The Evil Dead Franchise: It Swallowed My Soul

Rob Ferreri

6 years ago

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge Bruce Campbell fan. One of the major influences that inspired me to get into film-making was Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films. I even got my first advice in film-making from Bruce Campbell. I recently finished re-watching the final season of Ashe vs Evil Dead and it got me thinking nostalgically back on the franchise and what it has meant to me.

My first exposure to the Evil Dead universe was not the original film, but rather the sequel, and sort of reboot, Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn.Â I came across it on HBO late one night looking for something to watch and it just sucked me in.Â Watching Ashe slowly lose his mind as the movie progresses and the slap stick absurdity amongst the dark events and deaths was life changing.Â This fresh take on horror was unlike anything I had ever seen before and along with the over the top acting of star Bruce Campbell they had me looking for more.Â I have also been a huge fan of the writing of H.P. Lovecraft and the film’s use of the Necronomicon tied it to the world of the Cthulhu mythos in my mind.

I tracked down the first film and loved the raw nature of it. I looked into the backstory of the films and learned how Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell raised the money to realize their dream. I loved the effects and the camera work and was drawn even further down the rabbit hole.Â A friend of mine, who was also a big Evil Dead fan, and I decided to follow their example and make a horror film of our own.

Our film, Camp Dead, was conceived and filming was underway when we had a chance to meet Bruce Campbell at a horror convention.Â We approached him and got a chance to talk about our film with him and he was an incredibly nice guy and was very supportive.Â He asked me if I wanted to know the secret to succeeding in film. I of course said yes immediately.Â There was no way I was passing up advice from Bruce.Â He said, “The secret to succeeding in film is… there is no secret.Â If you’re motivated you’ll get somewhere and if you’re not, you won’t. Oh, and it helps to have some talent.” He even agreed to be in a short film we had conceived of after meeting him, which we shot at the convention, called Casting Bruce Campbell.

It is sad to think that the franchise has come to a close and part of me hopes that we have not seen the last of the brash, sarcastic hero whose chainsaw hand, boomstick, and sarcastic one-liners have wormed their way into the hearts of fans forever.Â Maybe like the Deadites he fights, Ashe will rise again one day.

Klaatu Varada Nnn (cough) (cough)

Aloha.