Best Evil Dead?
 

Major disagreements and consternation in the Best Trilogy thread...settle the score!

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

Army of Darkness

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

Tough decision between ED2 and Amy of Dorkness. I voted for Army of Dorkness - more over the top.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

Going with II. More creative than I. Army of Darkness was very funny, but I think the low production values drag it down. The special effects are beyond terrible.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

i think the special effects were SUPPOSED to be terrible. love it when Ash is getting sucked into the timehole and he's flying and spinning in the air and you can see the cables attached to his back! hahaha love this series!

AOD wins in my books

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

Can't go with any of the previous three. Especially the idea that ED2 was more creative than ED1. ED2 was a remake of ED1!

Evil Dead 1 was very clever and got enormous mileage out of almost no set or budget whatsoever, without ever making you feel it, as the paranoia and claustrophobia was what the movie was all about. It also was hugely influential, starting a trend to go back to H.P. Lovecraft-type themes of calling forth ancient gods that you see all over the place now.

Evil Dead 2 was very funny in places, but it was bizarre to remake the same movie you had only recently made, just with more dollars thrown in. It wasn't nearly as scary, as the energy was diluted greatly into the comedy, which included some very extended pure comedy bits, and more time was spent outdoors too, reducing the claustrophobia and paranoia. These were not people living a nightmare; this was a movie having fun.

Evil Dead 3 was basically almost all-joke. And it was great fun when it came to making jokes and goofball dialogue. That seems to be how it's most often remembered -- for the great lines.

Evil Dead was easily one of the best horror movies of its decade, and vastly superior to the other two.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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Can't go with any of the previous three. Especially the idea that ED2 was more creative than ED1. ED2 was a remake of ED1!

Evil Dead 1 was very clever and got enormous mileage out of almost no set or budget whatsoever, without ever making you feel it, as the paranoia and claustrophobia was what the movie was all about. It also was hugely influential, starting a trend to go back to H.P. Lovecraft-type themes of calling forth ancient gods that you see all over the place now.

Evil Dead 2 was very funny in places, but it was bizarre to remake the same movie you had only recently made, just with more dollars thrown in. It wasn't nearly as scary, as the energy was diluted greatly into the comedy, which included some very extended pure comedy bits, and more time was spent outdoors too, reducing the claustrophobia and paranoia. These were not people living a nightmare; this was a movie having fun.

Evil Dead 3 was basically almost all-joke. And it was great fun when it came to making jokes and goofball dialogue. That seems to be how it's most often remembered -- for the great lines.

Evil Dead was easily one of the best horror movies of its decade, and vastly superior to the other two.

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I agree with a lot of what you say here, actually. But EDII isn't exactly a remake of EDI, the first 10 minutes or so retell the story of the first movie, leaving out the other three characters, but after the first ten minutes it picks up the story right where the first ends. I thought some of the comedy set pieces were wildly funny and original, and that it was an interesting direction to go in, rather than just piling on more zombies and gore like the first. The first, while easily the best horror film of the three (and one of the best low-budget horror films ever) was a very derivative movie in terms of story.

To me the third is just kind of a puffball thing. Funny in parts, but not much substance at all. I have watched it about 6 times though...

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

Lady, i'm afraid i'm going to have to ask you to leave the store.

AOD is a timeless classic.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

ED2 is one of my top 3 movies of all time. It's completely original, psychological, cerebral, and funny as hell.

ED1 is just a standard zombie/slasher flick. Not too much new going on here.

AOD is the biggest PoS I've ever seen. There are few movies more dissapointing than this one. While ED2 draws on Campbell's natural quirkyness and brilliant physical comedy, AOD really just degrades into dumb slapstick humor. I'm deeply disturbed that so many 2+2ers are so unsophisticated. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Marlow

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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AOD is the biggest PoS I've ever seen.

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I am not ignoring anyone yet, but keep posting that kind of stuff and you will make it to the top of a very short list.

<font color="white">Kidding obviously - but I thought that flick had some GREAT one liners </font>

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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I'm deeply disturbed that so many 2+2ers are so unsophisticated.

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didn't know you had to be so cultured so sophisticated to enjoy a B movie...

