Evil Dead

Expect 2010 to be the year of Bruce as Sam Raimi's Evil Dead makes its way across country, on tour with a brand new 35mm print! Endorsed by Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star/co-producer Bruce Campbell, Grindhouse Releasing's reissue of the fan favorite will be hitting as many theaters as possible in the coming year.

Grindhouse's David Szulkin had this to say about the Evil Dead tour: "We're expecting a sold-out crowd for Evil Dead in Los Angeles, following our successful openings in New York, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Portland, and other cities. Demand for the movie led us to make a new print, which includes our all-new horror trailer show. Our plan is to keep Evil Dead playing in theaters throughout 2010."

People in Hell-A can catch the film at the Nuart Theatre this Friday, but the rest of us unlucky jerks will have to stay tuned to Grindhouse Releasing's website for future play dates. A double feature with Evil Dead II would have been orgasmic, but I'd still give my left chin to see this film on the big screen.

When Sam Raimi's cult classic Evil Dead came out back in 1981, it didn't play many theaters. As such, the number of people who can say they've seen the first appearance of loveable doofus Ash on the big screen is very small. That's all set to change soon (as we reported back before Halloween) because the guys over at Grindhouse Releasing are set to bring Evil Dead to the masses with a series of midnight screenings around the country--and now they've locked in several dates and locations.

This is familiar territory for the distributor (who've been dubbed "the Criterion of horror film distribution") as they gave Lucio Fulci's classic film The Beyond the same kind of treatment a few years back.

The company is planning on bringing Evil Dead to the masses beginning early next year through a series of midnight screenings. Each showing will feature a 35MM print of the film.

So far, Twitch has confirmed seven screening locations and dates. Grindhouse promises that there will be more announced soon, so cross your fingers and maybe you'll be lucky enough to get a viewing in your area. If you're not down with the whole "hoping for the best" thing, you could contact info@grindehousereleasing.com and make the case for why your town deserves to be part of such a momentous event personally.

Click the handy "read more" button below to see a full list of confirmed dates and locations.

Fright Rags, the makers of some fine horror t-shirts, wants you to give the gift of Evil Dead this holiday season--the ladies of Evil Dead that is. Check out this limited edition, full-color design by Jeff Zornow that features Betsy Baker, Ellen Sandweiss and Sarah York from the film. There are only 29 of these demonically delicious shirts left. Here's a rundown of what goodies come with your purchase. Make sure you hit the jump for the full skinny:

EXCLUSIVE 10-COLOR EYE-POPPING DESIGN
To put that in perspective, we typically use 4-5 colors on any of our regular designs. This design has MORE THAN DOUBLE that. We start out by bleaching the black ink out of the shirt to provide a clean, fresh surface to print on. Then, one by one, each color goes down and is heat cured into the fabric of the shirt. The result? A high-end screenprinted design that is super vibrant, silky smooth, and long lasting.

11×17 POSTER INDIVIDUALLY SIGNED AND NUMBERED BY THE LADIES OF THE EVIL DEAD
Included with each T-shirt will be an 11×17 full color poster of the T-shirt design, printed on 100# glossy coverstock. But if that wasn't enough, each poster will be SIGNED AND NUMBERED BY EACH OF THE LADIES OF THE EVIL DEAD! That's right ... all three autographs will be on your poster! So not only can you show off the design on your shirt, but you'll also have this collector's edition poster to hang on your wall too!

With the announcement of Carrie making a return to the Broadway circuit after a short-lived disastrous first go-round, I'm left holding my head and wondering, "Why?" Horror musicals are like your socially awkward cousin. You know, the one who talks too much and quite possibly bears an uncanny resemblance to Franklin from Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Is it fair to hold the horror musical to the same standards as the dastardly horror film remakes that seem to be happening in droves? I don't think I can help it. Few horror musicals have been born from an original idea which leaves me with the same funny feeling. I'm well aware that remakes have been happening since the dawn of time but this kind of remake is worse. When you add the word 'musical' to anything it evokes a horrible visceral reaction within many people. Adding it to the word horror just seems like a bastardized and shrieking kind of wrong.

Isn't the comical genius of Young Frankenstein and Evil Dead perfect as is? Young Frankenstein was a parody. So, is a mugging Dr. Frankenstein belting out a song called Transylvania Mania anything other than pointless and silly? The film Cannibal! The Musical, another intentional parody by beloved low-budget Troma Entertainment, has more class by comparison. Even Cronenberg's The Fly has been made into an opera, but they don't have me fooled. Adding the smooth vowel-ridden word to the title doesn't soften the blow. In fact, it's almost more cruel. However, Repo! The Genetic Opera would probably disagree with me.

The old-school Sam Raimi fans are having a ball this weekend (I hope) with the director's long-awaited return to horror, the very cool Drag Me to Hell. And of course all of you know Mr. Raimi as the director of the Evil Dead trilogy and / or the Spider-Man trilogy, but it's easy to forget that this filmmaker has one rather impressive batting average. Doubly so if you're into good-time matinee-style genre flicks! So here's a chance to look back over some of the man's other films, mostly ones you've heard of (and probably seen by now), but flicks that are certainly worth a fresh look every now and again. I'll start with one of my true favorites ...

The Quick and the Dead (1995) -- Raimi's ode to the old-school western is an addictively entertaining mixture of A) a great ensemble, B) tons of nifty visuals, and C) tongue-in-cheek affection for the old-fashioned western tales. Plus it's not every day you see Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio shoot it out amongst themselves. And if you're a fan of character actors, this movie is an all-you-can-eat buffet of colorful performances: Keith David, Kevin Conway, Lance Henriksen, Tobin Bell, Pat Hingle, Gary Sinise, and on and on it goes. Great fun, especially if you love westerns.

Darkman (1990) -- Long before he was handed the keys to Spidey's cinematic web, Sam Raimi was already thinking about superhero movies. And he didn't even bother going with an established character! He and his brother just created one called Darkman! Just about everything that works so well in the Spider-Man series is included here, from the playful tone and stylish action to the crafty compositions and strong performances. Liam Neeson as a faceless vigilante! How can you not love that?

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