The Return of the Spook-A-Blast

May 6, 2009 10:11 AM

Prepare for the Return of the Spook-A-Blast... After 17 years, Sam Raimi has returned to the genre that made him a cult legend with a new, low(ish) budget film; get ready for DRAG ME TO HELL

In 1987, Sam Raimi took his old attempt attempt at a cabin in the woods horror film, and made, quite frankly, a bat-shit insane sequel. It has become a highly beloved film and mini-phenomenon. Raimi went on to have success in hollywood and also made some superhero films or something. But now in 2009, he admitted he had been itching to get back to the kinds of films he loved before, thus he has returned to his roots. In doing so he has coined a term for his style of of horror-comedies: "Spook-A-Blast"

Note: he did produce a legit horror-comedy in that interim, the not-too-shabby Bubba Ho-Tep

previous evil dead posts

posted by Lacking Subtlety (51 comments total)

I'm hoping this is as good as the buzz in the last link would imply, but a rave from AICN is about as worthless as film criticism can get. The wimpy rating is...discouraging.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:18 AM on May 6, 2009

Drag me to hell?

Or is it a low budget flick in which a dyslexic pervert in Alaska is given a tow behind his friend's snowmobile, and bursts naked through the door of the conference room to discover that the Annual Ladies Cook to Mouth culinary competition is not what he expected?
posted by MuffinMan at 10:25 AM on May 6, 2009

This is fantastic news, and it probably means two things; 1.) Bruce Campbell with have a cameo and it will be awesome. And 2.) somewhere, somehow, Raimi will manage to incorporate a '73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 into it.
posted by quin at 10:25 AM on May 6, 2009

Hey, is that the kid from Ed?
posted by rusty at 10:26 AM on May 6, 2009

Darkman was good too.

(The first one)
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:27 AM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

1.) Bruce Campbell with have a cameo and it will be awesome.

Also, Joxer will probably show up.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 10:28 AM on May 6, 2009

I've actually got a bit of a soft spot for The Quick and the Dead.

Hell, even The Gift was good in it's own way.
posted by Artw at 10:32 AM on May 6, 2009

I don't think that's the kid from Ed, that's "a mac".
posted by JBennett at 10:34 AM on May 6, 2009

I've actually got a bit of a soft spot for The Quick and the Dead.

+1
posted by bpm140 at 10:36 AM on May 6, 2009

Okay, that's the kid from Ed.
posted by JBennett at 10:36 AM on May 6, 2009

Yeah, there's a whole lot of sam raimi stuff I left out for the sake of kind of staying horror-comedy centric: His awesome coen bros collaborations (hudsucker proxy!) The Quick and the Dead is fun. So is Darkman.... I also left out the plethora of middling to shitty tv/shows and movies he's produced including a un-derth supply of craptacular Japanese horror remakes.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 10:40 AM on May 6, 2009

He wrote The Hudsucker Proxy? That's great!

"You know, for kids!"
posted by Artw at 10:42 AM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

And 2.) somewhere, somehow, Raimi will manage to incorporate a '73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 into it.

The Classic!
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:50 AM on May 6, 2009

> He wrote The Hudsucker Proxy? That's great!

He's also has a great little cameo in Miller's Crossing. In the scene where the cops blow up the Irish bar, he's the dude with the pistols who shoots the bartender who staggers out after the bomb goes off.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:51 AM on May 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Ted Raimi has to keep finding work somehow.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:00 AM on May 6, 2009

Sam Raimi is in Hudsucker Prozy as well. He's one of the silhouettes that comes up with the name for the Hula Hoop.

"Fellas! Fellas!"
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:01 AM on May 6, 2009

PG-13 = meh.

Excellent post though.
posted by hermitosis at 11:05 AM on May 6, 2009

Not everything has to be Saw...
posted by Artw at 11:07 AM on May 6, 2009

Raimi co-wrote The Hud, he certainly did not write it entirely himself.. We are talking about the Coen brothers here.
posted by mbatch at 11:20 AM on May 6, 2009

Don't miss: Within the Woods^
posted by Liver at 11:21 AM on May 6, 2009

Saw it at SXSW. Would put it up there with the last two Evil Deads, if the spook-a-blast is your thing. Alison Lohman works better as a Bruce Campbell stand-in than you would necessarily think.