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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ED2 is one of my top 3 movies of all time. It's completely original, psychological, cerebral, and funny as hell.

ED1 is just a standard zombie/slasher flick. Not too much new going on here.

AOD is the biggest PoS I've ever seen. There are few movies more dissapointing than this one. While ED2 draws on Campbell's natural quirkyness and brilliant physical comedy, AOD really just degrades into dumb slapstick humor. I'm deeply disturbed that so many 2+2ers are so unsophisticated.

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Read Campbell's memoir, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B movie Actor.

He describes Raimi's thoughts on "shemping" - what you call slapstick. Also, ED1 is full of innovative directing techniques (camera on a sled for all those "approaching evil" shots, floor cutouts, etc.). Not to mention the Classic.

It's a fun read for any Campbell/Raimi fan.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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AOD is the biggest PoS I've ever seen.

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I am not ignoring anyone yet, but keep posting that kind of stuff and you will make it to the top of a very short list.

<font color="white">Kidding obviously - but I thought that flick had some GREAT one liners </font>

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"The biggest" is an overstatement. The Avengers and Independence Day are certainly worse. I felt physically ill during both of those movies.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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ED2 is one of my top 3 movies of all time. It's completely original, psychological, cerebral, and funny as hell.

ED1 is just a standard zombie/slasher flick. Not too much new going on here.

AOD is the biggest PoS I've ever seen. There are few movies more dissapointing than this one. While ED2 draws on Campbell's natural quirkyness and brilliant physical comedy, AOD really just degrades into dumb slapstick humor. I'm deeply disturbed that so many 2+2ers are so unsophisticated.

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Read Campbell's memoir, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B movie Actor.

He describes Raimi's thoughts on "shemping" - what you call slapstick. Also, ED1 is full of innovative directing techniques (camera on a sled for all those "approaching evil" shots, floor cutouts, etc.). Not to mention the Classic.

It's a fun read for any Campbell/Raimi fan.

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Good point about the techniques developed in ED1. He was doing a lot with very little (budget-wise) there.

ED2 just goes to new levels. It is self-conscious and campy without being completely over the top. It's scary but not preoccupied with making the viewer afraid. ED1 is an Ok movie, but ED2 takes all kinds of chances. And all of them pay off. Regardless of AoD, Raimi's direction is +EV for any movie.

I'll check out that booo, too. Thanks for the HU.

Marlow

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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ED2 just goes to new levels. It is self-conscious and campy without being completely over the top. It's scary but not preoccupied with making the viewer afraid. ED1 is an Ok movie, but ED2 takes all kinds of chances. And all of them pay off. Regardless of AoD, Raimi's direction is +EV for any movie.


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Very much agree, well said. That's what I wasn't articulate enough to say.

Any fans of Bruce Campbell, check out Bubba Ho-Tep if you have the chance. It's interesting to say the least.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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Bubba Ho-Tep

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Campbell as Elvis... classic.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I thought 2 and 3 were both too over the top and campy, and didn't work for me as either comedy or horror. Whereas the first one scared the crap out of me like no movie has since.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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The first, while easily the best horror film of the three (and one of the best low-budget horror films ever) was a very derivative movie in terms of story.


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I'm a big horror fan, and think of this movie as fairly original, as far as movies go. Its main theme comes from Lovecraft, whose themes didn't show up much in horror movies until Evil Dead came out -- and then it was everywhere.

The "Old Dark House" type stories preceding it were basically ghost stories, or else the houses were inhabited by monsters or evil people that simply killed off lonely travelers directly. They lacked the paranoia factor that was key to Evil Dead 1 and a big part of its scariness, because it wasn't your best friend or the love of your life who was going to kill you -- or look like they were going to kill you, then like they weren't, then back again, then ... and it wasn't YOU who was going to kill your lover and best friends, either, whether as some sort of monster you turned into or just to protect yourself. Evil was a force from outside the group. Evil was somewhat static; it could kill you, or scare you or drive you mad, but generally not infest you. That's much less scary and a different type of movie.

I'm trying to think of old movies that really remind me of Evil Dead 1's paradigm and I can't.

