PopHorror Let's Get Scared
NOTE: This story was published during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the films being covered here wouldn’t exist. PopHorror fully supports the WGA and SAG-AFTRA and their efforts.
At almost every Cinema Wasteland convention in Strongsville, Ohio (I live about 60 minutes away, so I’m kinda local), just to the left of the vendor hall entrance, is a little alcove-type room. Inside said room, for years, was the affable, friendly Tom Sullivan. Set up inside the room were not only art prints of all types of hellish landscapes and creatures, but also display cases filled with props, prosthetics, test sculpts, and assorted bric-a-brac from two of the most beloved horror films of all time: Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. You see, the seemingly normal-looking Mr. Sullivan not only dreamed this stuff up, but he also made it.
INVALUABLE Synopsis
“An in Depth Look at EVIL DEAD special FX artist TOM SULLIVAN and how he helped get EVIL DEAD off the ground, with the help of some of his friends.”
Here’s a look at the original trailer!
Edited and directed by Ryan Meade (Bong Fly), Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist is an in-depth look at the life and career of graphic artist/animator Tom Sullivan. By association, it’s also an insider’s view into the genesis of the Evil Dead film franchise, and the early work of everyone involved. Through archival footage, a plethora of interviews (some conducted by Sullivan himself), and lengthy “show-and-tell” interviews with Sullivan, at home, and in various filming locations you get a peek into the creative maelstrom surrounding, then fledgling, director Sam Raimi at the time. And one gets the impression that Sullivan is one of the “nice guys”.
Teeming with interesting clips of Sullivan’s early forays into stop motion animation, and 8mm film clips from the gang of artistes from Michigan, Invaluable holds the viewer’s interest despite its lack of a discernable format and its oft-used unnecessary captions (we know the Sam Raimi audio interview is poor quality…). The film really tells the very human, relatable story of a very creative person and his commitment to his art.
Conducted mostly at conventions over the last two decades, Invaluable has interviews from everybody, including the still vivacious Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly, Danny Hicks, Hal Delrich, Josh Becker, Ted Raimi, and Bruce Campbell among many others. Fellow make-up icons like Robert Kurtzman and Tom Savini also weigh in on Sullivan’s talents (yes, he also did make-up). Pretty much everyone, with the exception of Sam Raimi, who only appears in audio clips and photos, who was even peripherally involved with the first two Evil Dead films turns up in this detailed account.
Sullivan also kept everything!! He pulls out all kinds of props, screen-used models, make-up appliances, and different renderings that detail the evolution of the film’s aesthetic. A true mother lode of Evil Dead lore for fans of the franchise (and really, who isn’t??).
Invaluable also tells a story outside of the film without you even realizing it. You also hear, intertwined and embedded with Evil Dead, the story of Sullivan and his wife meeting, courting, marrying, and ultimately planning to divorce before her tragic death. This event was a catalyst for Sullivan internalizing and putting his pen and brush down.
A theater turn eventually rekindled his passion for art, before a life-changing auto accident once again interrupted his career and life, which presented new obstacles that Sullivan found the strength to overcome and move forward from. One gets the feeling that Sullivan could have followed Sam Raimi’s path to industry stardom had it not been for these life-altering events.
And that’s where your mind ends up while viewing Invaluable—do nice guys really finish last? While Sullivan never comes across as bitter or jealous, there seems to be a leading undertone from certain other interviewees that this may be the case with some of those involved with Evil Dead who never quite captured the golden goose, so to speak.
I don’t know if that was Meade’s intent, to present the contrasting attitude, but once again, Sullivan comes across as the intelligent, kind, slightly nerdy (but aren’t we all?) and friendly guy that everyone who meets him finds him to be. He retains his positive demeanor and warm smile throughout. And hey, with his “discovery” of horror cons in the early to late 90s, Sullivan has found a new lease on life and career, with plenty of new artistic opportunities in film packaging and his brilliant work in the Cthulhu mythos gaming world. As Cinema Wasteland founder Ken Kish mutters on camera “We invited him, and he never left!”.
Synapse Films’ Blu-ray of Invaluable features: reversible artwork, Other Men’s Careers-a bonus doc about the work of Josh Becker (who is a ton of fun in interviews), unedited, vintage & extended interviews, and two of Ryan Meade’s short films.
Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist is available now from Synapse Films from MVD Visual and other fine retailers.
