Death 13 Cinemas
Issue One
Index
1. Evil Dead Trilogy - The Retrospective
2. John Carpenter vs. Rob Zombie : The Halloween of Choice
3. What You Don't See - Horror Posters From Around The World
Evil Dead Trilogy - The Retrospective
EVIL DEAD
Originators. Evil Dead is an originator. Often imitated but never duplicated.
Sam Raimi started this craze long before before the first film with his short film "Within The Woods." The short film was used to gain financing for what was later to become Evil Dead. Taking years to finally come into fruition, Evil Dead's history was the epitome of one man's climb to the top of the mountain. By 1981, Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of The Dead were the movies to beat, only those came out just years prior. Long before Friday The 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead came to the theaters with a boomstick!
This film came with much controversy, at one point even being on the U.K. Video Nasty list, compiled of films that were banned or could only be released heavily edited due to its graphic content. To this day, it has goes under heavy scrutiny for the content it produced over 30 years go. Luckily, the film's strong cult following has kept this movie alive, and was heavily bootlegged back then because of it's sheer demand to watch this masterpiece. The budget of $400,000 (give or take) took in a strong, two-plus million in the initial release making the film highly profitable, long before it's major cinema release just shortly after.
Alastor Kirschner :
"Before Spiderman and before the countless spin-offs of this movie were made or even conceived, Raimi and friends decided to make a low budget zombie flick mainly for fun, and surprisingly it has become a masterpiece of shock and horror. Possibly a perfect example of how to make an entertaining film on a shoe-string budget, The Evil Dead delivers what it promises, the ultimate in grueling horror. Even with it's mild budget and sometimes shaky acting, Sam shocks and spooks the audience through chilling atmosphere and some of the most violent effects ever put on film. Those who are squeamish need not apply. As a matter of fact, just run for your girly life."
This movie was one of the only ones that scared the ever-loving hell out of me. There is something terrifying about possession, being alone in the woods and demons coming out in the forefront of our world. The raw look and feel to this movie deceives your eyes for the length of the film and allowed me to feel entranced in it. You feel the insanity and the horror in every ounce of your being when you watch as Ash takes on the unstoppable force.
The 80's was a powerful time for the horror genre as new special effects techniques were being introduced, wowing the audience with its vivid-visual imagery and simple, yet effect movie plots. Evil Dead's legacy stands tall amongst most because it covered ground like no movie had before it. A lead man, Bruce Campbell was Ashley J. Williams, otherwise known as Ash. This character, to this day is still utilized in comic books, has become so popular that Marvel Comics has the boomstick blasting, chainsaw slashing warrior go against the Marvel Zombies. Simply put, Ash is the balls.
When looking back at The Evil Dead trilogy, I remember growing up with these films, the horror, the laughter and the past. As a child of the 80's, I couldn't have asked for a better film, The Evil Dead. Hail To The King Baby....
EVIL DEAD 2 : DEAD BY DAWN
Truly a remarkable movie is Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn. Though this film it's titled as a sequel, the film is more of a remake and re-imagining of the first film and the short film "Within The Woods." Evil Dead series is a hallmark in horror as Sam Raimi showed us all the right things at the right time. If it were a magic show, the audience (us) is clapping because our disbelief was suspend in order to be satisfied. That is the magic of anything in cinema, history has proven horror is the hardest form of visual art to make the audience feel any emotion, mostly being scared.
Sir Alastor Kirschner :
"It also has the ability to make you feel tense and I must say, scared. The combination of demon possessed people, EVIL sounds (I love the weird noise in the movie), wicked laughs and chanting ("dead by dawn!"), and intrepid camera angles are the perfect ingredients to make a sui generis Horror-Comedy movie. Watch out for the "A Farewell to Arms" joke, the whole situation with the evil hand, and the eye that gets in a woman's mouth!"
Sam Raimi started this craze long before before the first film with his short film "Within The Woods." The short film was used to gain financing for what was later to become Evil Dead. Taking years to finally come into fruition, Evil Dead's history was the epitome of one man's climb to the top of the mountain. By 1981, Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of The Dead were the movies to beat, only those came out just years prior. Long before Friday The 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead came to the theaters with a boomstick!
This film came with much controversy, at one point even being on the U.K. Video Nasty list, compiled of films that were banned or could only be released heavily edited due to its graphic content. To this day, it has goes under heavy scrutiny for the content it produced over 30 years go. Luckily, the film's strong cult following has kept this movie alive, and was heavily bootlegged back then because of it's sheer demand to watch this masterpiece. The budget of $400,000 (give or take) took in a strong, two-plus million in the initial release making the film highly profitable, long before it's major cinema release just shortly after.
