That image... changed my life forever. When Evil Dead 2 came out in 1987 I was just 8 years old. I had seen a few scary movies, and my loove for them had begun to grow. But when I walked into the video store and saw that image in the sticker machine, I went bonkers. That skull head was just so spooky, yet so appealing. I HAD to see that movie. I settled for Evil Dead part I, which was on VHS already. Thus began my love affair with Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and horror movies in general. I made my father take me to see the second one in Manhattan a few weeks later, and I had a new favorite movie. Raimi had made his first movie into the masterpiece it could have been if he had the right amount of funding. Evil Dead 2 is a sequel, but is also a reboot in some senses... no matter how you want to classify it, there is one thing almost everyone agrees on: It's a classic!
Flash forward to the winter of 2007. 20 years later... 20 years of watching what how now became a trilogy (Army of Darkness came out in 1992) over and over, laughing hysterically at Ashley's crazy antics against the Candarian Demons of the Necronomicon. Chainsaw hands, boomsticks, pencils in the ankle, trap doors, creepy moose heads talking on walls, rouge hands, re-animated dancing corpses, a cabin in the woods, tree rape, Candarian chants.... yup, those are some great memories. Then I saw this ad for Evil Dead: The Musical playing off Broadway, and I almost shit my pants. How could they make a musical out of these films?
I ordered tickets immediately, right in the splatter zone. A fucking splatter zone... blood all over the audience. Amazing.
And the songs... oh god, the songs were amazing!!! My all time faves are "All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons" & "What the F@#k Was That". I laughed my way through the whole entire show... it was wonderful. Check out these two videos:
Look Whose Evil Now & What the F@#K Was That?
All The Men In My Life Keep Getting Killed By Candarian Demons!
So cheesy, yet so great. I even got this awesome mug the night of the show... and my son Mikey uses it all the time when he has chocolate milk.
He is a huge fan of Army of Darkness, and I can not wait till this show rotates back to NYC or somewhere close in the future. You can click here to get tons of info on the show from the official website. The show tours the world (for real... check the list) and is a must see for any fan of the movie series. I have also seen bootleg copies of the show being sold at various Comic-Cons and Horror-Cons... and I have never bought it. I am going to change that mistake soon. Check this one out... its well worth it!
My main man Jeff Bond called me up yesterday to tell me that he had an extra ticket to watch a screening of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein play being simulcasted into a local movie theater. I couldn't have said yes soon enough! I am a big fan of Boyle, and the play is being held in London.... this was going to be my only shot at seeing it, so I was in.
The other reason I had wanted to see this play was because the stars, Johnny Lee Miller & Benedict Cumberbatch, switch playing the roles of Victor Frankenstein & The Monster. Each night they alternate, putting their own spin on the two main leads. This is not something I have ever heard of before... and I really liked Miller in Dexter season 5. I was ready to go!!!
The version we saw had Miller as The Monster, and boy was he great. Boyle utilizes a very unique circular stage to put on the show, one that also has a rotating portion of the floor that he uses very well for effect. There was also an intense cluster of lights above the stage that flare often to signify the lighting giving The Monster life. Miller was superb from the opening scene, and the rest of the cast was great as well.
Benedict Cumberbatch was very well chosen to play the rebllious Dr. Frankenstein, but I just do not think he could do The Monster anywhere near the justice that Miller gave the part. In this version of the story, The Monster picks up knowledge pretty well due to the adult size of his brain. He learns to read and recite lines of prose & poetry from Milton, yet he has a hard time adjusting to the physical limitations of his newly animated body. A truly unreal performance. Very well done indeed.
You can get more info on the production and whether or not more screenings will be shown in your area by checking the National Theater home page by clicking here. This will probably be released on DVD/Blu-Ray soon as well. Here is the trailer as well.
I strongly recommend seeing plays this way... the experience was quite enjoyable. Thanks again Jeff... you are the man!!!!
