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Army of Darkness (1993)
60 Plays8 days ago
The Groovy Road to EVIL DEAD BURN continues with the inconceivably batshit insane ARMY OF DARKNESS, the third installment of the Evil Dead franchise. Rick and Trav cover this movie’s connections to Hannibal, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986), why it wasn’t titled MEDIEVAL DEAD, why the “Ash vs. Evil Dead” TV show can’t reference this film, and the louder-than-a-boom-stick history of Sun Chips. This is Bruce Campbell at his most Bruce Campbell. Hail to the king, baby.
(00:00:55) - Random Banter
(00:02:36) - Horror News
(00:05:08) - Intro
(00:09:21) - Synopsis
(00:10:10) - Overall Thoughts
(00:16:10) - Production Notes
(00:26:20) - Cast & Crew
(00:31:30) - Highlighting Bruce Campbell
(00:32:30) - Box Office
(00:37:12) - Scare-O-Meter
(00:37:55) - Awards
(01:07:55) - Scream Queen or King
(01:11:33) - Next Week
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Transcript
Playful Banter & Boomstick Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Are you me? I'm badass. And you're good-ass. You're goody little two-shoes. You're a goody little two-shoes, goody little two-shoes.
00:00:11
Speaker
Little goody two-shoes, little goody two-shoes. Little goody two-shoes. Little goody two-shoes. Little goody two-shoes. Little goody two-shoes.
00:00:24
Speaker
Little goody two-shoes.
00:00:37
Speaker
Good. Bad. I'm the guy
00:00:55
Speaker
And we're back. Rick, how are we doing today? All right, you primitive screwheads. Listen up. You see this? This is my boomstick. The 12-gauge double-barreled Remington S-Smart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right. This sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Smart. You got that?
00:01:26
Speaker
Let's go, baby. Groovy.
Podcasting on the Road & Family Life
00:01:29
Speaker
I'm an hour from Grand Rapids as we podcast, Travis. yeah I found that this was actually my one, two, three, four, five, like ninth different state that I've podcasted from.
00:01:42
Speaker
So I've done Texas, Mexico City, Colorado, Montana, California, New Jersey, and now Michigan. That's incredible. I've done one recording from California. From my hometown. Yep, exactly.
00:01:57
Speaker
um But nothing nothing too exciting since then. i mean, different parts of colorado you know Denver, Colorado, Inglewood, Colorado, but that's a lot more vanilla than... You get around, man. That's tough. with three kids, you can still get around. Yeah. But we're in the current time we're in the right time frame.
00:02:14
Speaker
frame ah Yeah, you join me in mountain time. Well, I mean, like we're not in 1300 AD. Oh yes. Yes. Or 2100 AD, which we can talk Yeah.
Evil Dead Prequel Discussion
00:02:24
Speaker
that That would be tough for our podcasting schedule. So, you know, it's already hard enough, like going from central time to mountain time. Like imagine, imagine over a 700 year difference.
00:02:33
Speaker
But yeah, shop S smart.
00:02:37
Speaker
Shop smart. Well, um yeah, we are continuing our groovy road here to Evil Dead, Burn. Burn, right? Not Wrath. I'm getting confused because we got Wrath coming up there. is in two years, but it's 1970.
00:02:53
Speaker
ah A prequel. Yes. But, Trav, we're covering the most prequel of all prequels right now. This is the prequel. That's that's true. It goes way further back than 1970. Yep. um But before we get into our film for today, checking in with you, checking in with horror movie news, what what
Tribute to Davy Chase & GoFundMe Skepticism
00:03:14
Speaker
do you got for us? We got to give some respect to Davy Chase, our queen. She played Samara in The Ring 2002, which is still to this day our scariest film, as noted by our scarometer, a 9 out of 10.
00:03:30
Speaker
um She's 35, died on Tuesday, June 16th from meningitis and blood infections, which one of those things caused sepsis. really sad. Uh, dude, her Oh one to Oh two was crazy.
00:03:44
Speaker
Samantha Darko and Donnie Darko, then Chihiro and spirited away for the American dub, then Lilo and Lilo and stitch. And then ending that run with Samara, which is my vote for one of the, if not the scariest top three, scariest villains.
00:04:01
Speaker
Uh, The one note I'll say on this aside from the ah RIP is that her boyfriend set up a GoFundMe to help pay for things, which is a very nice gesture. But then like her estate and family and close friends came out and said, hey, we don't know this guy. Nobody knows this guy. Do not donate to it because her SAG-AFTRA funds and benefits help pay for all these things. So like we don't need the money. So don't donate to Roy Hernandez's GoFundMe.
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like people setting up GoFundMe now are like kind of stamp reactions to anything. And it it is always interesting. We almost set one up when our pod went on hiatus to get us back.
00:04:42
Speaker
ah And look, and now we're here. Yeah, we didn't need it. See, we didn't need the money. If there was anything set up on behalf of the show, we are not associated with that in any way, shape or form. But yeah, Davy Chase, RIP, a true scream queen, would you say, Travis?
The Evolution of the Evil Dead Series
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, young young scream queen. Gone too soon. Yeah. ah All right. Well, this is the Sunday Scaries. I'm Travis Telerik. I'm Ricky Townsend. And we, after our double feature last week, we are moving on to the third part of Sam Raimi's original Evil Dead trilogy.
00:05:19
Speaker
And Army of Darkness cannot be named with Evil Dead in in the title here. But yes, it is very much related. And yes, we get another recap that completely retcons the prior two films. And yes, time we have Linda as a third actress here in this movie at the very beginning.
00:05:37
Speaker
Bridget Fonda, baby. yep. yeahp What a babe. She had a this happened several times. We can talk about it later. But like she is one of a few actors or actresses who literally just reached out to Sam Raimi and was like, hey, or their agent did. It was like, just get me in this movie. i don't I don't even care if the part's small. And they had already started casting other roles. And they said, well, we do have to recap Evil Dead one and two again.
00:06:04
Speaker
want to be Linda? i mean, it's a very small role. She said, I don't care. I'll do it. And she's literally in it for like three shots. ye yeah She didn't care. She's like, i love the movies.
00:06:16
Speaker
But yeah, so we're on the Army of Darkness. We're into the 90s here for the series. what This came out in 1992. Um, it was released in festivals and some places overseas in 92, but did not get a wide release till 93, which, uh, because of Universal's holdout with Dino De Laurentiis, which we can get into when we get into production notes, but ah kind of a crazy story, uh, having to do with Hannibal.
00:06:42
Speaker
Oh, okay. Well, I'm excited to talk about that. It's a tease. It's a tease. My point was, though, that ah now we're at least in the films that came out during our lifetime, although we were both toddlers or very young when this one debuted. So I'm assuming, like me, you did not see this until ah much later. No, but i did my first time seeing it was in theaters, though.
00:07:03
Speaker
ah A re-release? It what was a re-release um with Jenna, who was on Jenna Pumpkin, who was on the pod for a trick or treat. We saw it a re-release at the Texas Theater, the old classic Texas Theater in Dallas, Texas. I remember having a good time, but I don't remember like a specific moment. And so this re-watch was great for me to like sink into the laughs and the absurdity of it and just knowing what went into making this thing. Oh my God, I did a little pre research before watching and then more afterwards and
00:07:38
Speaker
my appreciation for the special effects team and the set production designers and Ramey and especially Bruce Campbell is off the charts. This is a hard, hard fucking movie to make. Um, and it's so weird to say that to talk about the grueling circumstances because it comes off so silly and light. Yeah. Um, I mean, yeah,
00:07:59
Speaker
you know, the first Evil Dead movie is is more true horror, right? There's some unintentionally slapstick elements to it. And I think Raimi realizes that, like we talked about in the last pod, and Evil Dead 2 leans a lot harder into that. And in this one, he's just like, what if we make it funny like Evil Dead 2, but just it? Yeah. The Three Stooges influence here is very, very apparent. Yes, exactly. have poking of the eyes, all again the Looney Tunes-esque sound effects. I mean, even with the medieval setup, it's kind of reminiscent of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
00:08:33
Speaker
Oh, definitely.
00:08:36
Speaker
This one, I think it's lumped into horror because it's part of the trilogy. And now again, the films, the the newer films are are leading much harder. or is There is the undead and there's possessions and stuff like that. There is certain iconography in it that can lend itself to be, horror but it's horror light for sure. It's extremely light. Yep.