Alastor Kirschner :
"Before Spiderman and before the countless spin-offs of this movie were made or even conceived, Raimi and friends decided to make a low budget zombie flick mainly for fun, and surprisingly it has become a masterpiece of shock and horror. Possibly a perfect example of how to make an entertaining film on a shoe-string budget, The Evil Dead delivers what it promises, the ultimate in grueling horror. Even with it's mild budget and sometimes shaky acting, Sam shocks and spooks the audience through chilling atmosphere and some of the most violent effects ever put on film. Those who are squeamish need not apply. As a matter of fact, just run for your girly life."
This movie was one of the only ones that scared the ever-loving hell out of me. There is something terrifying about possession, being alone in the woods and demons coming out in the forefront of our world. The raw look and feel to this movie deceives your eyes for the length of the film and allowed me to feel entranced in it. You feel the insanity and the horror in every ounce of your being when you watch as Ash takes on the unstoppable force.
The 80's was a powerful time for the horror genre as new special effects techniques were being introduced, wowing the audience with its vivid-visual imagery and simple, yet effect movie plots. Evil Dead's legacy stands tall amongst most because it covered ground like no movie had before it. A lead man, Bruce Campbell was Ashley J. Williams, otherwise known as Ash. This character, to this day is still utilized in comic books, has become so popular that Marvel Comics has the boomstick blasting, chainsaw slashing warrior go against the Marvel Zombies. Simply put, Ash is the balls.
When looking back at The Evil Dead trilogy, I remember growing up with these films, the horror, the laughter and the past. As a child of the 80's, I couldn't have asked for a better film, The Evil Dead. Hail To The King Baby....
EVIL DEAD 2 : DEAD BY DAWN
Truly a remarkable movie is Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn. Though this film it's titled as a sequel, the film is more of a remake and re-imagining of the first film and the short film "Within The Woods." Evil Dead series is a hallmark in horror as Sam Raimi showed us all the right things at the right time. If it were a magic show, the audience (us) is clapping because our disbelief was suspend in order to be satisfied. That is the magic of anything in cinema, history has proven horror is the hardest form of visual art to make the audience feel any emotion, mostly being scared.
Sir Alastor Kirschner :
"It also has the ability to make you feel tense and I must say, scared. The combination of demon possessed people, EVIL sounds (I love the weird noise in the movie), wicked laughs and chanting ("dead by dawn!"), and intrepid camera angles are the perfect ingredients to make a sui generis Horror-Comedy movie. Watch out for the "A Farewell to Arms" joke, the whole situation with the evil hand, and the eye that gets in a woman's mouth!"
It begs the question, what makes this so much better than the original? Almost everything. By this point our lead man Ash (Bruce Campbell) has matured quite a bit as a performer and the script that he goes off of is much stronger, not only in context and dialogue but visual imagery Raimi brought this time around. I hold this film next to my "A Nightmare On Elm Street" series as some of the greatest and more unique films in horror and many do not disagree with me. The only small argument I can say about this film is that the special effects do look exactly as such, special effects. There is no longer the natural tone of make up, etc. that was in the first movie. Nothing is perfect and I can live with that.
A wise man once said "Often imitated, never duplicated." Evil Dead 2 holds true. The comparisons between the first and second are similar but they are not the same as a whole. On that note it is safe to say that horror movies have their work cut out for them when you look at the Evil Dead trilogy. This iconic horror trilogy will never die because every generation rediscovers this series and falls in love with it all over again, I know this personally because I paid it forward myself.
ARMY OF DARKNESS (EVIL DEAD 3 : ARMY OF DARKNESS)
Most people would say you can check your brain at the door before you watch this film, but I beg to differ. This is genuinely intelligent stuff here folks. The director, Sam Raimi, reminds us in this film what it is like to have fun. From the film itself, as well as the DVD featurettes, it is apparent that Mr. Raimi is having a blast doing what he does best. It shows too. Granted, there is not much in the line of plot or theme, but these would be totally gratuitous in this escapist piece. Instead, we are given a fantastic adventure, appropriately tongue-in-cheek special effects, and an ode to The Three Stooges. The facial expressions of Bruce Campbell alone make this film well worth watching. I don't want to give away a single joke, because the experience is just too much fun. So, do yourself a favor. Watch this film without being so hard on yourself. Yes, you are allowed to laugh. There can be non-sardonic humor in modern day America. Sam Raimi proves it.
