Let me start off by saying that I originally wasn't a fan of
the Evil Dead franchise up until the remake started getting much hype. Usually
by The JoBlo podcast, Jimmy-O and fellow MFCs starting to get pumped about it
and talking about how cool the original is.
My 1st experience with Evil Dead was a mere 11 years ago
when I still lived at my parents house. It was readily available on Netflix
streaming. I was like this is a classic film that many people like, let me give
it a try. I swear after 20mins I was not feeling it, I thought it was dumb and
stupid. I turned it off and never looked back, until 2 months ago. If it wasn't
for the remake and its hype to follow, I would never have given it a 2nd look.
I am strong believer of 2nd chances. So since great sources (Joblo podcast,
MFC) talked about how great and awesome the original is, I was like fuck it
I'll give it a 2nd go.
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| Arrow in the Head production |
Well what do you know I fucking loved the shit out of it. I
couldn't watch the 2nd & 3rd ones any faster then what Netflix could ship
them over. My change in movies changed and progressed since 10 years ago. I
have come to appreciate how films looked, acted and where made. If it wasn't
for MFC I don't think I would have this vast knowledge & appreciation of the
great past and present films I've viewed. Unlike many Schmoes on here, I didn't
grow up with a Father, Mother, older brother who loved Horror, so I never
"grew up" with these or the genre. I did on the other hand grow up
with a father who loves movies. We would
go to the theaters almost weekly and is probably the reason why I love watching
movies.
Now that the back-story on me has been established lets dig
into the marathon. At 1st I still wasn't to sure if I should attend this event.
I was iffy that I wanted to spend 5+ hours in a theater watching a series of
movies. Up until, I was thinking about
my favorite cinema/movie experiences in my life (maybe future blog there). The
best times I had at a theater was when I was surrounded by folks who also love
the genre or movie that was about to be watched. My favorite had to be when I
saw Scott Pilgrim vs the World at Comic-Con with fellow nerds. That was the
best. So I figured the best way to watch the New Evil Dead Remake is with
fellow Deadites. The price was no problem since I was going to watch 4 movies
with 2 of them being in 35mm. The thing that pushed my more over the edge was
the fact that Special guest Ted Raimi, Scott Spiegel, Betsy Baker "Linda",
Ellen "Cheryl", Theresa Tilly "Shelly", Greg F'in Nicotero
were going to attend. Yeah they were all awesome.
Up first was the Original that started it all, The Evil
Dead. But before the old school madness ensured, we had what every awesome
movie has: Awesome trailers. Before the 1st movie there was prob 3 different
ones, but the one that really stood out to me was the Original Alien trailer.
WOW seeing it for the first time on the big screen was exhilarating. I felt
just how I did the first time I saw the trailer for Prometheus. The musical
score was loud and deep THX working on overdrive. The short little clips of the
egg showed you just enough. It was probably one of the greatest trailers I have
witnessed in the theater. Once the high of the trailer wore off, the high of
the movie came right after. Seeing this on the big screen makes a whole lot of
difference then watching it streaming in your bedroom. First of all it was in
its original 35mm form. So every little
scratch and line was there, it really enhances this kind of flick.
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| The Ladies of the Evil Dead |
After the original Evil Dead played an excited JimmyO took
the mic to introduce the Lovely Ladies of the Evil Dead. These Ladies were so
nice, answered many questions from the audience and even gave use some
incredible and awful (shooting horrors) insights of the filming process that
went down. All were asked if they would do it again, knowing what it has become
now. All 3 overwhelming said yes and only hoped for some hot coffee &
running water every once in a while. The people who asked questions throughout
the night also got some great surprises. They were awarded a blu ray copy of
either Evil Dead (signed by the ladies), Evil Dead II (signed by Greg, Ted and
Scott) or Army of Darkness (signed by Ted & Scott I Believe). Once the
ladies left the building the 2 Evil Dead started. This one was most fun to me.
The crowd was really into it. They laughed at the right moments, cheered when a
bad ghoul would get terminated but the biggest crowd pleaser had came when the
moment Ash found his chainsaw and the montage of making his Chainsaw hand came.
Everybody screamed and clapped so loud that Im pretty sure we woke up a baby
somewhere. The audience was so honed in there that right at that moment when
Ash finished the process and looked at his great arm contraption and was about
to utter that 1 key phrase, everything felt silent. "GROOVY' echoed across
the 1000 seat theater and everybody went crazy & nearly blew the roof of
the place. That must have been the biggest climax of that night. From then on
when Ash proclaimed another great line, fellow deadites would screamed right
along with him. Those moments right there are the ones that make this
experience awesome. Just knowing that everybody there appreciates these films
like it was one of their own is the reason why I attended. Follow that awesome
film JimmyO and his Hat took center stage again but with 3 lads, Scoot, Greg
& Ted. These 3 guys were awesome. Telling us story after story, funny
anecdotes and little hidden secrets in the movies. Ted explain how awful it was
to be in the Henretta makeup but also stated he wouldn't change it for the
world, after playing that part he said everything that came afterwards was just
a breeze. Greg also had great stories about the process of applying the prosthetics and working with the talent. And how he loved that he filmed
everything with his own camera and that everybody was cool with that.
Afterwards a sworm of people rushed these 3 guys to catch a photo and even a
little scribble on their Evil Dead collectible. These 3 stood there for at
least a good 20 mins to sign and take picture. Even though it had to be taken
to the lobby, they took the time they had to make their fans happy.
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| Jimmy-O, Scott, Ted & Greg |
As Greg exited the building and the pizza in the lobby was
running out the final of the trilogy was about to start. Army of Darkness was
also a greatly quoted one amongst the fans. So many laughs and fun time was had
with it. To me it was just more anticipation to get to the remake. Once the
credits rolled, the lights went up, the red curtain slowly lowered to cover the
screen and it was T-Minus 20mins. I went to get a fresh refill on popcorn and
quickly headed back to my seat to make sure nobody would take it. As I sat
picking at my hot buttery popcorn, JimmyO once more graced the stage, but this
time to hand out the last of his signed swag. 7 people headed up to give there
best interpretation of the phrase that releases the Necronomicon. Out of the 7,
5 won a glorious awesome poster. The winners and losers took there seats,
everybody else braced themselves because the show was on.
Expecting a Man of Steel or Iron-Man 3 trailer was probably
unwishfully thinking because of previous trailers, but what we got was a horror
filled trailer for "Teeth" that makes me wanna swear of women for
ever, or at least for the next 15 mins. Another vintage trailer passed (forgot
whichone) & then Finally the Evil dead banner appears. For the next 90
minutes I was holding on to my chair, gladfully wishing that it wasn't me on the
screen. It was all there the blood, practical effects, the gore, the women and
the audience too in full accepting force . When ever every little nod from the
original popped up, everybody cheered. Especially seeing that final scene with
that one character and the one evil character and that one weapon of choice, oh
boy was it almost as loud as the earlier moment from the night. The Scene fades
to dark and credits past, only a couple of newbies exited the theater,
everybody else (92% of audience) knew there was an after the credit
sequence. Those short 8 secs that
followed were an excellent way to finish up that night.
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| The recorder from The Evil Dead |
Awesome program put together by the Regancy Theater &
Arrowinthehead.com/JoBlo.com. Great hosting & mediator by Jimmy to the O.
Thanks You Guys. I hope that more of these awesome things happen. I highly
recommend anybody close enough to come, to attend events like these (there was
a family there that came all the way from Las Vegas, after seeing the Evil Dead
musical there, to this event) This night
was, for lack of a better word, GROOVY!