00:08:54
Speaker
i I dig the choice. I dig the choice probably more than the movie itself, but it's still super fun to watch. It's like, yeah it's incredible that it is exists, honestly. it's such a It's such a bizarre left turn.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's being into like doubling down on things that worked in Evil Dead 2. Like, this is just like Bruce Campbell front and center, like so much of the movie. Again, like we talked about second film with Bruce Campbell, our favorite part of one of our highlights was him wrestling with his hand.
00:09:21
Speaker
but There's 30 plus minutes of the film that's just Bruce Campbell either by himself or fighting another Bruce Campbell, right? um Wait, let me do the synopsis real fast for just yes just for the sake of ah consistency here.
Production Challenges of Army of Darkness
00:09:35
Speaker
When Ash Williams is accidentally transported to 1300 AD, he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead in order to return home. um Did you watch it in one sitting and was it in the dark and did you let your kids watch?
00:09:52
Speaker
I did not let my kids watch. I mean, it's it's not appropriate for a five-year-old, even if she's almost six. um And I did not watch it in one sitting. So this is a movie, and for our listeners, the good news here, it is free and available on YouTube. yes So this is a very accessible movie now. um And Travis, did you like Army of Darkness 1992 slash Yeah, I really like it. i think with you, i think Evil Dead 2 just stands far and above above the first film and this film for me. um Then parsing out whether i liked it more than the first film or not, it's tough because that's two opposite sides of the spectrum of ah a comedy, truly ah a full comedy versus a horror movie. um But it's, I mean, it's extremely entertaining.
00:10:39
Speaker
Again, in a slapstick way, turn your turn your brain off. I think we mentioned last week, you know, Raimi is making movies, not necessarily for deep themes or to say something about the world, but instead just to entertain. And again, this movie, it's really all it's doing here, right? So it's, you know, it's very fun for the purpose it's trying to serve. It did what it set out to do.
00:11:03
Speaker
Yeah, and also it's also he's fulfilling ah a lifelong dream. I mean, he had wanted to make a medieval movie for a long time. Evil Dead 1 and the success thereof added to that motivation. And he's like, okay now I have the juice.
00:11:18
Speaker
I want to continue this franchise in a medieval direction. They get the big red no ah because that is too insane of a left turn to do. um But as we'll learn in production notes, he gets his chance. And it's just cool to see him...
00:11:33
Speaker
you see it in behind-the-scenes footage, but you see it even without watching any behind the behind-the-scenes featurettes or anything. You could just feel like he's a kid in a candy shop who finally has access to ah a budget than what he used to have and is just going full bore into absurdity, and into fantasy, into...
00:11:54
Speaker
uh, three stooges on the big screen, the animation here, like the claymation and stop motion. Yes, it's a joke. and And, but in the same way that Monty Python and the Holy grail is also really high production value, the joke isn't effortless. Like there's a lot that goes in to the humor and the zaniness here. um and he, he, he storyboarded everything, like every single shot he he thought about ahead of time, a little improvisation here and there, but it's a very like, honed in movie. like Everything is very pre-designed and pre-visualized and ah and I think it shows.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'd agree. i mean, there's still a lot of like we said in the first two movies a lot of really tight shots, especially on Bruce Campbell and what he's doing there. so he kind of keeps that same, you know, you have the POV of the evil entity coming right at him still to the woods. Or you or the or we follow an arrow through the air, stuff like that. ah Do you remember seeing the cover of this film in Blockbuster?
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, well, as a kid, right? It's one of all-time posters. This is rated R, i assume, right? Yeah, and and oddly enough, it almost got NC-17 again, which I'm like, how did that even get close to that? I think standards were tighter than they are today. i guess.
00:13:10
Speaker
um But because of that, you know as a kid, I'd see that. i'd be like That movie looks awesome, but there's absolutely no way I can rent that until I am an adult. Yeah, but I think the the advertising of it, it's not the movie you think it's going to be unless you have like unless you have a pretty good understanding of who Raimi is and what he's wanting to do.
00:13:33
Speaker
ah But it works, man. I love it. I'm kind of sad that that we're, you know, after this, this is the last Ash-centered Evil Dead movie, and we're about to take a big trip into a very different tone, which I'm also excited for. But I'm i'm bummed missing this because we're not going to cover Ash vs. Evil Dead, the show. but I mean, we've we've mentioned that Bruce Campbell makes these movies and losing him and losing Hunter Remy's tone. It's a, it's a yet another pivot in the franchise.
00:14:01
Speaker
um Again, I love what the new filmmakers are doing. And sometimes, as we said, last episode, it's very fun to breathe fresh life into a franchise and allow new directors to take a very independent direction. But they had such a winning formula here. Like I i would not have minded.
00:14:18
Speaker
like one more Bruce Campbell film or bring him back to just get a little more of this. Can we talk a little bit about how Ash is like, Ash is pretty much just an asshole in this movie. yeah He's it's he's in the first movie. He's kind of this this affable, lovable dork.
00:14:36
Speaker
And then in the next movie, he starts off that way and then impossibly becomes this badass who's able to overcome these monsters. And he's got the chainsaw on the arm and just great transformation into this hero.
00:14:51
Speaker
And then I feel like once he gets to this movie, he has just absolutely lost his mind. and like he just he has no sense of reality. and he's he's kind of this easily distracted buffoon.
00:15:06
Speaker
and also an ass to everybody. And that never lets up. Like he never learns from his mistakes or anything. And that's just who he is. And it's Sam Raimi, then throwing shit out on the whole movie and just beating him up.
00:15:17
Speaker
And then the movie ends. Yep. A hundred percent. i mean, there's like, you know, little over halfway through the film or as we're setting really the third act, like, yeah, He's returned with the Deconomicon and he's just like, all right, get me home. Sorry I said the words wrong. And then like seconds later, Sheila gets abducted. He's like, you guys don't want to stand and fight the deadites? Like, what are you guys doing? And it's just like, but okay, sure. that you job it is he the Is he one of the worst chosen ones that we can find in film history?
00:15:46
Speaker
um I mean, I think number one of all time is Anakin, right? You were the chosen one. Right. he His fall from grace was much further. You're right. Yeah. and that He also killed many children.
00:16:00
Speaker
ah Yeah. Yeah. took a real dark turn. At least he was murdering the townspeople. At Jedi Temple. It was at the Jedi Temple. Yeah. R.I.P. those kids. Yeah. he's He's up there with one of the worst chosen ones.
00:16:13
Speaker
You want to go into production notes you have anything? Let's go into production notes. Yeah. You get a hero's quest kind of. Yeah, sure. knowes about it He does quest a little bit. Yeah. um All right. So Ramey in 1990 following the success of evil dead to universal pictures is like, Hey, let's do a movie together. He says, okay. Okay.
00:16:34
Speaker
They do Darkman, which was his spin. Still haven't seen it I need to. I've seen parts of it, loved what I saw. and want to finish it it. saw like the first 30, 40 minutes. Really liked it um And does well. It's like his take on a Dick Tracy old 30s comic book, but it's his own original invention. $50 million dollars on a $15 million dollars budget. So Universal is like, give me more.
00:16:58
Speaker
um At the same time, the the Italian producer from Evil Dead 2 is coming out of bankruptcy, Dino De Laurentiis. And ah he's finally back on his feet. He owes a few favors to some studios, including Universal. He hooks up with Raimi again. And he's like, hey, you know that medieval movie you wanted to make?
00:17:15
Speaker
I'm your guy. Ciao, Bella. Let's go. And so he puts up some money, but he can only put up part of it because, again, he's still trying to get back on his feet. Mm-hmm. Oh, is Universal a favor? He brings the property to Universal and Universal says, hey, we'll put up half, but we're not touching the Evil Dead franchise.
00:17:34
Speaker
And they're like, what do you mean? Like, well, we we'll do a sequel, but we cannot call it Evil Dead. We can't use any footage from the old movies. And I i do see their point. I mean, it's a rights nightmare, which we've covered on the pod already. Evil Dead 1 was owned by Renaissance Pictures, which was a little LLC put together by Ramey Campbell and Robert Tapper. But then they had to divvy up the shares to a bunch of other yeah international you know studios. Then Evil Dead 2 is Dito De Laurentiis' company's rights.
00:18:02
Speaker
And so that's already dozen plus people that have to share the goods with. And so they said, OK, you can do this, but no, you can't call it medieval dead, which is a huge miss. I fucking that would have been so cool.
