifically

[01:33:45] which were never upscaled for HD so there's the extra DVD that set has sure no, no, it's fine it's not insulting but it is funny how they just know they can wring more money out of it it was an Anchor Bay thing forever

[01:34:01] and then Lion's Gate has had them now but Anchor Bay in I guess the early 2000s did like they were releasing the movie in the Book of the Dead you can buy the Book of the Dead replica and then did a same the same thing for Evil Dead 2

[01:34:17] with the new book for that I think that one added a sound chip so you could like push the eye of the book and it would scream and it was like the coolest DVD packaging ever that was notorious for just decomposing oh really?

[01:34:33] because it was like they almost made it out of the same things that you would have made sure it was like rubber with padding and foam inside of it this DVD is now $181 on Amazon if you want it look, it's very expensive because

[01:34:52] there are very few of them that are still intact the second you took it out of the package and it hit air we've sometimes joked about these things before but when you look up old film props and they look terrifying because they've just decomposed the DVD is decomposed

[01:35:07] in that way and it was such a shame because they like fully replicated the pages inside the book it was so cool to have and leaf through and then you get to a point where you're just like I got this smelling, rotty thing on my shelf

[01:35:23] this movie has such a good poster obviously everything about it but then the sort of secondary image that becomes the iconic image of Ash with the chainsaw covered in blood which is also good obviously it has the Stephen King the most ferociously original horror film of the year

[01:35:41] the thing about Evil Dead 2 is that poster is so good but it's kind of as I guess we'll talk about it later that's more one of those posters that's just like what's a thing that would get people to rent this it's not in the movie

[01:35:55] it's not representative of the movie but it looks like a heavy metal band cover it's just cool that was one of those things where once I was getting into oh I need to see these Evil Dead movies the realization of like wait, Evil Dead 2 is that poster?

[01:36:08] because I just remember seeing that at video stores probably an age where I couldn't read and being like that's the scariest image I've ever seen that and Dead Alive were like those are the two skull boxes that make me upset to walk past 100%

[01:36:24] anyway he burns the book, they all decompose it's the coolest effect in the movie he thinks he's safe, they play serene sort of like Snow White-y the sun rises, Ash goes outside and there's one last shot of the camera

[01:36:37] we forgot the fucking camera from the opening of the movie it's like it's now it's also just perfectly bookended that way you know? but right, it's that thing of this is gonna chase him forever I don't know if you felt this way watching the movie

[01:36:49] for the first time but I was like that's good, how the fuck does he become some guy saying groovy I know because I definitely knew again that sort of Empire Magazine thing, like the whole legend around him the most badass movie here

[01:37:03] he's like Snake Plissken, what is this? right, he definitely has little of that here not that he's not cute and charismatic but right, no catchphrase-y stuff that he is so much more of a final guy in this movie and that too makes him this sort of like

[01:37:15] avenging angel that thing of being a young movie fan in the 90s the late 90s where right, you know the references before you see the movie so you see the chainsaw and you're like oh okay I know he has a chainsaw or whatever

[01:37:34] yeah, right, you're watching this like a checklist and much like watching Terminator for the first time I'm like okay, now I get to watch the one that I know everything is from is he gonna say House of Lavista baby? but then you re-watch these first movies

[01:37:46] and you're like oh they rule I told Emma Stefanski, friend of the show I was like I'm watching Evil Dead and she's like I should watch that, I feel that way like once a week you know, she's like I always feel like I should be watching that

[01:37:56] you know why Emma Stefanski likes Evil Dead though because it's about buuuuugs it's about buuuuugs it's got bugs in it too it's got some bugs in it it's a very Emma movie I might throw it on again yeah, I truly I can't watch it with Forky around though

[01:38:15] this is a series where it's like the boss baby can't even I don't know what the boss baby would think but Forky would not tolerate it if I had a child boss baby age almost one I'm not even sure if I'm a baby from a birther right now

[01:38:29] this would be a movie where I'd be like I don't know if I want this in the background with all the kids in the room most things are like they're a kid they don't understand the imagery in this is so bizarre yeah and the noise

[01:38:45] the weird kind of cacophony of it all yeah, bad vibes you talking about wanting to watch it again immediately I ended up focusing on just watching as many of the special features as I could this morning instead but I had half a mind to like

[01:38:58] the blu-ray is the classic like 4 by 3 but then they also did a cropped release that was wider and that's on the second disc sure and I was like do I rewatch this again in a different aspect ratio with the commentary on

[01:39:14] just because I want another bite at it you might just have I might do it tonight, I might do it before Evil Dead 2 I'm just like I'm in it I'm enjoying this franchise again and rediscovering how much I fucking love it immediately upon starting this