Myles Krueger :
"As much as it is in the horror section at your local movie store. (Wait, Damn.. We don't have many of these anymore.) This movie should be under "Best damn movies in the world" section. Army of Darkness closes out The Evil Dead trilogy with exactly what we craved, Ash and The Deadites. People talk about this film more than the predecessors because of how quotable and nostalgic it makes people feel when they watch it. This movie transcended the character Ash to iconic status because of how kick-arse he was in this film. Evil Dead 2 leaves you with Ash, who by this point is slightly insane and low on patience, stuck in a place he doesn't belong and now left with the task of saving humanity in the future. Ash delivers with a boomstick!"
A wise man once said "Often imitated, never duplicated." Evil Dead 2 holds true. The comparisons between the first and second are similar but they are not the same as a whole. On that note it is safe to say that horror movies have their work cut out for them when you look at the Evil Dead trilogy. This iconic horror trilogy will never die because every generation rediscovers this series and falls in love with it all over again, I know this personally because I paid it forward myself.
ARMY OF DARKNESS (EVIL DEAD 3 : ARMY OF DARKNESS)
Most people would say you can check your brain at the door before you watch this film, but I beg to differ. This is genuinely intelligent stuff here folks. The director, Sam Raimi, reminds us in this film what it is like to have fun. From the film itself, as well as the DVD featurettes, it is apparent that Mr. Raimi is having a blast doing what he does best. It shows too. Granted, there is not much in the line of plot or theme, but these would be totally gratuitous in this escapist piece. Instead, we are given a fantastic adventure, appropriately tongue-in-cheek special effects, and an ode to The Three Stooges. The facial expressions of Bruce Campbell alone make this film well worth watching. I don't want to give away a single joke, because the experience is just too much fun. So, do yourself a favor. Watch this film without being so hard on yourself. Yes, you are allowed to laugh. There can be non-sardonic humor in modern day America. Sam Raimi proves it.
Myles Krueger :
"As much as it is in the horror section at your local movie store. (Wait, Damn.. We don't have many of these anymore.) This movie should be under "Best damn movies in the world" section. Army of Darkness closes out The Evil Dead trilogy with exactly what we craved, Ash and The Deadites. People talk about this film more than the predecessors because of how quotable and nostalgic it makes people feel when they watch it. This movie transcended the character Ash to iconic status because of how kick-arse he was in this film. Evil Dead 2 leaves you with Ash, who by this point is slightly insane and low on patience, stuck in a place he doesn't belong and now left with the task of saving humanity in the future. Ash delivers with a boomstick!"
The best and final installment of the Evil Dead trilogy and most of all the zippy one liners fired off by Bruce Campbell, and not to mention the wonder reference to Grand Rapids MI, (FYI, Uncle Alastor was born and raised there) Army Of Darkness, a great finale to a great trilogy.
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John Carpenter vs. Rob Zombie : The Halloween of Choice
Halloween (1978)
John Carpenter
Halloween is not only the godfather of all slasher movies but the greatest horror movie ever! John Carpenter and Debra Hill created the most suspenseful, creepy, and terrifying movie of all time with this classic chiller. Michael Myers is such a phenomenal monster in this movie that he inspired scores of imitators, such as Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th), The Miner (My Bloody Valentine), and Charlie Puckett (The Night Brings Charlie). Okay, so I got a little obscure there, but it just goes to show you the impact that this movie had on the entire horror genre.
No longer did a monster have to come from King Tut's tomb or from Dr. Frankenstein's lab. He could be created in the cozy little neighborhoods of suburbia. On The Night He Came Home...Haddonfield, Illinois and the viewers would never be the same. There are many aspects of this movie that make it the crowning jewel of horror movies. First is the setting...it takes place in what appears to be a normal suburban neighborhood. Many of us who grew up in an area such as this can easily identify with the characters.
This is the type of neighborhood where you feel safe, but if trouble starts to brew, nobody wants to lift a finger to get involved (especially when a heavy-breathing madman is trying to skewer our young heroine.) Along with the setting, the movie takes place on Halloween!! The scariest night of the year! While most people are carving jack-o-lanterns, Michael Myers is looking to carve up some teenie-boppers. Besides the setting, there is some great acting. Jamie Lee Curtis does a serviceable job as our heroine, Laurie Strode, a goody-two-shoes high-schooler who can never seem to find a date. However, it is Donald Pleasance, as Dr. Sam Loomis, who really steals the show.