00:18:15
Speaker
Medieval dead. Are you kidding me? um You have to call it army or you have to call it something that's evil. That's not the title. And you also can't use any footage from the old movies. Oh, and also we need a recap so people can not feel like that to do their homework and they can watch us all again. So did they need to recap though?
00:18:33
Speaker
So I think they did because otherwise you'd be like, why is this guy in 1300 AD and why does he have a chainsaw on his hand?
Legal Battles & Rating Struggles
00:18:44
Speaker
And what are these books? You know, you need, you need something, I guess. Um, there's not too many sequels these days that start off with a recap is all I'm saying. You're right. in A few years. i think it hit them they just really wanted to make sure we understood about this cabin and a third Linda.
00:19:00
Speaker
And so, um, What's funny is actually they Ramey and Campbell took it very literally. So they're like, fuck, so it has to be completely self-contained. So initially the script was the first half of the movie was retelling of Evil Dead one and two. And only the second half was medieval stuff. And then Universal was like, OK, well, we're not that crazy. Like, just recap it like you did the other ones. They say, OK, they make the movie.
00:19:25
Speaker
They're ready to release it. ah And then we're going to release it in the summer of 92. And they did in a few places, but not a general wide release. Because, so did did you ever see Manhunter, Michael Mann's Manhunter? Yes. oh No, sorry, have not. You said Red Dragon. very familiar with it. but Dragon's the same story. Exactly. And i I've seen all the, the handle you know, the Sons the Lamb's Hannibal. Thomas Harris. dragon yeah So Dino produced, Dino De Laurentiis produced Manhunter. Mm-hmm.
00:19:54
Speaker
Amazing movie and it's horror. and If you anybody who has not seen that, I highly recommend it. It's it's the first wide released ah Thomas Harris Hannibal novel adaptation. Makes no money.
00:20:05
Speaker
Completely bombs. Dino Laurentiis is pissed. Orion Pictures says, hey, we want to do that. The next movie or the next book in that series called Science of the Lambs. And he's like, fuck it. Take it for free. He said, take it for free. He was so upset. I think he owed them a favor. He's like, whatever. And what happens?
00:20:21
Speaker
What happens to that movie? It sweeps the Academy Awards. a huge A huge hit. It sweeps the top four, man. Best actor, actress. Yeah. Actor, actress, director, ah film, and what? Adapted screenplay? Yeah. Okay.
00:20:36
Speaker
And so Dino is pissed. He's heated because the, he lets the rights go for that one movie and it does no, no other movie since then has, has gotten the the the big five. um And at the same time, universal is wanting to make a Hannibal, the, the next movie and Dino's not giving it up.
00:20:56
Speaker
So what do they do? They literally hold army of darkness hostage and, From the summer of 92 all the way to February of 93. It's a whole legal battle a Mexican standoff.
00:21:10
Speaker
They're just nobody's budging. And so it it ended up costing the movie because a lot of people say the reason it was commercially a disappointment is one of this is one of the two reasons. I'll i'll tell the other reason in a second, but they delayed it to February dump month.
00:21:25
Speaker
Really? I didn't know this. You know, this is very kind to, but ah Universal's like Wile E. Coyote movie like versus Acme where they canned it. You mean Warner Brothers? Oh, sorry. Yes, Warner Brothers, not Universal. Apologies. But where it was like...
00:21:40
Speaker
Just stuck in production. the The film had wrapped. Post-production had wrapped. It was just stuck in hell because they wanted to just take the loss. Well, I mean, they're no they're no stranger to that. I mean, Batgirl. That movie was completed, completely completed, a live action, no less, and we'll never see it. yeah Insane.
00:21:57
Speaker
So finally, they they figure it out, and Dino begrudgingly gives them the rights to make Hannibal. um Spoiler alert, did not win Best Picture. Mm-hmm.
00:22:10
Speaker
And then another issue comes up where um they want Rami to change the ending. So Trav, did were you able to see the original director's cut ending? No, I have not. I've only seen the theatrical ending.
00:22:22
Speaker
So basically the wizard says, hey, take these drops. ah You know, and in the in the the movie that everybody sees theatrically, he says, take these drops, you'll wake up in your right time. In the director's cut, he he gets a bit more specific. He's like, take these drops.
00:22:38
Speaker
Every drop is a century. So take six to get from 1390 1990 or whatever. And of course, Ash is like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever old man. He goes to his cave. He rolls a bunch of boulders around him. So he's all protected and hidden. and He takes five drops and he hears something and one of the boulders fell. He's like, huh?
00:22:58
Speaker
Because he was going one, two, three, four, five. And he hears something, looks away. it goes, all right, five, six. He counted five twice. Yes, he takes the extra drop. The extra drop. um So he sleeps an extra hundred years. and He wakes up to like a dystopian nightmare um in the future.
00:23:17
Speaker
all the buildings are dilapidated and there's mangled metal everywhere. and it's kind of like akin to the old planet of the apes ending. We're like, no, damn you dirty apes. Instead he screams, no, I slept too long. man. So,
00:23:33
Speaker
It's not bad. i I think the one we saw, the one that everybody most people have seen is better executed. Yeah, it's great. It's like better executed, more fun choreography. But I like the idea of this one. You can do fun some fun fun things with it. Anyways, they're like, that's too bleak for a funny movie. You need to change it. And they again held hostage. This time it was the extra $3 million they needed to finish the film in post. And then a third issue went, which is...
00:23:59
Speaker
it It was like either too hard of an R or it was NC-17 or something like that. And so they told
Rights Issues in the Evil Dead Franchise
00:24:05
Speaker
him to cut it down. They almost wanted a PG-13. They couldn't get it there. So all three of those things merited into what we now know is, you know, we'll get into box office later, but disappointing. $11 million budget to NMA-21. But... VHS?
00:24:18
Speaker
but yeah yeahhs VHS baby got his money back that way. That's the key this franchise. Yeah, cult following. That's why it is dubbed that.
00:24:29
Speaker
um but Because a Universal was involved in Army of the Dead, sorry, Army of Darkness, the show Ash vs. Evil Dead cannot reference this movie.
00:24:42
Speaker
because then they'd have to share the pie and get and have Universal go through all this creative um approvals. It'd just be more of a drawn-out process. It's just wild.
00:24:55
Speaker
it It makes me think of, you know, Sony owning some of the Marvel properties, specifically like Spider-Man and how Disney's actually done a great job being like, yes, sure, you own Spider-Man, but we want him in our Avengers movies. We want him in certain films. And, you know, it it shows you can with great strategy and negotiation. Great responsibility. Between studios. Exactly. Great power comes i take responsibility to share characters. I think the most whole studios. the most hilarious thing about that arrangement is that Sony is like, well, we want to be able to make our own Spider-Man adjacent movies without you.
00:25:31
Speaker
And they're like, okay, but he can't have Spider-Man in it. And it's like, yeah, well, so we'll use his villains. that they're Like making Craven, the Hunter and Venom well the venom movies are these ven movies are good. I'm not going to lie. They're okay. They're,
00:25:45
Speaker
I think they're fantastically fun. But Madam Web. Yes. Things get are getting bizarre. But they also did it across the Spider-Verse and in those films, which are absolutely phenomenal. So they finally found something, some some flavor Spider-Man. where they're like A non-MCU Spider-Man. Right. So I guess it's not that they can't use Spider-Man. They just can't have a competing live action Spider-Man. I don't know. He's allowed to be black, I guess. Miles Morales. Yeah. Black and Hispanic. Yeah. i think maybe No white Spider-Man's allowed at Sony. Yeah. um
00:26:20
Speaker
ah So can you want to tell us about casting? Yeah. I mean, again Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell. Just carrying the film. um Mbeth, David. These are some 90 stars. again Bigger budget.
00:26:36
Speaker
They do have more of a filmography in the past few films. and like We see with Raimi a lot. like This is someone he brings back in like his Spider-Man movies. Mbeth, who plays Ash's love interest, Sheila, in this film. Wait, she's in the Spider-Man? Yeah, Mary Parker. She's his aunt. Damn.
00:26:52
Speaker
damn Wait, really? Right, or is it Aunt May? oh man, this is, I'm gonna, our Marvel fans are gonna be such a- Dude, lady's hot. I don't think this is the aunt.
