I really REALLY think I'm alone on this one, (and that's ok), but I STILL hate the Evil Dead sequels.
I've tried to like them. I really have.
But, I think the difference for me is, I'm old.
Hear me out.
When the first Evil Dead came out, I was about 17. On the poster, it said " 'the most ferociously original horror movie to come out in years.' -Stephen King". I remember walking to the theatre to see it. All my friends lived in the opposite direction, so I walked there alone.
I couldn't believe my eyes. It truly was terrifying and creepy. It was unrelenting and stomach-turning. The first truly scary moment was when the girl was naming the cards from across the room and they turned to her and she was floating there, speaking in that voice. Couldn't believe my eyes. And it just wouldn't stop from that point on. One creepy moment after another. On almost no budget.
When I left the theatre, I thought, "I finally got my money's worth at a horror movie." Yes, I was already jaded by that point, and movies were probably about $3. But still.
The walk home alone that night was one of the creepiest things I've experienced.
Six years went by.
Six years of me thinking that the Evil Dead was the scariest movie I've ever seen. By then, I'd moved to California, and rented the VHS copy from the local "49er Video" more times than I can count. Creeped me out everytime I watched it.
Then, Evil Dead 2 comes out.
I couldn't freakin' WAIT!! I went the first day it opened.
Disaster.
They made it a comedy. They went for laughs. Cheap laughs at that. They cheapened my experience and memory of the first one.
I came out of the theatre feeling completely stupid for liking the first one. THIS is what they thought of their audience?? It was a slap in the face.
Imagine seeing "The Exorcist" when it first came out. Easily one of the scariest movies of all time. Then imagine they came out with "Exorcist 2" and you run to the theatre in anticipation of having the living fertilizer scared out of you again. Instead, you're treated to Linda Blair cracking jokes and mugging for the camera. Wouldn't you feel stupid for being scared at the first one?
I hear the argument "Part 2 is where Ash became a badass!" *cough*samantha*cough*
Why do we need another badass in a movie?? We already have John McLane (Die Hard), Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Jean Claude Van Dam, Dirty Harry, and a whole raft of other Hollywood tough guys.
One of the things I liked about the first Evil Dead was that Ash was a normal guy. Someone we could all identify with. What would WE do if we were out in a cabin in the middle of the woods, miles from nowhere, and all of our friends were turning into demonic zombies? I know what we WOULDN'T do, and that's start spouting cute tough-guy one liners before beheading a zombie.
Ok, I know most people like the sequel, and the equally terrible "Army of Darkness", but look at it from my point of view. Most of you probably saw "Army" first, then, probably the first and then the second one. You were conditioned to respond to the comedy first, so the horror of the first one got lost on you.
I saw the first one first. And was actually scared.
If I want to see a comedy, I'll watch Slap Shot for the billionth time. And STILL laugh my ass off.
But that's another blog.....
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7 comments:
I'm not one to weigh too heavily here since, as you know, scary movies, well, scare me, but I must take exception to lumping John McLane in with the genre of smack talking tough guys. He wasn't a tough guy, just an ordinary policeman put in an extraordinary circumstance. Talking smack helped to keep his adversaries on edge, and helped keep him a step ahead.
Just sayin'..
ps, great post.
Thanks Bobby!
And, yeah, you're absolutely right. The John McLane in the first Die Hard (in my opinion, the best action movie ever made) was a great character. But, as what happens to most great movies, they make a bunch of vastly inferior sequels. McLane turned into a swaggering, wise-cracking, physics-defying cartoon. Which pretty much proves my point.
I did see the Evil Dead series in order, and though I was partially bummed that the actual suspense and scare was gone... I couldn't help laughing along. I think it's easy to say that the three films can stand on their own. And I will also stand by my statement that Bruce Campbell is in a stand alone category of badass. I like him in all of the movies of the series, even if the later two are so different from the first. I think if you would appreciate them more as individual films than those in a series, you might have liked them more. I know you like slapstick horror films Tom H!
My big complaint is that they changed movie genres between films. If number one was a "slapstick horror" movie, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
In fact, if number one was a "slapstick horror" movie and number 2 was a straight-up horror zombie movie, I'd be just as pissed.
They destroyed every reason I liked the first one by shifting gears and, I feel, making fun of me for liking the first.
If they wanted to make another movie after Evil Dead and make it a comedy, I have no problem with that. But to call it "Evil Dead 2" and use the same characters, but make it a comedy is horrible.
Ok, I guess I wasn't done ranting. haha!
Is this all about a bruised ego, Tom? :)
haha! No, it just doesn't work for me.
Do you remember years ago, they made the tv series "The Bradys"? Bobby was a racecar driver who got in a wreck and was confined to a wheelchair. Marsha was an alcoholic, Peter joined the air force, etc. They made it a drama. And it didn't work. For the exact reasons the ED sequels don't work. Some people liked "The Bradys". (apparently not enough to keep it on the air for more than a month or so.). I didn't like it cuz they strayed too far from the original. Not that the original series was all that great.
But you get the direction in which I'm drifting.
I saw the first one first and man, that's a creepy movie. I like the other two for what they are. I even went to NYC to see the Evil Dead Musical (work paid for the trip, but I went to see Evil Dead). Maybe George Lucas will buy ownership and fix them. If only they could end with Ewoks singing and some 1970s National Lampoon racism.
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