His portrayal of the good doctor, who knows just what type of evil hides behind the black eyes of Michael Myers and feels compelled to send him to Hell once and for all, is the stuff of horror legend. However, it is the synthesizer score that really drives this picture as it seems to almost put the viewer into the film. Once you hear it, you will never forget it. I also enjoy the grainy feel to this picture. Nowadays, they seem to sharpen up the image of every movie, giving us every possible detail of the monster we are supposed to be afraid of. In Halloween, John Carpenter never really lets us get a complete look at Michael Myers. He always seems like he is a part of the shadows, and, I think that is what makes him so terrifying.
There are many scenes where Michael is partly visible as he spies on the young teens (unbeknownst to them), which adds to his creepiness. If you think about, some wacko could be watching you right now and you wouldn't even know it. Unfortunately for our teenagers (and fortunately for us horror fans), when they find Michael, he's not looking for candy on this Halloween night..he's looking for blood. Finally, Michael Myers, himself, is a key element to this movie's effectiveness. His relentless pursuit of Laurie Strode makes him seem like the killer who will never stop.
He is the bogeyman that will haunt you for the rest of your life. So,if you have not seen this movie (if there are still some of you out there who haven't, or even if you have), grab some popcorn, turn off every light, pop this into the old DVD and watch in fright. Trick or Treat!
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Halloween (2007)
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
When you want the heroine to die, the director has failed!
On paper, a "Halloween" remake looked interesting. Zombie tries to go back to the character's origin and reinvent him - it's a recent trend in Hollywood ("Batman Begins," "Casino Royale," the upcoming "Incredible Hulk," etc.), so it's not quite surprising that Hollywood greenlit the project and it got the push it received.
The problem that arises while doing this with "Halloween" is that it comes into conflict with the concept of Michael being purely evil. Although I can understand what Zombie was trying to do by exploring Michael's background, it contradicts the whole point of the original. By providing a reason and displaying a human character on screen, you give the character a soul - and despite what Zombie may claim, this does NOT make Michael scarier. It makes him an average movie serial killer: a guy with a messed up life as a kid who snaps one day and goes on a killing rampage. Is it scary? No. Gory? Yes. Realistic? At first. And if it were a movie about a serial killer, it would work. But it's not. This is a movie about a monster, a soulless creature; a boogeyman, as per the original film. Monsters aren't scary when we know they're flesh and blood.
Carpenter had a way of framing the action in the original movie. Michael stalks Laurie in her hometown, but we never see any real flesh behind the mask, we never really see him moving around like a normal human being. But we do here. He stands in the middle of an open road, in front of three teenage girls walking home from school, and they all see him. He stands there for a few moments, then trudges away off-screen. We actually see him walk away, instead of just appearing and disappearing as he did in the original film. Which method is scarier? The answer is clear.
Zombie spends 40 minutes or so building up Michael's character before he escapes from the ward. We see him killing animals as a child (and torturing them, too), a stupid subplot with his mom as a stripper and a typical school bully, and a promiscuous sister. The sexual talk is frank and disgusting - the mom's boyfriend (husband?) is talking about how cute her daughter's butt is, and at this point in the film we're not sure whether he might even be the father. It's just shock for shock value. Zombie has a tendency of this - blunt violence and blunt dialogue combined - and in a film like this, it seems cheap and fake and unnecessary. The heavy emphasis placed on the swearing - and I mean this literally (as in, the actors place a noticeable emphasis on the profanity they use) is almost unintentionally funny. Zombie cast his wife in the role of Michael's mother, and she can't act at all.
Donald Pleasence got stuck with the most unfortunate lines from the original film, but we were willing to forgive bad dialogue because of how well-made the film was otherwise. Here, Malcolm McDowell gets the worst of two worlds: he gets to handle an under-characterization with bad, bad, BAD dialogue AND a generally weak film to boot. The sequences with McDowell's version of Loomis are all completely clichéd - Zombie clearly writes his dialogue based on other films' dialogue. The "intimate" scenes at the mental ward between Loomis and Michael are awful. McDowell struggles with typicalities of the genre, such as the Dr. Who Wasted His Own Life By Devoting It To Someone Else's (he explains to Michael that his wife left him and he has no friends because of how involved he became with the case - and the dialogue itself is straight from any cop-vs.-killer flick). The recent film "Zodiac" had a similar theme of men losing their personal lives due to obsession over a murderer, but it was handled better. The whole Loomis character should have been dropped from the remake if all Zombie wanted to do with him was use him as a deus ex machina, by the way.