00:27:05
Speaker
And Beth Davids, Dude, she's not even in Raimi's Spider-Man movies, though. She's the one in The Amazing Spider-Man with with Andrew Garfield. She's the mom who gets killed. Oh, I just saw Spider-Man. I figured Raimi brings back his cast so often. wow what a coincidence. Yeah, you're 100% right. Yeah, that's strange.
00:27:27
Speaker
She was in Mark Webb's Spider-Man movies. Okay. Interesting. Sure. That's why I don't remember her. I don't really remember the the Amazing Spider-Man films as well. roseber hair The great Rosemary Harris and and in Raimi's Spider-Man. And then you know you have Marcus Gilbert kind of antagonistically playing Arthur here the night. um I did want to bring up Ian Abercrombie as the wise man for, i don't know if you're a big Seinfeld fan, Rick, but this is Mr. Pitt, Elaine's boss from Seinfeld. It's great to see him in something else because this is the only other movie I recognize him from other than, I guess he was in The Lost World in Jurassic Park.
00:28:06
Speaker
He seemed like he was in a different movie. Yeah. yeah Kind of like, what the fuck is happening here? What is what are all these people doing and what are we making?
00:28:16
Speaker
um You know, Richard Grove plays Duke Henry. He's he's been in, again, the 90s star. but and You are not one of my vassals. Yes. And then you said Bridget Fonda plays Linda.
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah. So there's some names... Trapped in time, right? In the 90s era films. Well, there are a lot of these people are Brits, used to doing like Shakespeare and these quiet dramas. And then here they are with skeletons popping out of the ground. And i don't know, it it makes it a bit more believable in the the world, at least. I want to call out Timothy Patrick Quill, who played the blacksmith, the big strong guy with the mustache. That was actually one of Sam and Bruce's friends from their neighborhood Super 8 Days. And ah he had been begging Sam to get him in a movie. And he's like, I'll shave my whole body. I'll get really ripped. And he did both of those things. And Sam was like, wow, this guy is really committed, buddy. Let's go. let get him in the movie. That's amazing.
00:29:10
Speaker
And so he got a sad card because of this. And then, of course, Ted Raimi's playing a few small roles here in this film as well. He plays the coward. He he plays the S-Smart guy who's listening to his story at the end.
00:29:23
Speaker
ah Yeah, four different roles. um Speaking of Ramey's Ivan Ramey, the doctor brother whose whose primary trade is as a medical doctor co-wrote the script.
00:29:33
Speaker
ah So a collaboration between those two. And then we got to give a shout out to Tony Gardner and his company, Alterion Inc. They were responsible for the makeup effects. Well, they yeah, they did. They did Ash and Sheila.
00:29:45
Speaker
But it was Kurtzman, Nicotero and Berger EFX group who did all of the undead, the deadites, the skeletons, all that, um who owe a great debt to ah Ray Harryhausen, who he's kind of known as the only special effects, like visual effects auteur. He didn't, he never directed anything. He never written, wrote anything, but he pioneered the art form of, of stop motion with old fifties movies like voyage of Sinbad.
Special Effects & Bruce Campbell's Performance
00:30:18
Speaker
Um, the one referenced most often is Jason and the Argonauts from 1963. That's the one with the skeleton army. And then he did the original clash of the Titans in 1981.
00:30:29
Speaker
But they leaned heavily on his style, and I think it works incredibly. i mean, it's so I would prefer this over CGI any day of the week. I know we say that. We're like old hat saying that. But just another example that you can make something like this and allow people to suspend disbelief for a little bit. And it's not going to look as smooth, but looks like when tactile. ah Ash gets sucked into the first Necronomicon book, the wrong book, and his jawline is just completely messed up. And that's a lot more fun with like practical effects than and CGI there. um Bill Pope, DPs.
00:31:01
Speaker
What a resume this guy has. And one of those like working man DPs where he doesn't... It's not like he has a specific style. He just adapts to whatever the director wants. Because listen to all these movies. Darkman, The Matrix, Clueless, Blank Check, Bound, Spider-Man 2, Scott Pilgrim, Send Help.
00:31:20
Speaker
A lot of it's dynamic and colorful. That's the really the only connections I can put together. with He also did Baby Driver, which is that as well. done Yeah. control full Yep. Def.
00:31:31
Speaker
Right before box office, though, we have to, I want to reiterate, what a feat Bruce Campbell's performance is in this because yeah do you know how many days he's having to perform against himself, ah put on hours of makeup to be evil Ash, have to work on a soundstage to be the little Ashes,
00:31:53
Speaker
and then is doing sword play, horse play, and his own stunts. It's like... Yeah. And they shot for 22 days straight before they took their first break and eventually did an 103-day production.
00:32:06
Speaker
It's insane the levels that this guy went to just to make people laugh. And I just... Watching him do all this and then learning more about behind the scenes of what he went through. And he just like reeks charisma, like in everything he does.
00:32:21
Speaker
Like he's so damn likable. He's so damn likable. He's likable even when he's not, you know he yeah he's playing an asshole, but I'm still like, I'm rooting for this guy. Yeah, 100%.
00:32:32
Speaker
um Yeah, let's do box office. Disappointing $21 million on an $11 million dollars budget. Again, I think only Universal has itself to blame. is Three mistakes.
00:32:42
Speaker
the The hostage holding of the release because of the Hannibal thing. The hostage holding of the ending changing. And then the R rating
Cult Status & Filming Challenges
00:32:51
Speaker
weird marketing. i I think this movie makes $30, maybe $40 million if they release it when it was supposed to.
00:32:59
Speaker
let Sam do his own ending and just market the movie as it should. So, but like you said, it makes its money back eventually with VHS and the video stores and stuff. Yeah.
00:33:10
Speaker
Well, um I think that covers most of our production for this one. um Anything else before we get into awards? i Sorry, I know i'll I'll regret not saying this, um but they they filmed in Acton, California.
00:33:26
Speaker
um Sam had wanted to film in England and get some lush marshes to have that Monty Python look of the Scottish Highlands and stuff. The budget just would not allow for it.
00:33:38
Speaker
So they basically just built a huge fucking half of a castle in inland Southern California. That's why it looks like a desert It just looks like a desert. yeah It's like one tree. ah And they had to build everything else. And so it does it does lend a weird look to this movie.
00:33:55
Speaker
But it stands out as its own, don't know, other reality, I guess. But it's definitely not England. It's like yes maybe Spain. That's what you notice, like especially like the early shots right at the start of the film when he's in the thirteen hundreds is like...
00:34:10
Speaker
where Where is this like he's is he on Tatooine or? like That's the thing is like they they they kind of dug their own grave by having to put by putting that part at the end of Evil Dead 2, which we have to say they completely retcon.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yeah, that here again. Yeah. Do you want to explain that real fast? Yeah, I mean, Evil Dead 2, I think we mentioned with the ending, they see him as a hero right away. He takes down a deadite and he earns their respect right when he's arrived. And clearly that's been undone because the start of this film, when you see him in the 1300s, he is chained and a prisoner being brought in.
00:34:49
Speaker
And so, you know, it's funny because it's par for the course with the franchise up to this point of just like, yeah, we're going to kind of rely on what you learned in the last few films, but we're also going to kind of start from a different direction.
00:35:04
Speaker
They don't care for continuity. It's funny, he does get back to that deity status within like 20 minutes. I think they just needed him start at the bottom from a narrative perspective for newcomers of the franchise. because it's weird if we just start with everybody loving him. He's got to work his way out. He's got to go to the pit. you know yeah He's got to get his ass handed to him a little bit. Fight a Kung Fu zombie.
00:35:26
Speaker
Kung Fu deadite. Sorry, they're not zombies. the The pit bitch. we We see the deadites like really getting a lot more variety in these later movies too. Like we went from kind of a vanilla, okay, this is undead to some complete amalgamations like, you know, Cronenberg-esque to just normal looking people with maybe a little bit of makeup where I'm like, I
Undead Armies & Scream King Debate
00:35:48
Speaker
guess they're dead. Or to complete skeletons. Yeah, or or just complete skeletons, 100%.
00:35:53
Speaker
um see I like it. I have a i like the the DEI initiatives here ah for the deadites. There's some gargoyles, right? Some of them fly. look Diversity helps expand our our horizons and our perspective on things. And I think we should extend that to the dead.
00:36:08
Speaker
It's a big tent. And there's room at the table, Travis. We're not taking away away chairs. We're adding them. Do you know those gargoyles were actually played by real gargoyles? They wouldn't cast it with regular people filling those rules. Yeah. No, because the gargoyle union would not have that. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. um Let's move to awards, starting with our scurometer. Yeah.
