Did you ever do anything just because others were doing it? Your friends, family, peer group, coworkers, whoever? Of course you did. Looking back, there’s one thing that I can’t believe I did for so long and so many times, all because my friends – or rather, the networks of inter-relationships that I regularly associated with – were doing it. Now, on the surface, it’s nothing shocking (unless you delve down deeper, which I may save for a later post). What is it, you’re dying to know? Well, death had a lot to do with it. In a figurative sense. I’m talking about horror movies.
Not classic horror movies. Not monster horror movies. Not psychological thrillers. No. What I’m specifically talking about, what my friends in the late 80s constantly did, was watch those slasher flicks. A couple of movies every weekend and during the week when we’d all hang out at this central house. They all involved teenagers getting killed in various bloody and horrible ways, in varying degrees of torture, by varying types of psychopaths. I must have watched close to a thousand murders on the small screen from 1987 to 1989 or so.
In hindsight, I hated every moment of it. But I did it, that is, I watched all the movies all the time, to be sociable with this group. To fit in.
So I watched all those Halloween and Friday the 13th movies. Plus all their knockoffs and spoofs. Thankfully, they all kinda blur together and I forgot most of them. But there are two that I actually enjoyed, though they didn’t quite fit the traditional “slasher” motif. They are Hellraiser and Evil Dead II. Now, neither film is for the squeamish. Both are X-rated, and if they’re not, they should be. Lots of blood and gore. Gratuitous, but gratuitous for a point, I think. It’s hard to put into words, but let me try.
Hellraiser is a film written by horror writer Clive Barker. He wrote the screenplay, based on one of his books, and directed it. It’s a great scary low-budget flick: a neat little tale of revenge, where the bad guy really gets his just desserts. Shockingly gory for its time (at least to my virgin eyes), it’s really much more than a splatterfest. It delves into the supernatural without being satanic. It shows good people getting hurt but also that there’s consequences. On the surface it seems amoral, but there’s a solid morality buried deep down. Now I haven’t seen it in at least ten or fifteen years, so perhaps I’m merely describing my memories of the movie. So powerful was this movie (and I was in my horror phase around this time), it inspired me to read a couple of Barker’s books (some good, most just ehh) and watch the Hellraiser sequels (the first was just as good, the others … not so much).
Evil Dead II is a movie I just recently re-watched.
This movie has the sole distinction of being the funniest, most over-the-top, slapstick horror flick ever made. Sound like a contradiction in terms? It isn’t. There are a couple of parts that completely gross me out to this day, and there are a couple of parts where I actually laugh out loud. It was Bruce Campbell’s breakout role, in a film he co-produced with his childhood friend, Sam Raimi. Raimi now is a highly regarded filmmaker, helming the Spiderman movies, and gives his buddy a cameo in each. Campbell’s been around and currently stars in the teevee show Burn Notice, which my wife occasionally watches. He’s so likable that I wish he had more success over the years.
Evil Dead II is basically a remake of I. The first is about a group of friends who find a cabin in the woods, enter, see a Book of the Dead laying around (the cabin belongs to some type of archaeologist who’s missing). There’s a tape recorder they play, and before you know, they’ve awakened demons and, one-by-one, they all die.
The remake takes the somewhat bland movie, nothing special in conception and execution, and goes so far overboard that it’s an experience unlike any other I’ve had watching a movie. They throw away the extra characters and leave Campbell to battle with the demonic presences. In fact, for a good portion of the film he’s the only character on screen. We never see plainly exactly who or what he’s fighting against, but we don’t need to – it’s not that type of movie. We’re to watch Campbell, and we’re riveted to the screen watching him strive to survive all these insane situations. In fact, his character may not even be sane at all. A strict blow-by-blow description would not do it justice. Suffice it to say that I have never seen an actor take such a physical beating before or since. A beating often by his own hand, literally.
I have two words for those of you who’ve seen it:
Workshed.
Groovy.