Overall, this feels like a redneck version of "Halloween," which is going to offend some people, but I can't think of any better way to describe it. It's trashy, vulgar, and silly - and hey, that's fine, if that's Rob Zombie's motif and he wants to make movies pandering towards that sort of audience. I have nothing against it, and I think it may work with some films - I can imagine him making a good re-do of "Natural Born Killers" (although I hope it never, never happens!).
However, when you're remaking an iconic, legendary, incredibly influential horror film - don't cheapen it by "re-imagining" it with horror movie clichés and shock-value material. The very worst aspect of this remake is that it simply isn't scary at all - it's a typical slasher flick, a homicidal-man-on-a-rampage flick, which ironically is exactly what Zombie said he wanted to avoid.The first film was eerie, spooky, and unnerving because Michael's motivations were cloudy and we weren't sure whether Laurie was right or wrong when she said he was the boogeyman. We only knew one thing: he wasn't entirely human.
But ever since that original movie, the filmmakers have attempted to keep expanding upon Michael's history: the second film developed a motivation for his killings (Laurie was his sister), the fourth offered more clues at his background, and now we come full circle with a complete remake of the original film. Michael's true demonic core - the natural horror element of the series - is stripped bare and all that is left is a disturbed, abnormally tall redneck with greasy hair who hasn't showered in years wearing a silly mask going around killing people because he had an abusive family fucking life as a child. Some things are better left unexplored.
So in ending I myself was a fan of John Carpenter's masterpiece, being born a few months before the original Halloweens' release and seeing it when I, 4 years old and to this day still manages to scare me. But to anyone looking for true scares watch the 1978 version and leave this pile of shit were it belongs meaning it should be in the $5 bin at a backwoods version of Walmart.
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The United States, homeland of cinema, duplicated by every country from The U.K. to Bollywood . One of the most important aspects of Cinema advertisement was the poster. From the inception of movies, a poster enticed the audience to come see the movie. One picture to sell the moviegoer into watching the film.
As an avid collector of posters, my collection spans from Thailand to the states. Some of my collection is highly sought after by other collectors, one even publicly referenced in "Never Sleep Again" documentary on the special features. In each issue I will show you some of the most sought after and/or unique posters in the world, minus the united states, some of which will be also from my collection.
Today we take a look at The United Kingdom, England specifically. In England, they use what is called a "Quad" poster. A standard United States movie poster is 27 inches by 40. In the UK, they measure a much larger 30 inches by 40 inches. As our posters are usually made top to bottom art style, the quad is left to right . Here are Dr. Krueger's top 10 British Quad (collector terminology) Posters.
10. Dracula Has Risen From The Grave
Christopher Lee, British Dracula. A hand drawn art that gives the viewer the anticipation and provoking thoughts that we crave.
9. Halloween (1978)
This is a very unique take on the movie. One I don't understand. It's interpretation is vague and doesn't explain much. Perhaps that is why it worked so well.
8. Frankenstein
Another hand drawn quad from the U.K. It's simplicity was what caught my eye. Posters of it's time were almost always hand drawn and the approach, much like Halloween above, leaves the viewer wondering about the creature.
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 : Freddy's Revenge
A favorite amongst horror fans and especially Fred-Fanatics, this poster dominates the US-One Sheet, showing us what a little creativity can do.
6. Night Of The Living Dead
Again, dominance. This poster gives us that classic, elegant and straight-to-the-point view on this George Romero classic, leagues ahead of the US-One Sheet.
Again, dominance. This poster gives us that classic, elegant and straight-to-the-point view on this George Romero classic, leagues ahead of the US-One Sheet.
5. The Lost Boys
This is a sleek and unique approach to the posters for this movie. Though not the better of what is available in other countries (Japan,Spain and Germany offer the best) this is a great take on what is not offered here in the states.
4. Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Wow. This is just a cool, simple and effective poster. This one deserves the top four because of its awesome look at our Klowns.
A true masterpiece. Compare this to any poster (besides Thailand) and this can't be touched. Our US-One Sheet is a classic, but this sells the viewer. One of the more rare posters available for the series. Today you can find replicas of this gem, grab one and stick it on your wall.
2. Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn
How Fitting to make a sequel number 2. Our crap-tastic poster here in the states has just been torn to shreds by this retro-50's take on this Quad.
AND FINALLY
NUMBER ONE
1. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 : Dream Master
This poster is the creme de la creme of British Quads. It's rarity and descriptive take against our groovy One Sheet is the winner. Personally in my collection, I stare at this poster all the time, amazed by its brilliance.
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