00:36:30
Speaker
yeah yeah Okay. Three, two, one. Two. wow Your first one. My first one. i usually try not to be an extremist here, but like you didn't think If you're scared by this movie. There was a few possessed women in this movie that i was it freaked me out a little bit.
00:36:50
Speaker
little bit. Like, I swallow your soul. You will die. i wasn't getting there. I wasn't getting there. but i want each show You're not going to show your kids a level one?
00:37:03
Speaker
There must be a level two if you can't show your kids. I mean, there's like fountains of blood that spray up from the pit and stuff like that still and death and sex where I don't necessarily – Where's the sex? don't remember sex. I missed it if there was sex. There's whole scene of him bedding Sheila. I mean, it's like old school 90s sex where you see like their silhouettes like making love. Yeah.
00:37:26
Speaker
um Well, you'll be happy. some sugar baby Give me some sugar, baby. You'll be happy. we now have our newest. Your final destination. Bloodlines is no longer the lowest. ah Yeah.
00:37:38
Speaker
Scorometer movie. We have army of darkness at a 1.5. Yeah. Followed by final destination, which I gave a one. You gave a three. Still don't understand that. And Joe gave a two. So that sits at a even two. That feels right.
00:37:53
Speaker
That feels right. I'm sure it does. All right. um Highlights. Dude, I love the pit scene so much. Oh, the pit scene. Okay. I love the pit scene.
00:38:03
Speaker
I love that somebody says, somebody says to him when they're like having this public debate and what to do with them. And somebody says to the pits with him.
00:38:15
Speaker
no no medieval movie should exist without some peasant saying that. ah But before that, well, I guess I can't talk about this until we get to cannon fodder. A cannon fodder-esque thing happens before he goes into the pit himself. Oh, yeah. The first guy who gets tossed into the pit. that I mean, but we could just say it. That's my cannon fodder as well. That's very clear. You got to show the consequences of the pit, and some dude just gets yeeted down there. Credited as Henry's man, played by Michael Kenney, and inexplicably he gets thrown in there and a geyser of blood.
00:38:48
Speaker
ah Just a yeah complete geyser. And it's... ah A little bit of a dull knife, right? Because it happens almost immediately. then when Bruce Campbell gets down there, you're like, what is going to be this monstrosity? And it's it's really just a dead eye who knows Kung Fu. it's like, how did that much blood get created from the last guy's death? Like, it's still an unanswered question here. I think she might have hit an artery.
00:39:11
Speaker
yeah It's like a 20-foot drop, so that was truly like an old faithful level geyser to spray up that high into the air from the first guy dying. Bruce Campbell's ah wife was the costume designer on Army of Darkness. Oh, really? They had met on the previous movie, but ah she had said that scene freaked her out, not because it was scary, but because Sam put it in last minute, and all the peasants and townspeople and knights around that geyser only had singles, meaning they only had one copy of what the thing they were wearing because she needed them to keep wearing it because of the budget and because she wanted them to keep their stains. yeah And so she's like, please, God, don't get that red dye all over them. If you watch it, the wind picks it up and it splashes everywhere where there's not people. So she got pretty lucky, but the geyser she was freaking out about. Yeah, that was those X-Book cannon fodder.
00:40:09
Speaker
um Okay, my highlight, I'd say it's like the 20 minutes of Ash's quest when he arrives at the silo. Or the windmill. He breaks the mirror, the tiny ashes that he has to fight. um Introduction to evil Ash. You you just get 20 minutes of Bruce Campbell just doing It's the evil hand 11.
00:40:29
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it works. It works for me again. And so it's, um you know, all the dialogue, all the acting, all the stunts, very magical.
00:40:40
Speaker
Love the nod to a Gulliver Travels with all the little people strapping down. um that Dude, that eyeball on his shoulder is Yeah, that's disturbing.
00:40:52
Speaker
I mean, that's probably up there for, you know, no, we're we're just skipping around, but that has to be up there for my cantaloupe award for cringiest parts. um I got something else for that, but I can see that as a a nominee for sure. Well, let's let's first talk about... i mean Were there jump scares? Maybe we go right into it. and Wait, i have I have one more highlight, that which I can't mention anywhere else. oh yeah that's The skeletons getting chopped up by the death mobile that he makes. He makes like a Mad Max version of his that's right of his ah the classic Oldsmobile that Sam Raimi uses everywhere.
00:41:23
Speaker
ah I just thought was awesome. brought a modern day technology, a little bit like steampunk vibes, but a lot of that back to the thirteen hundreds He's lucky he didn't like completely disrupt you know timelines there by introducing all that. a pro a Prometheus of sorts, bringing bringing fire to the people.
00:41:40
Speaker
um Yeah, I was really struggled with the Ben Gardner Jump Scare Award here. um Yeah. I have one. It's not great, but I have one. I have nothing. I was okay just saying, hey, we don't have one here, but if you have one, feel free to...
00:41:55
Speaker
At one point, they're in one of the quarters in the castle. And all of a sudden, again, this again we're stepping everywhere. But like there's a dull knife here. All of a sudden, this old lady like spills stew. yes For some reason. And then she goes, you shall die. You shall die. And she floats. And then she faints. And you know she's going to wake up. Yeah. You know it.
00:42:17
Speaker
Arthur's reaching for her. And the shot's from like right in front of her face. her eyes open. Ash is like, it's trick. Get an axe. Yeah. And then she wakes up and she's like, man and that got me a little bit, but i I didn't jump, but I went in my mind. I went, oof.
00:42:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I went, oof. Oh, there. I think that's probably her our best qualifier, but again, not too scary of a film. um Okay. You said you had a different cantaloupe award where mine was probably the eyeball opening up on his shoulder.
00:42:45
Speaker
I had the ah part where the fuse for the flame arrows, he waited to the last second to have them fire, and I was very concerned that it was going to explode in the soldier's hands. that was I was a little tense. My butthole was clenched.
00:43:01
Speaker
Who's the ah giant's defensive lineman who... Oh, JPP, John Pierre Paul? Yeah, who had the firework blow up in his hands, yeah. Yeah.
00:43:13
Speaker
Probably one of Adam Schefter's grossest moments of his career where he literally revealed someone's medical images because he illegally got them from the hospital and just shared them.
00:43:25
Speaker
Just what a fucking tool bag. Anytime I have a firework in my hand, I do think of that image. And it's, it kind of looks like so a deadite's hand with a bunch of like yeah red mush around it. That's where get a good practical effect.
00:43:38
Speaker
Commit to the bit. ah Deep cuts. Klaatu Barata Niktu the phrase he must say, Ash must say to get get the book without raising the army of the dead. He says it wrong. Army of the dead comes. Do you know what freight what movie that is from?
00:44:03
Speaker
Evil Dead 1 and 2? Is that the phrase that recited? It's a new phrase. Okay, a new phrase. New phrase for the franchise, old phrase for movies, because it was from The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951. The lead the lead alien protagonist, and his name's Klaatu, tells the his co-star, if you ever are in trouble, just say Klaatu Barata Niktu.
00:44:24
Speaker
Never learn what it means, but that's there. um Some more deep cuts. His Delta 88, 1973 Oldsmobile, is back. um I noticed a Fangoria magazine in his trunk and looked into it later of why it was sitting there. And that was his little nod.
00:44:41
Speaker
to the long- running for public ah long-running horror publication because they were one of the few early adopters of Evil Dead 1 and featured it in their magazine. Really? And he was like, oh, that's awesome. Let me give you guys a shout-out.
00:44:58
Speaker
Bill Moseley, who played Chop Top in Texas Chants Massacre 2, is who plays the Deadite Captain. He's the second-in-command to Evil Ash. Okay. Okay. ah again, similar to Bridget Fonda and similar to the to Timothy Patrick Quill, just called up and said, hey...
00:45:17
Speaker
I'm a horror fan. I was movie i was chopped top in Texas Chainsaw 2. Can I be in this? And he said, here you go. um And the last thing I have is it's dedicated to Irvin Shapiro, who we talked about in the last pod. the ah the old The old wise man who helped him with international distribution and changed the name to Evil Dead and really helped some young kids out of Michigan get on their feet. And he had passed before this movie was released and they dedicated to him.