Okay, enough laughing. I watched Evil Dead II again a couple of days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The verdict: I think I view it more as a comedy than a horror flick, but I can’t throw it in with Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Old School. But it is what it is, and it’s great. If you’re into this kind of thing, buy it.
Not classic horror movies. Not monster horror movies. Not psychological thrillers. No. What I’m specifically talking about, what my friends in the late 80s constantly did, was watch those slasher flicks. A couple of movies every weekend and during the week when we’d all hang out at this central house. They all involved teenagers getting killed in various bloody and horrible ways, in varying degrees of torture, by varying types of psychopaths. I must have watched close to a thousand murders on the small screen from 1987 to 1989 or so.
In hindsight, I hated every moment of it. But I did it, that is, I watched all the movies all the time, to be sociable with this group. To fit in.
So I watched all those Halloween and Friday the 13th movies. Plus all their knockoffs and spoofs. Thankfully, they all kinda blur together and I forgot most of them. But there are two that I actually enjoyed, though they didn’t quite fit the traditional “slasher” motif. They are Hellraiser and Evil Dead II. Now, neither film is for the squeamish. Both are X-rated, and if they’re not, they should be. Lots of blood and gore. Gratuitous, but gratuitous for a point, I think. It’s hard to put into words, but let me try.
Hellraiser is a film written by horror writer Clive Barker. He wrote the screenplay, based on one of his books, and directed it. It’s a great scary low-budget flick: a neat little tale of revenge, where the bad guy really gets his just desserts. Shockingly gory for its time (at least to my virgin eyes), it’s really much more than a splatterfest. It delves into the supernatural without being satanic. It shows good people getting hurt but also that there’s consequences. On the surface it seems amoral, but there’s a solid morality buried deep down. Now I haven’t seen it in at least ten or fifteen years, so perhaps I’m merely describing my memories of the movie. So powerful was this movie (and I was in my horror phase around this time), it inspired me to read a couple of Barker’s books (some good, most just ehh) and watch the Hellraiser sequels (the first was just as good, the others … not so much).
Evil Dead II is a movie I just recently re-watched.
This movie has the sole distinction of being the funniest, most over-the-top, slapstick horror flick ever made. Sound like a contradiction in terms? It isn’t. There are a couple of parts that completely gross me out to this day, and there are a couple of parts where I actually laugh out loud. It was Bruce Campbell’s breakout role, in a film he co-produced with his childhood friend, Sam Raimi. Raimi now is a highly regarded filmmaker, helming the Spiderman movies, and gives his buddy a cameo in each. Campbell’s been around and currently stars in the teevee show Burn Notice, which my wife occasionally watches. He’s so likable that I wish he had more success over the years.
Evil Dead II is basically a remake of I. The first is about a group of friends who find a cabin in the woods, enter, see a Book of the Dead laying around (the cabin belongs to some type of archaeologist who’s missing). There’s a tape recorder they play, and before you know, they’ve awakened demons and, one-by-one, they all die.
The remake takes the somewhat bland movie, nothing special in conception and execution, and goes so far overboard that it’s an experience unlike any other I’ve had watching a movie. They throw away the extra characters and leave Campbell to battle with the demonic presences. In fact, for a good portion of the film he’s the only character on screen. We never see plainly exactly who or what he’s fighting against, but we don’t need to – it’s not that type of movie. We’re to watch Campbell, and we’re riveted to the screen watching him strive to survive all these insane situations. In fact, his character may not even be sane at all. A strict blow-by-blow description would not do it justice. Suffice it to say that I have never seen an actor take such a physical beating before or since. A beating often by his own hand, literally.
I have two words for those of you who’ve seen it:
Workshed.
Groovy.
Okay, enough laughing. I watched Evil Dead II again a couple of days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The verdict: I think I view it more as a comedy than a horror flick, but I can’t throw it in with Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Old School. But it is what it is, and it’s great. If you’re into this kind of thing, buy it.
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Here is a scene from youtube that pretty much sums the whole thing up. But I’m warning ya ... you gotta be into this sort of thing ...
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