This is Mark stepping in for Trever temporarily. I don't normally do opening night showings. I'm much more of a matinee type of person. Lower prices, fewer attendees. However, I do make the occasional exception.
You might say that The Evil Dead is special to me. It caused quite a stir when it played at The Anchor Drive-In, in Newport News, VA. The famous quote from Stephen King about how The Evil Dead was the most ferociously original horror movie he had seen that year was being played on radio advertisements. You know I was stoked to see it.
I didn't make it on opening night, but me and two buddies rolled up at the gate at the drive-in on Saturday evening, a little before dusk. Needless to say that in addition to the kimchee and bool-go-gi we had leftover from the Korean restaurant we had eaten lunch at, we had plenty of both legal and illegal party materials. We were ready.
Some people seem to think The Evil Dead plays like a comedy, but for us it was an experience of pure terror. I loved it, but the guys with me were not exactly true blue horror fans. They were sort of freaking out.
Xtro played after The Evil Dead, but between our buzz by that point, and the way we were so blown away by The Evil Dead, we didn't take in a lot of it.
The Evil Dead also had a fairly healthy midnight movie run. It came in right at the tail end of that era, and I saw it at the stroke of twelve in a hardtop movie house. The drive-in was a much better experience despite the superior sound and picture at the midnight showing.
The first bootleg tape I owned was The Evil Dead. I just had to own a copy of it. Such was my affection for the movie, on the night my daughter born, me and my best friend came home and watched it in a celebratory manner. Bring in new life with The Evil Dead. That may seem a little strange to some, but I think most people reading this get it.
Evil Dead 2 was eventually announced, and Fangoria was making a huge fuss over it. Early word was that the sequel would be the same type of story, but with vastly improved effects and photography. It was featured in one way or another in every issue for a while, and I could not have been more excited. I honestly can't say that I have ever been more excited about a movie coming out. Before or since.
A few weeks before Evil Dead 2 was due, I spent a pleasant Friday evening with a twelve-pack and a showing of the first movie. I was living with that same woman and our baby. She had previously thought it was cool that I liked horror so much. That didn't last long.
I was playing The Evil Dead, and she would come out of the bedroom from time to time. Now, as you should know, the sound effects in The Evil Dead are quite jarring and effective. It sets an edgy tone to the movie. Then there are the screams and curses made by the performers. The woman happened to be out preparing milk for the baby when the demon in the cellar was chanting, "We're going to get you. We're going to get you". Pretty creepy stuff. I had no idea how badly it was affecting her.
The next day she told me that if I played that movie again, she would take the baby and leave. She honestly thought it was evil. The sad truth is, we should not have been together. In fact, I don't think I was prepared for a relationship at that point. No woman could compete with my love of horror at the time.
Soon after, it was a Friday like any other Friday. Or so it seemed. We took the same car in to work, and as we passed the theater by our house, I looked at the marquee, pointed, and screamed, "EVIL DEAD 2!!!" While she had been talking about something. God, I was a prick.
That evening I was itching to see it, but I had resolved to do something with her. The same friend who watched The Evil Dead with me upon the birth of my daughter burst into the front door, without knocking, and started yelling, "IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!"
I was granted permission to see the movie. We had a third guy in our party, but he was such a turkey that he was mad we were not seeing Michael J. Fox in The Secret of My Success, which was playing on the other screen at the theater.
It played at the Newmarket Rocking Chair Theater, which was a hardshell movie house near where I lived then. I miss it almost as much as I do the drive-ins. The Newmarket got a lot of indie horror and other controversial things like The Last Temptation of Christ. We saw a lot of late shows there too. Everything from Reefer Madness to concert movies, A Boy and His Dog, Last House on the Left, Vampyres. All kinds of wonderful stuff.
What can I say about Evil Dead 2? We laughed our heads off, jumped at the right places, thrilled, chilled, and loved every second of it. Evil Dead 2 was worthy of all the hype it got. And then some. I went back on Sunday afternoon and caught a matinee of the movie. And I've seen it many, many times since then.
Now we are poised for the Evil Dead remake. It's funny, because Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake of The Evil Dead. I know it's hip to hate remakes, but I don't. Not that I love all of them, but I quite enjoy a lot that I have seen. I am really excited about The Evil Dead, which is due next week as I write this. I have this great feeling that it will deliver on all fronts. And no CGI! A fan's dream.
There is no way I can rekindle the enthusiasm and passion I had for such a release when Evil Dead 2 opened. Too much has happened, and I unfortunately am not so naive anymore. But, damn it, I feel pretty close to the way I did back when I saw Evil Dead 2 on that opening night.
