Evil Dead! Evil Dead 2! Army of Darkness!

[HorseradishTree]

Well, well, well... Here we are...

Here's how I liked each one in order:

1. Evil Dead 2
2. Army of Darkness
3. Evil Dead

You know, I have to say that Evil Dead disturbed me, but still gave me my money's worth. I could totally go for another sequel, which I know they wanted to do. Their orginal ending for Army was to set Ash in the post-apocalyptic era. That would have been grand... sigh.

[Ilker81x]

Same order for me. The first "Evil Dead" was meant to be serious though. It may not seem like it, but you have to consider that it was basically Sam Raimi's student thesis. It gave new definition to the term "it's so bad it's laughable." Because it WAS laughable...I think Sam Raimi realized that and ultimately made "Evil Dead 2" with a little more emphasis on the humor value...and there was a lot...even though that scene when the deer head starts laughing STILL freaks me out.

[Perfume V]

Evil Dead 2 is an absolute joy. I can't think of any other film that takes such a joy in trying out every technical trick possible - it even makes Goodfellas look subdued. And Bruce Campbell is some kind of God, too, isn't he?

[miseenscene]

One of my college animation professors worked on Evil Dead 2, during the sequence with the rogue hand. I recall him mentioning something about there being very little budget and even less time. It seems like some of the best, most inventive and memorable art can occur under intense pressure and less-than-perfect circumstances -- I wonder how Spider-Man would have looked if Raimi had rushed it.

[Perfume V]

One thing which always helps my enjoyment of Raimi's early films is that I really, really love stop-motion animation. It seems like the only way to get CGI to have charm and character is have a Lord of the Rings-sized budget, but stop-motion is always amazing. The skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts, for example, is still pitch-perfect stuff to this day.

I often think it would be fun to do a $70 million blockbuster that was full of stop-motion animation. I bet people would go crazy for it. Everyone I know has a soft spot for it.

[fuzzy_nolan]

What about Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas? The first full length feature to be filmed entirely with stop motion animation...and a charming little fable to boot.

[Ilker81x]

Claymation and Stop-Motion Animation are always a joy, and I do find it somewhat lamentable that it's not used nearly as much as CGI these days. There is a certain eloquence to a technique that looks interesting, if albeit not always smooth or even realistic. The amount of craftsmanship that goes into it has to be respected because instead of working with computer screens and programs, you have to use your hands. Any form of art where one uses their hands to physically construct something and manipulate it possesses that human touch that CGI just can't capture. Sure CGI animators can put their own stamp on things, but it lacks that tangible quality of actually feeling like you can touch them. At least it does for me. I think CGI is wonderful and I love movies like "Monsters Inc.," "Final Fantasy," and all these movies that are using CGI so advanced it's just that close to realism...but it still looks computer generated. It may have the appearance of 3-D, but I've yet to see a 3-D, CGI-constructed, computer animated person so realistic that I couldn't tell the difference. It could be just me, but as good as the characters are rendered, it still looks like a computer, and I just can't see past the inherent 2-D quality that it's merely the illusion of 3-D on a computer screen. Stop-Motion and Claymation feel realer in that sense because they actually do exist in a physical 3-D spatial environment, so for me at least I feel like they have a more human touch.

This is just me though...I still think CGI is a great tool and I always love seeing its advancement in movies, commercials, and whatever else it's being used in. But I do wish people could embrace the beauty of older techniques more often.

[treadman]

My preference:

1) EVIL DEAD II
2) EVIL DEAD
3) ARMY OF DARKNESS

EVIL DEAD II is a masterpiece, albeit a very atypical and bizarre masterpiece.

EVIL DEAD I think has some great chills and effects considering the micro budget and that this was a FIRST film..there is comedy in the film, but it's a far more subtle brand..more of a wink in the eye as they run through the typical horror conventions than the slapstick and surrealism of the second..

ARMY OF DARKNESS is the weakest of the lot, partly due to the chop job done by Universal before its' release, secondly due to the fact that it's more story oriented, therefore less fun than the plotless first two entries..

[Johann]

Originally posted by Perfume V
[B]One thing which always helps my enjoyment of Raimi's early films is that I really, really love stop-motion animation.


What is your opinion of The Brothers Quay? To me, they are the LORDS of stop-motion.

And re: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton should do way more films like this. He is a GREAT director, but he should avoid Planet of the Apes-type stuff and go with his whimsical sensibilities. James and the Giant Peach was another bizarre children's film that had Burton's mark all over it.

[HorseradishTree]

Have you seen the directors cut of AOD? I find it more entertaining, except the one problem was the removal of the immortal quote "Good, Bad, I'm the guy with the gun," replacing it with the utterly stupid "I ain't that good." Other than that, though, it's really great.