00:45:42
Speaker
That's good. That's a good deep cut. Um, where are we? Shyamalan twist? Yeah. No cannon fodder. Can't. Well, we said our cannon fodder.
00:45:55
Speaker
Oh, but we haven't said best death. We have not. I it's, I think it's between two. It's either the pit, which, or sorry, the pit bitch getting dismembered or it's evil ash exploding.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah, I might even a very minor character. i do like the pit bitch getting dismembered because when he gets his chain, whenever Ash can use his chainsaw in these films is always like, I think some of the more exciting parts, especially when lot cooler to kill someone with a chainsaw than than with a shotgun or by other means.
00:46:26
Speaker
Especially when he supermans his stub into it midair. Yes, man. That's when he's in the pit. I mean, that's a good reason why the the pit is one of your highlights because when the wise man tosses the chainsaw down to him and he just yeah jumps up and somehow gets a stub directly into it.
00:46:44
Speaker
Awesome. Weird. I did think it's weird, though, that shortly after this, he gets the little metal gauntlet and we don't see the chainsaw. I mean, he has the chainsaw with him. It's dangling around, but it's no longer on his stuff. I think it's a I think it's a good choice still because it's kind of unpractical to like get through life with a chainsaw in your hand.
00:47:01
Speaker
Yeah, but a chainsaw hand is pretty damn cool. I could have used a little more of it in this movie. I think would liked it more if there was a little more chainsaw related kills. I wish he wish it was a bit more like he could just swap it out when he needs it. Yeah. Like if he needs some alone time in the woods, you know, put on the metal gauntlet. That's probably better for your member. But then when he's about to kill a pit bitch, then put on the chainsaw hand.
00:47:26
Speaker
I was thinking you're talking about like if he's taking a dump in the woods and needs to wipe. I was like, yeah, it would be very impractical to chains hand. No, was talking about like masturbation. Okay, yes. it Well, yes, I get that now. That's why I was explaining my confusion. But it would very tough for for both instances. You'd want to make sure the gauntlet isn't too cold because then you're just starting back to square one.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he he does have another hand. He does have another hand. Yeah, but we don' and he he he looks like a righty to me.
00:47:58
Speaker
Oh, okay. Shyamalan twist. No huge twist here. I have when goes back to saying we can bring in Henry the Red to help us defend the castle.
00:48:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah. We're undermanned. We're going to go get our guy. Yeah. We must be friends to have a common enemy. Mine was that Arthur was good. like he i Arthur, it seems like he's going to be this asshole or like mean to Sheila, but he's just kind of protective of his kingdom and you know is is is ah suspicious about this new weird guy without a hand. Seems like a good guy, honestly.
00:48:36
Speaker
so that twist Honestly, that is a bit of a twist. I've been ah predisposed from too many movie tropes where you're like, watch out for that guy. He's going to turn on him eventually. But no, the yeah just a little judgmental from the get-go, but ah overall a good guy. played Played very well by Marcus Gilbert.
00:48:51
Speaker
um ah Okay, don't go in their word. Mine is that after all the bumbling idiocy that Ash gets himself into, that the wise man slash wizard still believes he's the chosen one.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like, I don't know how you still think that when you see this guy, he, what the things he says, Yoshi, bitch, let's go. Get the fuck out of my face.
00:49:20
Speaker
Like just, yeah. I just thought, you know, if you're that wizard, maybe just handle this on your own or or ah or have Ash take a back seat and you kind of lead and let him pitch hit when you need.
00:49:33
Speaker
but Yeah, that's pretty good. Mine is with the three Necronomicon's. He chooses the first book incorrectly. and um Well, he does get sucked into a portal that he's able to like pull himself back out of and his jaw is completely messed up.
00:49:47
Speaker
So he realizes, okay, if you pick the wrong book, there's going to be consequences. And then immediately goes to the second one with a clear mouth on the cover and just puts his fingers right in there. where I'm like, all right, come on, man.
00:49:59
Speaker
Like, what are you thinking here? What's what's the word again for ah not phallic, but... Yannick. It was a bit Yannick on the cover. You see that and I would just have a moment's hesitation after, is especially after what just happened and I put my finger in there.
00:50:14
Speaker
Is this an anti-woman sentiment, Travis? I mean, talking about anti-woman, I know we were saying like Big Tent, he lets deadites have a lot of diversity. A lot of the female deadites played by men. We saw that in the last movie too.
00:50:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah get f gi get real women to play these people. it gets Exactly. we need some real real hideous looking women serve those roles. Wait, sorry. What's the...
00:50:39
Speaker
Are you saying plural women are you saying singular woman? i can't. There's delay or something. Is this throwback hour here? can't really understand. don't about this again. understand. It reminds me of a Home Alone where Butch's girlfriend, they didn't want to insult anyone by getting a woman. Oh, really? Like Butch's girlfriend. So it was, um who was it? was ah It was like one of the writers of someone's ah sons. They just put a wig on them.
00:51:05
Speaker
I never knew that. Oh, you didn't know that? Yeah, that's one of my favorite things with the Home Alone is they're just like, you know, it'd be insulting all to cast a woman who's that ugly. he say whoops? They just got a point, but yes, that's exactly what Macaulay Culkin says.
00:51:20
Speaker
All right. There's a lot of good lines, dude. I don't know how narrate them. I mean, we've been uttering a lot of them throughout the pod, and so I don't think we need to reiterate those. Yeah, true. I do like when she look in front him when he's like, i need to get out of here. And she's like, I thought you and me had something together. And it's just like, well, that's just what we call pillow tough, baby. It's so good.
00:51:42
Speaker
um Hey, I really like, I was waiting. Maybe I could have brought this up with deep cuts. I don't know the right place to put it, but um when he does kind of rally the remaining citizens to defend the city from the deadites,
00:51:56
Speaker
um Again, your guy, Timothy Patrick Quill, who apparently was Sam Raimi's childhood friend, playing the blacksmith with the mustache, has a straight out of like, I don't know if like Fellowship of the Ring saw this line on their theirre own meeting together, but he just raises his sword and he goes like... You can count on my steel.
00:52:16
Speaker
it's just like, and my axe. Yes. I have things to say about this in Winners and Masters. Yeah. So I was like, hey, that's, you know, it's only a memorable line because that that very famous scene from a Fellowship of the Ring.
00:52:31
Speaker
And my axe. Yes. um My favorite line in the movie, though, is this. Well, hello, Mr. Fancy Pants. I got news for you, pal. You ain't leading anything but Jack and shit, and Jack left town.
00:52:48
Speaker
so great. um Were there any good lines uttered by anyone other than Bruce Campbell? I mean, and my axe. Oh, that's right. Okay. Okay. And I did have one from Sheila. when she's like She's very mad at him in the beginning and she's sending him insults and she goes, a pox on you, brute.
00:53:07
Speaker
And I don't even know what that means, like to put a pox I've never heard like a pox on you and your family. I feel like that's like old 1300s. I'm not a – That's like your mom, ah but just for the type of rebuke. Yeah. um One more is, ah he says it twice in the movie, but maybe I didn't say every tiny syllable, but basically. And I thought of you during this, Travis. I thought of the times that you've said Philippou instead Philippou. When you said Dacosta instead Dacosta. Nietzsche instead Nietzsche.
00:53:45
Speaker
Well, that one that one that one flies. yeah And then are ah obviously the the women woman thing is classic. We've had people on Spotify comment about this one. yeah So you don't you don't you don't say every tiny syllable, but you basically we basically get it.
00:53:58
Speaker
We basically get it. I love that like after he coughs out the last word too. He's like you know yeah talking to Noah and he's like, I said the words. I clearly said it.
00:54:13
Speaker
um Yes. Okay. A lot of great lines. um Some knives that are dull. Yeah.
00:54:23
Speaker
Why was the old woman, why did she pour stew on the ground? Was that like the equivalent of dead- I don't know where she came from, why she trips. Was she like clinking a glass to get people's attention or something? Yeah.
00:54:35
Speaker
It also kind calls into question again, like was she a deadite from the get-go or is it because she tripped and fell with the stew that suddenly that was the opportunity for like the dead to possess her? But it's not even like, you know, the office when Kevin spills his chili, you can clearly see what happens. There's chili everywhere.
00:54:53
Speaker
You only see the stew for like a hot second. You can't really see what it is. Like, is it chicken noodle soup? Is it cream of broccoli? I don't know. Wait, so is that your dull knife that you don't know what type of soup it is?
