PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Evil Dead has always held a special place in my heart. I can still remember that first VHS copy I owned, the beat up cardboard sleeve faded from where it had spent time on a video store shelf by the window, complete with Bruce Campbell’s clenched jaw jutting out at me from the cover image. At fifteen, I’d already learned every word to Army of Darkness and I was thrilled beyond measure to see the genesis of what had quickly become my favorite franchise. What I didn’t know until I hit play was that this first trip to that now infamous cabin in the woods was meant as a genuine, grueling horror film. And, it worked. Set and shot in the Tennessee foothills outside Morristown, Evil Dead left me genuinely terrified. See, I’ve been in those woods. They’re just a few hours from my home. I’d slept in old cabins as rustic and secluded as the one they’d found, and I was all too familiar with the feeling that some ominous and invisible force was watching me through the grimy windows and fog fettered ground.
Evil Dead became the inspiration for my career in so many ways. Not only could a group of people in their teens and twenties get together to make something so scary – and unintentionally hilarious – but they could even make something classic right here in my own back yard. Most of the horror films I’d watched took place on the East or West coast, or in some exotic location or city far away from anywhere I would ever get a chance to see. But these guys brought to life the absolute horror and wonder of a place that seemed so normal to me. It wasn’t in the Catskills or Arkham or in some summer camp outside of L.A. or in the castles of an age forgotten. The cabin from Evil Dead was right here in Tennessee.
As if that wasn’t enough, the story and the concept seemed so unique and inventive. One by one, the unseen evil would possess the living, using the love of they each felt for the others now dressed in deformed and abused flesh as a way to further torment them. The only hope of stopping the evil was the same thing that had brought it to life: Naturom Demonte. Yeah, they’d rename it Necronomicon for the remainder of the films, musical, video games, and the series, but that first foray into the dark bowels of man’s domain would know it differently. With each incarnation, the canon became funnier while the violence and gore became more slapstick and over the top. Still, overall, the main story always remains the same. It also proved that an independent horror film could become just as much a classic as any big budget production ever could.
So, is it just nostalgia that makes me cling to the title of Deadite, or is there something more? The answer seems pretty obvious. Since Army of Darkness hit screens in the early ’90s, there hasn’t been a year to pass without some sort of Evil Dead-related story appearing from somewhere. Comic books kept horror lovers satiated while VHS copies of the trilogy (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, and Army of Darkness) continued to suck in new fans. Then in 2003, Evil Dead: The Musical reintroduced us to the campy joy, over the top horror, and gallons of blood that we all know and love. The film remake in 2013 continued to pay tribute to the original while updating the story and making the sort of film that Sam Raimi likely would have created had he had the money and support. This, of course, leads us into the return of Bruce Campbell’s Ash in Ash vs Evil Dead, which blends everything we love about the series together into a cohesive, hilarious, and horrific package.
I feel like I was actually supposed to tell you something about myself while rambling on about my favorite horror film. Yet, here we are, none the wiser except for the fact that I’m a rabid Evil Dead fanboy. If you’ve actually made it into the horror community without ever seeing any of the Evil Dead films, do yourself a favor and binge them soon.