Before the screening, Harry Knowles himself wheeled himself out onto the stage to address the audience. Harry Knowles doesn't know about you, but he is fired up! Let's hear how fired up you in the audience are! Harry Knowles is particularly fired up because just offstage we have the legendary greatest genius of all moviedom, Sam Raimi, let's hear you scream for Sam Raimi!! That was pathetic, Sam Raimi's not going to come out here for that, scree-eaam!!!

(And then the legendary greatest genius of all moviedom came out and did some awkward physical schtick where he pretended to wrestle his tie. It was an unusual chapter in the ongoing critically-mediated dialogue between creator and audience, is what I'm trying to convey here.)
posted by ormondsacker at 11:28 AM on May 6, 2009 [2 favorites]

Not everything has to be Saw...

Not everything has to be Alien vs. Predator, either.
posted by hermitosis at 11:30 AM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Harry Knowles should have to do that everytime someone plays the DVD of The Phantom Menace.
posted by Artw at 11:30 AM on May 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Not everything has to be Alien vs. Predator, either.

But everything should have at least one porn parody.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:37 AM on May 6, 2009

I'm so excited for this - I have been since I first watched the preview. I'm a big fan of horror-comedy and grindhouse films, right along with cheesy 70's and 80's horror films. My poor wife. For every one good movie we watch, I make her watch ten bad ones.
posted by Bageena at 11:40 AM on May 6, 2009

Not everything has to be Alien vs. Predator, either.

Be kinda cool if everything were:

AvP: Juno
AvP: Sunshine Cleaning
AvP: Dinner with Andre
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:43 AM on May 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

MOTHERFUCKING Apple PIECE OF CRAP Quicktime EVERYONE ELSE on the entire PLANET can make software that plays a fucking movie EVEN ON WINDOWS but FUCKING PRECIOUS APPLE has to have theirs update 300 times a day to break itself a little more thoroughly and it won't even stop from the task manager HOW DO I KILL-9 ON WINDOWS DIE DIE DIE

Okay I feel better now.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:52 AM on May 6, 2009 [9 favorites]

But everything should have at least one porn parody.

Shag Me to Hell?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 11:54 AM on May 6, 2009

Ooh, I'd pay to see My Dinner With Predator.
posted by Naberius at 12:45 PM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

ROU_Xenophobe - Dude.
posted by EatTheWeak at 12:51 PM on May 6, 2009

Next can you make iTunes not suck?

...just works my ass...
posted by Artw at 1:33 PM on May 6, 2009

Metafilter: You log in at 8:30 every morning, except you log in at 7:30 following a business holiday, unless it's a Monday, then you log in at 8 o'clock. Log in late and they dock you. Incoming FPPs get a voucher, comments to FPPs provide a voucher. Post any FPP without a voucher and they dock you. Ask Metafilter is the green page, MetaTalk is the grey page, projects is dark green. Wrong color page and they dock you! http://www.metafilter.com/user/21812. That is your user URL. It will not be repeated! Without your user URL you cannot make FPPs. MeFi Mail mail is code 37, your personal email address 37-3, emails to admins 3-37. Code it wrong and they dock you! This has been your orientation. Is there anything you do not understand, is there anything you understand only partially? If you have not been fully oriented, you must file a complaint with the mods. File a faulty complaint... and they dock you!
posted by hifiparasol at 1:36 PM on May 6, 2009 [4 favorites]

Is Cortex the magic dude that lives in a clock?
posted by Artw at 1:38 PM on May 6, 2009

ROU_Xenophobe: Seconded on Quicktime. Every time I get my computer to stop putting that damn icon in the tray, it reappears in startup the next time Quicktime plays something. Is Apple trying to make Windows seem even more sucky by taking advantage of its UI annoyances?
posted by JHarris at 3:03 PM on May 6, 2009

Would you like Safari and some other shit with that QT upgrade?
posted by Artw at 3:04 PM on May 6, 2009

I'll tell you what I'm excited for: Dead Snow. It's a nordic Evil Dead with Nazi Zombies.
posted by boo_radley at 3:08 PM on May 6, 2009

ROU_Xenophobe: Seconded on Quicktime. Every time I get my computer to stop putting that damn icon in the tray, it reappears in startup the next time Quicktime plays something. Is Apple trying to make Windows seem even more sucky by taking advantage of its UI annoyances?
posted by JHarris at 3:03 PM on May 6 [+] [!]

As an apple guy I have no idea what to tell you. Quicktime so regularly glorious. And it does well with my work PC too. So don't know what to say.

I'll tell you what I'm excited for: Dead Snow . It's a nordic Evil Dead with Nazi Zombies.
posted by boo_radley at 3:08 PM on May 6 [+] [!]

