Evil Dead Trilogy...In Reverse! Pt1

A follower of Bruce Campbell on Twitter said he had his girlfriend watch the Evil Dead Trilogy with him for the first time - in reverse order.  He said she loved it, so I thought I'd try the same with my girlfriend.

It kinda makes sense. I don't know the actual stats, but I would guess more people have seen Army of Darkness since it isn't an actual "horror" movie.  It's more of a comedy/action movie with gore.  I'm pretty sure I've seen it on TV at some point, and I don't think I've seen the first two on TV at all.  Anyway, my point is that the third movie can appeal to a broader fan-base, so I thought it would be a good way to start.  She already likes Bruce from Burn Notice, so we're already off to a good start.

Army of Darkness

The greatest part about having someone watch Army of Darkness first is the intro.  Basically in less than five minutes, you're given this back-story: Ash was with his girlfriend in a cabin in the woods, she turns into a zombie so he has to kill her.  The evil got into his hand, so he cut it off and fashioned a chainsaw as a replacement.  He uses incantations from the Book of the Dead to ward off the evil, but he is accidentally sent back in to the middle ages.

Can you imagine if someone tried to pitch that for a movie?  If the first two movies hadn't already been made, I don't think anyone would have come up with such a far out jumping-off point.  I think the meeting in Hollywood went something like: "So, we already made these first two movies...and Sam Raimi's already on board, so....can we just keep going where we left off?"

If you've ever played Duke Nukem 3D on a PC, you're old.  You also probably heard most of the famous catch lines from this movie.  I have to admit that I played the game before I saw this movie, so I was one of those idiots who thought that Duke Nukem was original with his "Groovy" and "Hail to the King, Baby".  Bonus Tip - The first "Groovy" is spoken in Evil Dead II when Ash first puts on the chainsaw.

So, my girlfriend and I finish Army of Darkness and she actually says "That was better than I thought it would be".  Pretty high praise, really, for a girl who doesn't watch any horror at all.  The real test will be transitioning into a movie that is slightly more horror than humor...and then into the full early-80's, slow-paced, low-budget masterpiece.

Fingers crossed!