[01:39:29] I was like oh, this movie is better than I remember it being and I forgot that I loved these you have to finish China Girl the thing's a fucking slog David I know we put a lot into this week

[01:39:41] and I also agreed to do two other podcasts this week and this TV show I don't want to say what they are, spoilers but yes I'm one into China Girl I'm gonna bite them off so you've met Puss look I mean we've already talked about it Jesus

[01:40:00] what a guy have you met Puss? yeah he fucking sucks weird show I appreciate that you're into the Evil Dead 2 maybe I'll watch Assversus I'm definitely with you in terms of I do love the vibe I do just kind of want to be in this vibe

[01:40:18] I'm so looking forward to seeing Evil Dead 2 again which is obviously a huge favorite I watched the first season and I didn't keep up with it largely because it was one of those things where it's only streamable on Starz or whatever

[01:40:34] I feel like it took a while to be watchable anywhere else and I'm just so bad at keeping up with TV but it was one of those things where when it premiered I was like this feels like one of those things we think we want

[01:40:44] until we watch it and then when I watched it I was like no this is pretty good I remember in post Army of Darkness there was such a thing for so long do they come back and do a fourth one? does Ash get put into something else

[01:40:59] like Freddy vs Jason vs Ash or do they remake it and it was always this ping pong going back and forth of Evil Dead can't stay dead forever but what is it now so I've never seen the remake I have is it a remake or a sequel

[01:41:17] what's the vibe of it again is it one of those reboot slash continuation deals where it can kind of function as both I thought it was just totally disconnected I'd say it's sort of the latter it feels like it's very much its own thing and then they put

[01:41:36] an egregious Bruce Campbell end credits thing in there that feels like they do it just for the sake of saying this movie doesn't negate the other thing literally he picks up a book, the camera tilts up and it feels disconnected and their whole thing was like

[01:41:52] we don't want the existence of this movie to preclude the possibility of bringing Ash back and maybe we're working towards these forces terrorizing this new group of people are the same forces that Ash has been fighting it's not just a remake

[01:42:06] and he could team up with Jane Levy at some point right, well look, I remember liking that movie less than most people I think everyone had their knives out and when it came out people were pleasantly surprised people liked how gross it was it's got really insane

[01:42:23] it is soaking wet right Fede Alraaz is pretty solid Jane Levy is good there's a good hook to it there's one really good plot hook to it where you're like, oh that's enough of a reason to remake it they're now doing another one

[01:42:43] which is going to be on HBO Max this year it's a weird rise like a high rise it sounds sort of like they're doing the raid but with evil dead so rather than it being a cabin in the woods it now happens in a building

[01:42:58] I don't fucking know but it's a weird they do that they thought they were building towards a sequel where they connect that movie to the universe of Ash then they do the Ash TV show it has three seasons then some more years pass without Ash

[01:43:16] it's a weird franchise the thing with a Bruce Campbell and I love the man this is going to sound mean he will show up and say groovy for you if you want him to the man is not a hard sell on that stuff

[01:43:32] there's not that sort of sanctity around this franchise no and I also think the idea of looping Ash to a new generation I think what they liked about the remake we can go back to this being nasty and visceral again

[01:43:51] at this point Bruce Campbell has to have his tongue in cheek it's going to be light hearted but what if there was a movie where he's kind of older he's a little grizzled he's got a distant look in his eye

[01:44:03] but then people find him in the middle of the movie or maybe in the last act and they're like were you there in the cabin so this season the thing I like about the first season of Ash vs. Evil is that

[01:44:16] I remember it sort of parodying those tropes that's good I've never seen it but I remember being told it's also super gory like you know has a lot of fun yeah but is it more in line with this goofy gory do you want to play

[01:44:34] I have a few box office games because this movie has such a weird release David I trust your judgement you haven't given me that one yet that is true the first one is I'm forgetting the premiere that doesn't count so it's like release in New York

[01:44:52] so this is like the 4th of February 1983 wow almost exactly 39 years ago yes that's true I just passed that so let's do this one obviously Evil Dead is not on the list but number 1 is a comedy 1982 that has been out was it 82 or 83 this comedy came out December 82

[01:45:23] it's an Oscar player it's a huge hit Tootsie it sure is in it's 8th week it's made $100 million domestically number 2 I think it was at the time one of the 10 highest grossing movies in history you always throw that at me and I don't know

[01:45:48] box office mojo used to make this so easy but it was I think the number 2 movie of 82 behind ummm behind oh right second only to ET Tootsie I've joked about it's sort of strange premise you know I've seen it once look I've seen it a couple times

[01:46:16] I feel like I rewatched it in the last couple of years whenever I talked about it on the show being like the premise is funny I feel like I always heard people being like Tootsie is one of the diamond jewel cut you can't come for Tootsie