Written by Mark Sieber
You might say that The Evil Dead is special to me. It caused quite a stir when it played at The Anchor Drive-In, in Newport News, VA. The famous quote from Stephen King about how The Evil Dead was the most ferociously original horror movie he had seen that year was being played on radio advertisements. You know I was stoked to see it.
I didn't make it on opening night, but me and two buddies rolled up at the gate at the drive-in on Saturday evening, a little before dusk. Needless to say that in addition to the kimchee and bool-go-gi we had leftover from the Korean restaurant we had eaten lunch at, we had plenty of both legal and illegal party materials. We were ready.
Some people seem to think The Evil Dead plays like a comedy, but for us it was an experience of pure terror. I loved it, but the guys with me were not exactly true blue horror fans. They were sort of freaking out.
Xtro played after The Evil Dead, but between our buzz by that point, and the way we were so blown away by The Evil Dead, we didn't take in a lot of it.
The Evil Dead also had a fairly healthy midnight movie run. It came in right at the tail end of that era, and I saw it at the stroke of twelve in a hardtop movie house. The drive-in was a much better experience despite the superior sound and picture at the midnight showing.
The first bootleg tape I owned was The Evil Dead. I just had to own a copy of it. Such was my affection for the movie, on the night my daughter born, me and my best friend came home and watched it in a celebratory manner. Bring in new life with The Evil Dead. That may seem a little strange to some, but I think most people reading this get it.Evil Dead 2 was eventually announced, and Fangoria was making a huge fuss over it. Early word was that the sequel would be the same type of story, but with vastly improved effects and photography. It was featured in one way or another in every issue for a while, and I could not have been more excited. I honestly can't say that I have ever been more excited about a movie coming out. Before or since.
A few weeks before Evil Dead 2 was due, I spent a pleasant Friday evening with a twelve-pack and a showing of the first movie. I was living with that same woman and our baby. She had previously thought it was cool that I liked horror so much. That didn't last long.
I was playing The Evil Dead, and she would come out of the bedroom from time to time. Now, as you should know, the sound effects in The Evil Dead are quite jarring and effective. It sets an edgy tone to the movie. Then there are the screams and curses made by the performers. The woman happened to be out preparing milk for the baby when the demon in the cellar was chanting, "We're going to get you. We're going to get you". Pretty creepy stuff. I had no idea how badly it was affecting her.
The next day she told me that if I played that movie again, she would take the baby and leave. She honestly thought it was evil. The sad truth is, we should not have been together. In fact, I don't think I was prepared for a relationship at that point. No woman could compete with my love of horror at the time.
Soon after, it was a Friday like any other Friday. Or so it seemed. We took the same car in to work, and as we passed the theater by our house, I looked at the marquee, pointed, and screamed, "EVIL DEAD 2!!!" While she had been talking about something. God, I was a prick.
That evening I was itching to see it, but I had resolved to do something with her. The same friend who watched The Evil Dead with me upon the birth of my daughter burst into the front door, without knocking, and started yelling, "IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!"
I was granted permission to see the movie. We had a third guy in our party, but he was such a turkey that he was mad we were not seeing Michael J. Fox in The Secret of My Success, which was playing on the other screen at the theater.
It played at the Newmarket Rocking Chair Theater, which was a hardshell movie house near where I lived then. I miss it almost as much as I do the drive-ins. The Newmarket got a lot of indie horror and other controversial things like The Last Temptation of Christ. We saw a lot of late shows there too. Everything from Reefer Madness to concert movies, A Boy and His Dog, Last House on the Left, Vampyres. All kinds of wonderful stuff.
What can I say about Evil Dead 2? We laughed our heads off, jumped at the right places, thrilled, chilled, and loved every second of it. Evil Dead 2 was worthy of all the hype it got. And then some. I went back on Sunday afternoon and caught a matinee of the movie. And I've seen it many, many times since then.
Now we are poised for the Evil Dead remake. It's funny, because Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake of The Evil Dead. I know it's hip to hate remakes, but I don't. Not that I love all of them, but I quite enjoy a lot that I have seen. I am really excited about The Evil Dead, which is due next week as I write this. I have this great feeling that it will deliver on all fronts. And no CGI! A fan's dream.
There is no way I can rekindle the enthusiasm and passion I had for such a release when Evil Dead 2 opened. Too much has happened, and I unfortunately am not so naive anymore. But, damn it, I feel pretty close to the way I did back when I saw Evil Dead 2 on that opening night.
Written by Mark Sieber
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