John and Audra's Randomness - Bruce Campbell is God

Bruce Campbell is God

Okay, you made it to the Evil Dead section. Here's a bit on Bruce in the Evil Dead Trilogy.

Evil Dead I (The Evil Dead)

Look, Bruce with 70's hair. (All these screenshots came from Bruce Campbell's site a long time ago. I will freely admit to it!)

Evil Dead was filmed in 1979, and released around 1982. The first movie in the Trilogy is the least humourous, because it was meant to be a serious gore flick. One thing that really stands out about this one is that Ash is not at all the character he is in the other movies - in fact he's kinda wussy in this one. No offense to Bruce. He doesn't lose a hand or anything in this one either, and only handles the chainsaw for about a minute. But, unlike the Ash we see in Evil Dead II, he can't even bring himself to slice up Linda in this one! Also, this movie ends with the Evil rushing in on Ash... which is what the beginning of Evil Dead II sort of explains. But, if you haven't seen Evil Dead, you should at least watch it to see where the whole story begins, and you will at least see Ash with the shotgun! (Single-barrelled, though). Oh, and make sure you have a strong stomach. Bruce thumbs out the eyes of a zombie, and you can clearly see tomato soup dripping out...ewwww.

By the way, there's a rubbery Necronomicon release of this one that came out in 2002! Get one if you can!

Evil Dead II (Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn)

Don't fall for it Ash, she's EVIL now!

Evil Dead II was released in 1987. The second installment in the series is the favorite of most of the Trilogy's fans. This one is probably the most perfect blend of gore and humour you can find in a movie. Huge, and I mean huge, gushers of blood which would never come out of a human body (or a wall, for that matter...), a severed hand giving you the finger, blood splattering onto a lightbulb and turning a room red, it's all so insanely gory it's funny. Oh, there's also Linda's severed head biting Ash's hand and hanging onto it while jabbering at him. This is also the first movie where Ash loses his hand ( since it goes "bad", and he lops it off at the wrist ), and Ash grafts the chainsaw to the stump. Ash also establishes himself the bad-ass that he wasn't in the first, wisecracking and delivering ass-kickings, via the chainsaw, axe and sawed-off shotgun. This one ends (sort of) the way Army Of Darkness begins. Although, in Army, no mention is made of anyone but Ash and Linda being at the cabin.

Army Of Darkness (Evil Dead III, The Medieval Dead)

I know your damn words, all right!

My favorite installment in the Trilogy, Army Of Darkness was released in 1993, but it took all of 1991 and '92 to film. Army is not as gory as the first two, it's much funnier though. This is the reason that to many horror movie fans, it's not their favorite one. But I happen to think it's the best damn movie ever made! This one begins sort of how Evil Dead II ends, with Ash transported back to the 1300's in England. Ash's character in this one is alot the badass that he was in Evil Dead II, but he's also supposed to be a real jerk, even somewhat cowardly, but definitely still a complete badass. In this one we also see Ash's metal hand which he gets in place of the chainsaw. He also uses the shotgun and swords in this one. Bruce plays Bad Ash in this one, since Good Ash is a goody little two-shoes!

If you haven't seen Army Of Darkness - GO BUY IT NOW! And if you have a DVD player, get either the double disc collector's edition, the THX version and gold boxed collector's edition, or the THX version and the "official bootleg version". Or, just get em all! The deleted scenes on the discs are interesting. It seems it would have been a little creepier and dark like ED II, but the original beginning and the long, long windmill scene (my fave), were cut. I still haven't decided which ending I like better, either. The S-mart ending is funny, but the original ending is the true ending. Ash takes one too many magic drops and ends up in post-apocalyptic London! Not that it means there could never be another film. Think of it, Ash fighting off future Deadites searching for the book to transport him BACK in time....but back to the present day or back to the 1300's with Shiela? Hmmm...

Check out John and Audra's Bruce Campbell Page