Sorry to say, but early word on Dead Snow is absolutely horrible (and I trust the people who said so).
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 3:13 PM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Are you sure? It has a rather good-ash-bad-ash sequence.
posted by boo_radley at 3:18 PM on May 6, 2009

Ooh, I'd pay to see My Dinner With Predator.

"mmmm...Pass me another hunk of co-pilot"
posted by mannequito at 3:21 PM on May 6, 2009

Lacking Subtlety, I meant no dig on you, nor did I mean to suggest that you should have found a link to some other format. Trailers are almost all in quicktime; for whatever reason it's the nature of that beast.

It just makes my head explode sometimes, is all, so I needed to vent.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 3:55 PM on May 6, 2009

Oh no worries. Not taken as a dig whatsover. My response was more of a "uhhh. i don't know how to fix that. sorry" kind of one.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 4:19 PM on May 6, 2009

With apologies to Clint Eastwood, The Quick And The Dead should have it's name changed to Unforgiven. I suppose he's done enough good stuff to outweigh the bad though.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:46 PM on May 6, 2009

Lacking Subtlety: As an apple guy I have no idea what to tell you. Quicktime so regularly glorious. And it does well with my work PC too. So don't know what to say.

It must just be you. Quicktime is one of those thrice-cursed pieces of software which, despite having been around since forever, never seems to get any faster or any less buggy. It is just as horrible on my i7 as it was on a Pentium 1, and my few experiences with it on a mac weren't any better.

Acrobat is the other one. I remember using it on a Pentium 1 and thinking 'god, this is slow, I hope I never see another one of these files again, or they improve the reader.' I did, and they didn't - it is absolutely unbelievable to me that a program which does essentially the same task can still be slow six (or so) processor generations later, and the fact that third-party readers typically read the same files with blazing speed only underscores how it is a problem with the software, not that the task is computationally difficult.
posted by Mitrovarr at 4:53 PM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Arrgh! Adobe Updater! Red mist! Red mist!
posted by Artw at 4:54 PM on May 6, 2009

The trailer is kind of fun, I suppose. Looks like Stephen King's novella Thinner (which was made into a movie, a really bad one). But I think Raimi is terribly overrated. The Evil Dead films are fun to be sure, but everything he's done aside from them is, to me, thunderingly mediocre. Darkman? The Gift? The Spiderman films which I found tedious and unexciting (and I haven't seen the 3rd one but by most accounts it's a terrible film). For Love of the Game? Perhaps his best film is A Simple Plan, a rather forgettable film at that.

I don't consider Raimi a hack like Ron Howard or Ed Zwick, but I scratch my head at the passes people give to the guy because he created the Evil Dead series. People seem to forget all the mediocrity that came after.

This has been the "your favorite director sucks" interlude; we now return you to your regularly scheduled fan thread.
posted by zardoz at 7:54 PM on May 6, 2009

Q: Where did the idea for the film came from? It's an original story, right?

Raimi: Yes, it is. ... I'm not exactly sure where it came from.

Um, do you remember reading Thinner, Sam?
posted by Robin Kestrel at 8:05 PM on May 6, 2009

the not-too-shabby Bubba Ho-Tep

Not too shabby? The timeless cinematic masterpiece that is Bubba Ho-Tep is "not too shabby"?

I have a chainsaw for an arm and I'm not afraid to use it.
posted by madmethods at 9:02 PM on May 6, 2009

boo_radley: Don't listen to Lacking Subtlety.

Dead Snow is the best Norwegian Nazi Zombie horror movie ever made. I'd go so far as to say it's better than The Outpost which was my previous general benchmark for Nazi Zombies (though they were technically more Quantum Zombie Ghost Nazis).

The movie earned my respect by having not one, but two jokes built around how long and stretchy and easy to get caught exposed intestines are. It ain't big and it ain't clever but once the chainsaws come out, it is rather fun.

It has a low-budget charm that even the trailer for Drag Me To Hell is sorely lacking. And the best film Raimi ever made was A Simple Plan.
posted by slimepuppy at 1:59 AM on May 7, 2009

Yeah, the trailer is kind of like... a trailer. I figure it likely has scant little relationship to the actual film, which I'll go see because I think Raimi does interesting things, whatever the sum total of the movie.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:31 AM on May 7, 2009

Saw the midnight show last night. It was awesome!
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 10:48 AM on May 29, 2009

I'm glad to hear it!
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:40 AM on May 29, 2009