00:55:05
Speaker
I kind of wanted to know. like it It looked like I had some carrots. I thought it was just kind of like interjecting a character in a scene all of a sudden for like, okay, I guess that's what she's doing. Yeah, just hungry.
00:55:18
Speaker
ah um I have... um yeah Okay, so the my only issue with the pit scene... is it's a pretty deep pit you get the feeling for. I'd say at least 15 to 20 feet deep.
00:55:31
Speaker
And he gets shoved in there and he falls pretty hard into like, what, one foot of water, if even? Yeah. And, you know, diving into water from that high, you'd be seriously injured. And he kind just bounces off. Well, Trav, as somebody who's recently been frequenting the pool during Colorado's statewide drought, i I'd assume you know. Can they reuse the water? Yeah.
00:55:54
Speaker
i say I would never. Okay. So they have, you know, typical depth, I think for a diving board is at least 10 to 12 feet in a pool. And that's jumping from what you're at most are going to get like five feet in the air. Yeah, but haven't you seen those professional like shallow divers who will jump off 100 feet into a kid's pool kidie pool? Maybe Bruce was just a carny in that way. Okay, okay, yeah.
00:56:17
Speaker
but yeah It's all about like your surface area and how you enter the water. You got a belly flop or something. if you get a belly flop, or the impact's really going to hurt you. So you have to still come in with a dive, break the surface at a single point. Oh, and then you just slide Quickly flatten out, yeah. You're sliding.
00:56:33
Speaker
um Other dull knives? I mean, you know, it's it's a comedy. slaps the... Yeah, kind of have to let it... So I think we give this one a lot more grace than movies that take themselves more self-seriously.
00:56:46
Speaker
What happens to all the other mini-ashes after one dives into his mouth? We never really see any of the other mini-wings. Yeah, well, he kills one them with a fork. Yeah, spears them. But...
00:56:58
Speaker
Doesn't he step on the other ones? Does he like fall on them or something? Did he? was i thought Well, no, because they jumped into his mouth, I thought, when they had him tied down. And it had to take more than just that. Just one Only one jumps in his mouth. I know, but my point is they had to get him down and restrained. And I'm assuming it took more than one mini-ash to do that.
00:57:15
Speaker
And we don't see the other ones after that. All right, so we lost we lost track of the mini-ashes. That's what's good with the old knife. All right, winners and losers. So one winner I had...
00:57:29
Speaker
bread.
00:57:32
Speaker
Yeah, elaborate. There's a scene where an old hag is chewing on a puffy loaf and she calls him a son of a whore. And I just feel like any movie with dirty peasants, part of a medieval town should just have a loaf on them.
00:57:49
Speaker
That just looks great. She's just taking chomps out of it and angry and but it still looks kind of good. Maybe she dipped it into that stew.
00:58:00
Speaker
Look at, this is the sacrifice I make, Travis. I'm not eating on the pot anymore, so I got to talk about food. You got to talk about food. Okay. Okay. But isn't that better than me chewing? Yeah. um I don't have that too many. But Travis, I'm doing this for you I have a lot of losers.
00:58:16
Speaker
yeah What, you want me to commend you for not eating tonight? is that you're for? You're begging for compliment? Thank you, Rick, for not chewing food while you're talking. or crinker It's really, chewing's one thing, but you always have the crinkliest packaging.
00:58:29
Speaker
That you're just like... I don't think you realize just how it picks up on a mic. Do you remember when Sun Chips tried to be a bit more environmentally friendly and they used the loudest, crinkly packaging in the world?
00:58:40
Speaker
Do you remember that? I do like Sun Chips, but i don't remember them changing their packaging. It was... I forget. I don't know if like Twitter was up and going at this point because it, if it was, it didn't go as viral as it should. But I remember there being kind of a moment where everyone's like, does anyone notice how these fucking bags are the loudest thing in the world? And SunChips got a little embarrassed. They're like, well, I guess the environment can suffer so people can eat these in silence. I think that's happened a lot. time You know, like paper straws were like,
00:59:08
Speaker
Kind of a flash in the pan. It was like, we're saving the turtles. Yeah. and was i yeah but you know, come on, let's go back to plastic here. What are we doing? When's the last time you saw sun ships displayed anywhere?
00:59:20
Speaker
That's what I was just thinking. And you know what's so funny? So I was golfing earlier today and we met a very nice guy. He's actually competing in the Colorado Open tomorrow at a City Park golf course.
00:59:31
Speaker
um We had a threesome, so he joined us as our fourth because of the pace of play was just a nightmare. And so he played with us. Michael was his name. Afterwards, we invited him to get a beer with us at the clubhouse.
00:59:42
Speaker
And he busted out a pack of Sun Chips. And i was like, I haven't seen Sun Chips in years. So it's so weird that you bring that up because it had you asked me yesterday. It would have a very long time until I saw someone eating Sun Chips a few hours ago.
00:59:56
Speaker
do you remember what flavor it was? Was it garden salsa? Because that was always my favorite. I think so. Right. The red, yellow one. yeah So good. Packaging. Yeah. reny side and get good Talk about service area. Really good service area. Oh, no. The Sun Chips. All right. I got a little more research. It was 2010. So right after like three years after smartphone, I think Twitter was a year late early. So it was a hundred percent compostable plant, a plant-based bag and it crinkled up to 95 decibels.
01:00:26
Speaker
That's as loud. That is as loud as a New York subway train, as a power mower or a passing motorcycle. which prompted massive consumer backlash and caused the company to revert to traditional packaging.
01:00:42
Speaker
But I have one more thing to we say about Sunships and their their marketing response after Air Force pilots even chimed in saying that the bag crinkling was louder than the cockpit of their jets. They said, yes, the bag is loud. That's what change sounds like.
01:00:59
Speaker
I love it. i love it. They should double down. i mean, come on. It could have been what they were best known for. Not pod friendly sunship bags. Break our microphones. all right. What were we even talking about? Winners. I don't know. only have losers.
01:01:15
Speaker
I've praised the film a lot. oh i got wait, let me. Okay. I have ah another winner. It's eating grapes when things are going well. You know, he's, he's basking in his greatness. Yeah. Right when he went from slave to like, he's the chosen one, you get a nice shot of him being fed grapes by beautiful woman.
01:01:32
Speaker
Sometimes when I'm doing all right in life and, and my girlfriend is, is feeling proud of me, she's, she'll say things like, I just want to feed you grapes in the sunlight. And I think that's really sweet. So shout out to Sarah for saying She hasn't done it yet though. Big talk. I've never been fed grapes by my wife.
01:01:48
Speaker
Well, maybe it's time to ask, Trav. just You can't get things you don't ask for. That's true. All right. Books that attack. We got the Harry Potter book in the in the restricted section of the library. We have this one that bites him. Do you remember the old half-live action, half-animated movie with Macaulay Culkin called The Page Master?
01:02:13
Speaker
Yes. Wow. I have not thought of that movie in over 20 years. Just like Sun Chips. Yeah. And there there are some books in there that bite back. Yeah. So I just like books that – I mean they already have a mouth pretty much when you open them.
01:02:31
Speaker
um There has to be more movies I feel like with books that – I didn't search. This is all from the noggin. So if you want to search your own noggin or the internet. I'm coming up with nothing here off the top of my mind. I just feel like books attacking you or books trying to bite you. or you know I've seen it before.
01:02:49
Speaker
Yeah. So i thought I thought that was good. ah My last winner, bone flutes and bone bagpipes. when that When the skeleton army is coming in hot, playing some nice brassy brassy shit, I really like that.
01:03:03
Speaker
they're I mean, they're like a real army, right? Again, going to the comedy aspect of it. It's not like your traditional zombie movies, right? Where it's a horde. It's like, no, no, we are well organized. We have clear leaders. They're well formed. The wind section is going well. yeah ah Yeah. Left, right, left, right. I was very impressed with the detail-oriented military. Evil Ash really whipped them into shape.
01:03:27
Speaker
Which, again, played by Bruce Campbell. That's insane. um All right. who You said is he was losers. How did he establish himself as leader so quickly of the Deadites?
01:03:39
Speaker
like He instantly goes from like not existing to like head honcho. He was like taller than most of them and looked pretty scary. but like what His resume is he kind of just lost a fight to Ash. So it's like, all right, this guy's going to be in charge now.