[01:46:28] it's the modern Lou Bicham whatever and I watch it and I'm like I still think this is executed very well there are things I think are phenomenal namely Charles Strong's performance is incredible the whole supporting cast is incredible obviously Terry Garland and all of that

[01:46:47] and Hoffman is like crazy good his performance is the thing that sort of transforms it there's some great scenes in it great use of Murray but it's not one of the greatest comedies of all time for me which I think for some people

[01:46:59] is seen as a sacrilegious state agree with that I prefer Ishtar to Tootsie you prefer what? Ishtar to Tootsie I know Tootsie is a better movie sure Tootsie functions maybe more regularly as a film but at the end of the day telling the truth can be dangerous business

[01:47:18] it's true number two at the box office Hoffman makes zero movies between Tootsie and Ishtar good for him I know we said this in that episode but it is wild to consider he and the man just ate box offices for lunch

[01:47:32] I don't know what I'm trying to say the next movie is a new movie it is new this week or maybe it's not new this week but it's reentering the box office it's your classic supernatural horror film starring Barbara Hershey and Ron Silver

[01:47:48] well I feel like we just talked about this in our Portrait of a Lady episode hit me it's called The Entity I don't think you were going to get that about a woman who claims she was assaulted by an invisible entity it's based on a true story

[01:48:09] this woman claimed this sort of paranormal thing happened to her I've never seen it it's directed by Sidney J. Fury who famously made the Ick press file which is a great movie but I don't know much more about it number three at the box office

[01:48:23] it's Cop Buddy Comedy Cop Buddy Comedy 1982 yeah huge hit it is 48 hours? it sure is you seen 48 hours? hell yeah Walter Hill I'm sure you saw this David your remark when we were recording this podcast but the last couple days it's been circling around Twitter

[01:48:50] the Dan Chamberlain prompt about what's your white whale the unreleased or unrealized project I think a lot of people were turning it into unrealized things that have been unreleased that were made there's also that things that are in some vault somewhere such as that Star Wars show

[01:49:08] that Conner is so obsessed with the parody show I don't know what you're talking about Star Wars detours I think it's been on shelf Aaron Sangurai who's a friend of the podcast as well tweeted that his pick I did not know about this cut it down to 2 no 95

[01:49:31] David it went from 2.5 to 2 and the week before the movie came out some other thing was a big ass hit and Paramount got really scared they cut 30 minutes the week before the movie came out in a week and apparently that's why the movie makes no sense

[01:49:49] it's because of total recall total recall had the biggest opening weekend of all time we have to get in multiple showings a day just to make money 30 minutes cut wantonly in what you have to imagine is 48 hours truly if there was time to get new prints made

[01:50:08] it's not like they could just upload a new Cats cut but the boys were back in town you can't deny that the supporting cast of that movie I have zero lines apparently no one says 48 hours in the final cut they never established the clock

[01:50:24] it's just written into the movie I'm fascinated by that but the original 48 hours it's a movie you couldn't make now when you watch it but it is so good it's a classic did they make it a second time and we've just never seen it

[01:50:42] number 4 at the box office this week was the best picture winner of 1982 Gandhi crushing it and number 5 is it's a phenomenal movie that I love so much from one of your favorite directors my favorite performance from this actor just the kind of movie I can eat all day

[01:51:03] is it a Lumet? David's nodding solemnly sure is it's not it's a showcase for an actor one of the greats Jesus Christ why am I blanking on it it's the Paul Newman movie verdict my mind was going to accused and the client yes incredible movie incredible performance

[01:51:37] but let's move along as well to the wider weekend just because this is a weird one and because there are 2 so this is the 15th of April I'm just the people on the subreddit with no guest 2 box office games one thing I want to note

[01:52:00] Ben does bit pretending like a thing from a movie is actually happening sorry go on is that Tootsie and Gandhi are still in the top 5 top 5 now in their 18th and 19th weeks so they're hanging around best picture used to be a kingmaker absolutely

[01:52:20] if you were already a hit you became a mega hit you get to play for 6 more months but number 1 it's a western and it stars an action star a junkie action star of the 80s I don't think you'll know this movie is it a Chuck Norris

[01:52:39] is it called too hot to handle it's called Lone Wolf McQuaid I do know that title David Carradine I know it as a reference same you've also got Robert Beltran you've got William Sanderson Kane Hodder apparently plays a goon in this movie anyway Lone Wolf McQuaid baby

[01:53:08] J.J. McQuaid is a former marine and Texan ranger who prefers to work alone and carries a 44 magnum revolver he lives in an old run down house in the middle of nowhere with a pet wolf get the fuck out of here this movie sounds stupid

[01:53:24] I'm reading this cold there's a lot of good ideas here there's some interesting elements to play pet wolf it just feels like Norris is like I should have a pet wolf in the next one wolves aren't really fine we'll get a wolf

