THE EVIL DEAD

Jason’s homework is destroying my life. 

Last month, the Rio Theatre (located on Broadway and Commercial in beautiful Vancouver, BC) was playing a 4K version of The Evil Dead with a remastered soundtrack and a brand-spankin’-new score by original composer Joe LoDuca. If this wasn’t the best way to introduce my son to Sam Raimi’s classic, I don’t know what would be. 

But he came home with a ton of homework. Like four hours worth. When I was in Grade 6, we spent more time watching the commercials between “Family Ties” and “Cheers” than homework. This kid comes home with more work than some ambitious schlub trying to land the Vanderheim account for the accounting firm he’s working for. 

Cut to the metaphorical bullet hitting the metaphorical head that represents father/son bonding time.

Anyway, I got the newly released 4K version on disc. Lemons/lemonade and all that shit. The picture was beautiful, especially to a guy who has seen this thing on VHS too many times. The colors popped, the frame was spotless and the blacks were deep. Absolutely gorgeous. 

The only problem that comes with such a pristine picture is those wonderfully low-budget make-up effects show more of their low-budget nature. But… they also give the possessed victims this Tourist Trap doll look (Tourist Trap is this extremely bizarre and grungy Chain Saw Massacre meets Carrie imitation. If you know that film, you know what I’m talking about). 

Still, after so many years, that final twenty-minutes of The Evil Dead still holds up as a testament to how imaginative someone can be with a rented camera and borrowed sound package. Most Hollywood movies are cursed with the budget outweighing the talent behind it. Sam Raimi’s little $350K opus is the absolute antithesis of that. It’s no surprise most of us still — and forever will — bend our knee to him.