01:03:54
Speaker
Well, maybe maybe we didn't see him have so like a battle royale situation with other deadites, and there was kind of a a test of metal, like Mortal Kombat or something. You know what? ah yeah Talking about best lines, I did completely mess like when he is revived and he comes back to life. He goes like, what does he say? he's like, I'm alive.
01:04:21
Speaker
Again. just love like the bugnant vase. He's just like again. Again. Yeah. All right. Another loser I had was sword boy. Yeah.
01:04:36
Speaker
Sword boy. Give me my sword. Would you rather be a sword boy or a whipping boy?
01:04:45
Speaker
must What do you do as a whipping boy? Are you getting whipped? You get whipped so other people don't have to. So the royal kids can't get whipped. It's like you can. I would clearly be sword boy then.
01:04:56
Speaker
But sword boy, you can. you're You're near battle and you can get killed versus just getting whipped. I mean, you still have a little more agency. I feel like a sword boy than just the guy who has to stand in. proponent for freedom. I like that, Travis. Yeah.
01:05:11
Speaker
um I have a loser. i have a Arthur's mullet haircut. I can see why he wears the helmet a lot. Those micro bangs he's rocking is just not not a great style for him. Such a girl dad thing to say. micro bang I've never heard of micro bangs. He literally has like a half inch of bangs and then just long hair in the back.
01:05:32
Speaker
Like ah Oliver Tree, RIP. Yeah, yeah, literally. Wow, we're we're touching on a lot of ah recent deaths this episode. I promise we won't set a precedent, Travis, where we mention every single death.
01:05:44
Speaker
Lord of the Rings, I had losing to add to what you said. The reference. Yeah. So from fellowship, they take the they say the and my axe, which then again, that's not I don't believe this in the books. I've read the books. don't remember him saying and my axe. So I'm like, OK, Peter Jackson, who was a contemporary of Sam Raimi and very similar careers. 100%. Very similar careers. They both do- What's this movie? Brain Dead from the 90s? Yes, which is like Evil Dead 2. Very akin to Evil Dead 2, yeah. But then they both do game-changing trilogies in the early 2000s. Yeah. With Lord the Rings, Spider-Man. All right, so there's that.
01:06:22
Speaker
Then the battle is very similar to Helm's Deep to me. Yeah. Yeah. So much that like Peter Jackson's just ripping off Armin Darkness for everything. The Calvary like comes over the horizon to save them and they're like as the sun is rising. Yeah. Okay. Evil Ash.
01:06:39
Speaker
Does he not look like the main Yurikai? Yeah. In Lord of Rings. He does. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you're on this one thing here. If you take the Yurikai and the Predator from the Predator movies, that's him. Yeah. Then finally, from the third movie, the whole movie is about fighting an army of the dead, an army of darkness, of ghosts and skeletons. And like we have this. I'm just saying, you go across all three movies and I'm seeing it here. But in the third film, Return of the King, the ghost fight with...
01:07:11
Speaker
The good guys, right? Yes, they do. But they're still involved. Okay. That was a bit of stretch. And plus they're ghosts versus skeletons. But they're dead. They're dead.
01:07:22
Speaker
um Yeah, some flavor of undead. um i like that. i um you know Not as funny. I just don't quite care for evil Sheila. I know you were giving a shout to the makeup artist. I don't know. Don't know if I needed that.
01:07:35
Speaker
Oh, sorry. I was more so giving a shout out to um the special effects stop. Okay. But yes, but sure. We could have done more with Evil Sheila. I agree.
01:07:47
Speaker
They're going to make her look like messed up. They they should do like hamburger meat face, like you're saying, like Uruk-hai face. like they did for evil Hamburger meat face. i mean, that's kind of like what Uruk-hai has code. All right, Trav, as I said earlier, i made a grave mistake by pushing for Bruce Campbell. I'm with you, though.
01:08:06
Speaker
I think this one, think it's inevitable that we have to crown our first two-time match. Back to back. So we're not going to give Sam Raimi the scream king? think we can't. and Well, I guess it would be an evil dead fashion to just retcon our last pod and be like, previously had chosen Sam Raimi. So those who did not listen the last pod, me and Trav, and again, I'll fall on the sword here. I kind of pushed for it. I was like, the scream king should be Bruce Campbell because A, he's so charismatic.
01:08:39
Speaker
and amazing in the second movie, but B, he's kind of a stand in for this collective effort to make those movies. And then I think I was like, oh, some other time we'll get Sam Raimi. But I forgot like this is such a Bruce show here. So yes, can we make like Evil Dead and retcon? going retcon it. all well So let's do 30 second recap of the pod before Trav. Go. Okay.
01:09:03
Speaker
Previously on the Sunday Scaries. ah Travis, who should we pick as the Scream King for Evil Dead 1 and 2 of the movies that we just saw? and we We had both clearly agreed with Sam Raimi. Yes! It should be Sam Raimi! The boy from Michigan.
01:09:20
Speaker
yeah The boy who lives in Michigan. Yes. ah Yeah, I'm okay with that. yeah But yeah, it's Bruce Campbell for this film, 100%. mean... yeah What are other, like, I mean, you know, you can think like Scorsese and De Niro, but like other iconic, and they're at they're vaulted up at a whole nother level, but this is maybe one of the more undersung, I think, director actor combos that i'm just like, this works so well together. Yeah.
01:09:48
Speaker
Yeah. They, it's, they're two peas in a pod. um Who else do we have? We have christ ah we have Christopher Nolan and ah yeah ah Michael Caine. Michael Caine is a Christopher Nolan's guy. yeah Okay, okay. ah Robert Downey Jr. and the Russo Brothers.
01:10:10
Speaker
Okay. Anyways, our Scream King. Ramey and Bruce Campbell go great together. And like we clearly said last ep, Ramey was clearly our Scream King of ah Evil Dead since it was a combo episode, Evil Dead 2. And that would make Bruce Campbell a Scream King here for
Ash vs. Evil Dead & Social Media Farewell
01:10:29
Speaker
Army of Darkness. It really is. If you don't like what Bruce Campbell is bringing in the first or second film, you have no reason to watch this movie. No, just don't watch If like it, you you will love this movie. And that's that's your litmus test.
01:10:41
Speaker
I really want to watch Ash vs. Evil Dead now. I started the first episode um on Starz, which my free subscription ends like tomorrow, so I got to binge three seasons tonight, I guess.
01:10:55
Speaker
But I really liked it. It starts, the first shot is a ah bunch of zoom-in close-ups because Sam Raimi directs the first episode of him like strapping things up. You can't really tell what he's doing, but it's like he's pulling on a leather thing and things are getting tight.
01:11:10
Speaker
And you think it's going to be him like putting something onto a stump. And then it zooms out and it's him like putting the corset on because he's's he's like so fat. He's trying to... like tie something like some some like waist thing so he can put on a suit and fit into it he's in the mirror he's like ah fuck that's funny um that's it for us here quick app is it um we'll be back with evil dead 2013 next week yes i'm gonna take darker turn that is clearly don't do drugs kids yeah um we are lock your friends in sellers right you can't you can't cold turkey doesn't always work you know sometimes
01:11:54
Speaker
It's pretty drastic intervention. Yeah. So yeah. So don't do drugs, but don't stop completely. in a Like do a little bit of drugs. That's what we're saying. And on that note, please, uh, please follow us again, guys. We would love to get back into your graces. Uh,
01:12:11
Speaker
on instagram On Instagram, we are the Sunday Scaries dot pod. And we are on Spotify. We are on Apple. And as somebody asked us on Reddit if we're on Pocket Casts, and I replied, yes, we are on Pocket Casts. Didn't even know Pocket Casts was a thing. um Oh, shout out to the subreddit Evil Dead. They were very kind to our posting there of our little um groovy road to Evil Dead burn. And ah yeah, we got some nice comments. And so thank you for those who check this out.
01:12:46
Speaker
And we'll see you guys next week. We'll see you next week. Evil Dead 2013. All right. Hashtag hamburger face.
01:13:17
Speaker
Oh no, she really got just thrown off a bridge. And then those guys, the buning cord they bounced afterwards. yeah They tried to leave. Yeah, a throw and run. Did you just rip one? No, I dropped ah a drop something I was holding. Oh, that was a flapjacker, dude. It sounded like it.
01:13:32
Speaker
I promise it's not a fart. Trying to recreate it, but it's hard. That doesn't sound the same. um Yeah, that's... RIP to that woman. RIP to her, yeah.