[01:53:40] I got Chuck Norris back for you some people have dogs for pets Chuck Norris has a wolf isn't that funny isn't that random is a surprise smash hit I would say from a director who I would argue for but is kind of one of those directors

[01:54:05] with a mixed reputation he's actually got a movie coming out this year really? is it an Adrian Lyne? it's a flash dance which I think is sort of when this comes out this is trash obviously Jennifer Beals is not a star and it burns up it's a sensation

[01:54:28] the soundtrack sells a billion copies everyone's gotta see it I think critics had to stand up this is what people are paying to go see and then he weirdly kind of becomes a critic's favorite director I guess it takes a while but people were sort of like

[01:54:44] he's the best at this sort of elevated junk absolutely and then number 5, so Tootsie, Gandhi number 5 of the box office teen drama is it Talk to Me? no is it called Listen to Me? that's like Roy Scheider and Thomas Howell and like 5 teen actors

[01:55:10] I was just trying to think of a serious movie starring teens I think it's called Listen to Me this is from one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema Matt Dillon Tom Cruise Patrick Swayze Rob Lowe Diane Lane Emilio Estevez C. Thomas Howell Ralph Malkiel

[01:55:33] I loved all those books when I was a kid I read all those S.E. Hinton books they were great I read them as well don't know why they literally couldn't have been less about my experience as a teen kid I had like a comb in my pocket

[01:55:48] who's always getting in rumbles but isn't that the story that was like the first of the movies that Coppola was like recutting or I guess after American apocalypse redux but that his granddaughter was in school and she was being assigned outsiders decades later it was still the perennial

[01:56:10] and she was like grandpa why aren't all these things from the book in the movie and so then he recut it and was like I put everything back in it's the whole novel stay cool soda pop outsiders the complete novel stick old pony boy

[01:56:26] so those are two top fives for you that's what the industry looks like sure is a time yep that's that's the news what's up people are reacting to the late Rob Reiner only the 2010's Ben is there any chance that tape you played

[01:56:53] didn't just announce a mini series it announced a cursed mini series oh shit what have I unleashed upon us you have to chop it up apparently we've already released the episode on story of us it's out there with guest Alex Jones oh no come on now alright

[01:57:14] I'm gonna chop up this tape machine good job guys great sound effects I just felt like I had to bring it back narrative closure alright we're done take us out Griffin next week crime wave next week crime wave a movie I've never seen me neither

[01:57:47] I'm excited to watch look here's the thing it was a blessing in disguise that Doctor Strange got pushed back and that the campaign fever was high and I felt like a good time to flip that order cause I think people were worried about

[01:58:01] the saminess of like if we go from Carpenter to Raimi but man Raimi's career has a career Raimi's career has some weird zags to it sure does it's an interesting trajectory and that's why I was kind of asking I feel like he's almost on a downswing

[01:58:18] when he gets Spider-Man and like you know yeah I agree but he's also the guy who did the Evil Dead movies forever which is why people are always gonna roll the dice with him it's an interesting situation and we'll get to it in this episode

[01:58:34] but he has said he found out that he had been hired to direct Spider-Man by reading it in Variety and no one had called him to tell him and he was surprised and he was like I'm the guy they're interviewing to make the nerds happy sure

[01:58:50] and then they will hire Rennie Harlin and then he opened up one day and he was like I am? he was a good hire even though that movie is what it is but it's special and it's important we're excited to talk about them

[01:59:08] and we're excited to swing in to Raimi podcast me to hell baby and many other things including recently constructing our website a thing that we should've had a long time ago but Marie took on the lion's share of the work and brought that to the finish line

[01:59:27] and at the time you're listening to this March Madness is raging so you can only go to that website for links to episodes, merch spatulas should hopefully be in stock by now I'm sorry there's been a slight delay on them but also every single day www.blankcheckpod.com

[01:59:44] www.blankcheckpod.com there's a new poll for March Madness because that shit ain't happening on twitter anymore thank you to JJ Birch and Nick Lariano for our research and especially for abounding today's research in human flesh thank you to Lynn McGarren

[02:00:04] the great American novel for our theme song which today was provided on a reel-to-reel recorder thank you to Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds on a pen ripping through paper while possessed I can't believe I came up with one that applied to all of them AJ McKinnon

[02:00:20] Alex Barron for our editing that was also done on a reel-to-reel recorder I'm sorry I had to reuse one tune in next week for Crimewave go to patreon.com slash blankcheck for blankcheck special features where we go through commentaries and right now we're going back to the matrix

[02:00:38] the website was supposed to make this shorter it did I know you don't think it did but it did I really think it did and as always I just want to stumble one last time for PODMIA Doorcast David's making a stinky poo poo fit