The Evil Dead & Evil Dead II.

"We're gonna get you, not another peep, time to go to sleep."

In honor of seeing Evil Dead The Musical on Saturday in Massachusetts, I decided to watch the first two Evil Dead movies.  The Musical was SO GREAT.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the cult classic because it is hilarious, well-done, and very bloody.  We got to sit right in the front row, of a small venue, in the splatter zone.  I got pretty covered in fake blood, it was dripping down my face.  It was fantastic!

Evil Dead is awesome.  It is an over-the-top, disgusting gore-fest, heart-pounding horror cult classic movie!  And I love it.  The second one was a little confusing for me but I still liked it.  The first one, though, that one has the original Linda.  And Linda laughing and singing is one of the creepiest things I have ever seen in my life.  Ever.  She haunts my dreams.

The original 1981 The Evil Dead stars the one, the only, Bruce Campbell!  Bruce not only stars in the first three movies but also co-produced the movies.  Now, I'll admit, I was a little confused over the hype of Bruce because at first he seems like a nothing character.  However, he somehow keeps surviving.  Even when everyone else dies and comes back to life and dies again, Bruce just keeps getting cooler.  And of course, in the sequel is when Bruce gets his trademark, bad-ass look:

Bruce Campbell plays Ashley "Ash" Williams in all of the Evil Dead movies, including an appearance in the 2013 re-make (I have not yet seen the re-make but I would love to!  I've heard it's pretty great as well.).  The oh so scary Linda is played by Betsy Baker and, judging by what I have seen online, I believe she is quite popular with hardcore fans along with Bruce.  The Evil Dead really has sparked an intense following, even today, 32 years later.

One thing that is great about these movies is the amount of blood used.  There will be a scene where blood just comes gushing out, completely soaking the character.  Then the camera cuts and suddenly all that blood is gone.  It's so great!  I enjoyed the use of props, make-up, fake blood, and effects in these movies, it was very well done in the over-the-top way it was meant to be.  The first film was to be taken seriously but it had a small budget and got pretty campy.  The sequel was purposely comedic and made fun of the first film quite a bit.  I like when directors and actors can make fun of themselves.

Now let's not forget the most important thing about these films: Sam Raimi.  Raimi directed and wrote The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness.  He also wrote, but not directed, the 2013 re-make of Evil Dead and is writing Army of Darkness 2 right now, set to release in 2016.  Raimi has also written and directed Drag Me to Hell, Spider-Man 3, and The Quick and the Dead.  Those are just the ones I've seen of his work, there's more!  He is a talented writer and director and I have enjoyed all his films that I have seen.  He has a particular style and I think it really works.

The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II are streaming right now on Netflix.  So, go check it out, there's plenty of gore to be watched!  Please enjoy creepy Linda in the clip below.

Also, here's a little preview of Evil Dead The Musical, in case you ever want to check that out, too!  It's a bloody good time!

The Possession.

I love horror movies.  It's my favorite genre and it probably seems uncharacteristic of me.  I'm not sure what it is about horror that I like so much because I definitely don't like being scared.  I don't watch horror when I'm going to be home all alone for a night.  Sometimes I cringe at the gore or I hide my face during a suspenseful moment and maybe that is what horror is all about.  The whole point of the genre.

Demons are not my favorite but The Possession was a very decent movie.  I actually watched thinking it was another movie called Sinister.  Clearly it wasn't the same movie!  But it was still quite good.  The Possession is about a little girl who buys an old box at a lawn-sale.  What's in the box possesses her and her father will stop at nothing to get that demon out of his little girl.

Not an original plot but it was still entertaining.  The movie is based off a real box called the Dybbuk box. Jewish folklore defines a dybbuk is a restless spirit believed to be able to haunt and possess the living.  The box was first brought to light by previous owner Kevin Mannis who put the box up for auction on ebay.  Mannis said that the box had "belonged to a Holocaust survivor named Havela, who had escaped to Spain prior to her immigration to the United States. Havela purposely sealed a dybbuk inside the box after it contacted her and friends performing a seance with a homemade oracle board."

When Mannis opened the box, according to Wiki, he found "that it contained two 1920s pennies, a lock of blonde hair bound with cord, a lock of black/brown hair bound with cord, a small statue engraved with the Hebrew word 'Shalom', a small, golden wine goblet, one dried rose bud, and a single candle holder with four octopus-shaped legs; all items supposedly used in Jewish folklore to exorcise demons."

The Dybbuk box is very cool and, if the information on Wiki is correct, has had interesting experiences with its past owners:

"Numerous owners of the box have reported that strange phenomena accompany it. In his story, Mannis claimed he experienced a series of horrific nightmares shared with other people while they were in possession of the box or when they stayed at his home while he had it. His mother suffered a stroke on the same day he gave her the box as a birthday present – October 28. Every owner of the box has reported that smells of cat urine or jasmine flower and nightmares involving an old hag accompany the box. Iosif Neitzke, a Missouri student at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri and the last person to auction the box on eBay, claimed that the box caused electronic failure – phenomena from lights burning out in his house to computer failure, a mysterious insect swarm centering around the box, and unexplained medical conditions such as extreme and sudden hair loss. Jason Haxton, Director of the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri, had been following Neitzke's blogs regarding the box and when he was ready to be rid of the box Neitzke sold it to Haxton. Haxton wrote The Dibbuk Box, and claimed that he subsequently developed strange health problems, including hives, coughing up blood, and "head-to-toe welts" His wife experienced "bloody, weeping, blisters" after coming in contact with clothing he wore during a failed containment attempt. His office also experienced the bursting of light bulbs, shared by Neitzke and Mannis and computer failures akin to Neitzke's experiences^. Upon removal of the box from the museum, Haxton had locked the box in the back of his truck, parking it at his home in the evening. Haxton experienced nightmares of Hag-like women, not unlike Mannis's claims. The final straw, Haxton claims, happened while he and his son were watching television and his son noticed a black flame-like mass in the room with them. Haxton consulted with Rabbis to try to figure out a way to seal the dybbuk in the box again. Apparently successful, he took the freshly resealed box and hid it at a secret location, which he will not reveal."

I personally do not believe in demons, ghosts, aliens, or anything of the sort.  However, I still like movies and stories about those topics.  The Possession is a great horror film!  It has that typical horror end where more could possibly happen in the future.  Plus it has a great cast!  Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the father and Kyra Sedgwick plays the mother.  I feel like Sedgwick is too big a name for her small role but it was still nice to see her.  Natasha Calis plays the girl who gets possessed and Madison Davenport plays her older sister.  Both are unknowns but I think they did a wonderful job, especially Calis.  Being possessed seems like a hard job!

So, in honor of it almost being fall, almost being October my favorite month, and eventually being Halloween, here's a good horror!  It's streaming right now on Netflix, so please enjoy!

PS. I wanted to add that Marisyahu is in this film.  He's a musician and has done music for a few of movies plus has two of his own albums.  I am not familiar with him but Caleb recognized him right away.