But I sure have seen tons of movies and t.v. using Lovecraft-type themes after.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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AOD is the biggest PoS I've ever seen.

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I am not ignoring anyone yet, but keep posting that kind of stuff and you will make it to the top of a very short list.

<font color="white">Kidding obviously - but I thought that flick had some GREAT one liners </font>

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I have to agree that the post jackdaniels responded to was wildly off the mark.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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ED2 just goes to new levels. It is self-conscious and campy without being completely over the top. It's scary but not preoccupied with making the viewer afraid. ED1 is an Ok movie, but ED2 takes all kinds of chances. And all of them pay off. Regardless of AoD, Raimi's direction is +EV for any movie.


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Very much agree, well said. That's what I wasn't articulate enough to say.

Any fans of Bruce Campbell, check out Bubba Ho-Tep if you have the chance. It's interesting to say the least.

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If there was ever any movie you couldn't possibly call NOT over the top, Evil Dead 2 was certainly it.

That was a big part of the fun. Don't tell me the extended sequences of Bruce fighting his own hand while it smashes plates against his head wasn't completely over the top. I thought I was going to die laughing, but hell, if that's not over the top, then Michael Jackson is both quite ordinary and obviously heterosexual. And I bet O.J. is going to catch that killer any time now!

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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I guess I'm in the minority here, but I thought 2 and 3 were both too over the top and campy, and didn't work for me as either comedy or horror. Whereas the first one scared the crap out of me like no movie has since.

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The problem with a movie that's been imitated so much is that if you don't see it when it first comes out, you're very likely to feel like it's "been there, done that" when you finally do, because by then you've already seen it ripped off a thousand times.

When Evil Dead first came out, nobody was saying it wasn't scary or original. It's a funny paradox, but original things and very well done things can seem derivative and low-impact after a while because people have seen so many of their imitators!

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

while we're on the topic..did anyone notice Raimi's little nod to ED/ED2/AOD in Spiderman 2? The sequence when Doc Oc is owning up the people in the operating room. The way that entire scene is shot, it's similiar to when Ash picks out his new hand, or picks out his chainsaw...etc. etc.

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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ED2 just goes to new levels. It is self-conscious and campy without being completely over the top. It's scary but not preoccupied with making the viewer afraid. ED1 is an Ok movie, but ED2 takes all kinds of chances. And all of them pay off. Regardless of AoD, Raimi's direction is +EV for any movie.


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Very much agree, well said. That's what I wasn't articulate enough to say.

Any fans of Bruce Campbell, check out Bubba Ho-Tep if you have the chance. It's interesting to say the least.

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If there was ever any movie you couldn't possibly call NOT over the top, Evil Dead 2 was certainly it.

That was a big part of the fun. Don't tell me the extended sequences of Bruce fighting his own hand while it smashes plates against his head wasn't completely over the top. I thought I was going to die laughing, but hell, if that's not over the top, then Michael Jackson is both quite ordinary and obviously heterosexual. And I bet O.J. is going to catch that killer any time now!

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Hmmm... let's think about context here. In the horror movie universe, I'd say that it wasn't a particularly over-the-top film. It certainly exploited some of our expectations of what's supposed to happen in a scary movie and makes us laff our asses off as a result. But more specifically, it wasn't over the top as compared to AOD, which was just a shameful attempt to recreate those moments in ED2 that worked precisely because they were referring to standard B horror schlock. ED2 works because it's parody, but it doesn't beat you over the head (so to speak), like AOD does.

Oh, and I really liked what you had to say about ED1. Still noit in love with it, tho.

Marlow

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

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while we're on the topic..did anyone notice Raimi's little nod to ED/ED2/AOD in Spiderman 2? The sequence when Doc Oc is owning up the people in the operating room. The way that entire scene is shot, it's similiar to when Ash picks out his new hand, or picks out his chainsaw...etc. etc.

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TOTALLY!!! So glad you saw that too! I literally jumped out of my seat with glee during that scene. What a f'n stroke of brilliance.

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

Re: Best Evil Dead?
 

yep, when my bro and me were in the theater watching spiderman 2 we freaked out. i could almost hear Ash say "That one..."