In the early days of cinema, macabre-inspired pictures took queues from the German Expressionist movement. The 3-minute silent film Manoir du Diable (1896), often touted to be the first horror movie, accomplished a range of feats with its masterful trickery, giving way to an ever-evolving genre. The masked figures shrouded in smoke changed, over time, into more elaborate makeup and effects. And it could be argued that the two-dimensional shoot in the hallway matured into the single location narrative. The ingenuity that goes into creating fright-fests now is all thanks to ideas like 'Manoir du Diable', and the staples we've all grown to obsess over are all the better for it.
Director Sam Raimi's genius was given the green light treatment in this, the second in a trilogy of cult classics revered by horror aficionados everywhere, showing filmmakers the world over how to make the most of any budget. Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is back at the cabin in the woods to fight, well...the evil dead, and he's forced to use his wits and trusty BOOMSTICK (actually that reference is from number three, so I'm already getting ahead myself) to avoid being dead by dawn (a much more aptly reference).
The idea for a one-location story came from the same place as Raimi's shaky-cam - the creative side of the brain...and necessity. In the 8mm proof of concept short that helped reel investors in to the first evil dead, taping a camera down to a 2x4 helped achieve the weightlessness and agility of an invisible entity, while 'The Evil Dead' and 'Evil Dead II' successfully made the most of that innovation with their much more accommodating budgets.
The lesson Raimi and Campbell teach us is one of puzzle-solving. Problems onset require adaptation, and this movie proves the effectiveness of cheap solutions with brilliant execution. The topic was touched on in 1988 when English presenter Jonathan Ross had the privilege of interviewing Raimi. In this one-on-one, Ross posed, "Your effects are done really simply. But they're really effective...why is it, you think, that other people spend so much time and money doing things that often don't look as good?". Raimi swiftly responded, "I think it's the same syndrome for all low-budget filmmakers. They just don't have the money to do it right...so they've got to sit down and figure it out...I think it's just common sense".
When creating horror, experimentation is the key to salvation. That goes for the Dr. Frankensteins and Herbert Wests of this world too. The output can only be as good as the sum of its parts, but the picture needs only a fundamental structure - it cares little for the quality of those pillars. For 'The Evil Dead II', the mix of comedy and wall to wall gore wasn't concerned with balance or subtlety and struck a chord with the desensitised movie-goer that so desperately yearned to be shaken out of their seat - resulting in a film that gave us one of the brightest directors of the 21st century.
Director Sam Raimi's genius was given the green light treatment in this, the second in a trilogy of cult classics revered by horror aficionados everywhere, showing filmmakers the world over how to make the most of any budget. Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is back at the cabin in the woods to fight, well...the evil dead, and he's forced to use his wits and trusty BOOMSTICK (actually that reference is from number three, so I'm already getting ahead myself) to avoid being dead by dawn (a much more aptly reference).
The idea for a one-location story came from the same place as Raimi's shaky-cam - the creative side of the brain...and necessity. In the 8mm proof of concept short that helped reel investors in to the first evil dead, taping a camera down to a 2x4 helped achieve the weightlessness and agility of an invisible entity, while 'The Evil Dead' and 'Evil Dead II' successfully made the most of that innovation with their much more accommodating budgets.
The lesson Raimi and Campbell teach us is one of puzzle-solving. Problems onset require adaptation, and this movie proves the effectiveness of cheap solutions with brilliant execution. The topic was touched on in 1988 when English presenter Jonathan Ross had the privilege of interviewing Raimi. In this one-on-one, Ross posed, "Your effects are done really simply. But they're really effective...why is it, you think, that other people spend so much time and money doing things that often don't look as good?". Raimi swiftly responded, "I think it's the same syndrome for all low-budget filmmakers. They just don't have the money to do it right...so they've got to sit down and figure it out...I think it's just common sense".
When creating horror, experimentation is the key to salvation. That goes for the Dr. Frankensteins and Herbert Wests of this world too. The output can only be as good as the sum of its parts, but the picture needs only a fundamental structure - it cares little for the quality of those pillars. For 'The Evil Dead II', the mix of comedy and wall to wall gore wasn't concerned with balance or subtlety and struck a chord with the desensitised movie-goer that so desperately yearned to be shaken out of their seat - resulting in a film that gave us one of the brightest directors of the 21st century.
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