Good, Bad, and Ugly: Camp-Fest Edition

Howdy Folks,

I know it's been a bit since my last post and I'm sorry for the delay. I've haven't had too much spare time to spend on comics, movies, or video games -- instead I'm busy with work, grad classes, and finishing up my final project.

Oh, and maybe looking to move a few states away (back to Ye Olde Massachusetts). More on that when there's more on that.

For now, I thought I'd bring you a brief post about things I have been making time for: Campy Movies!

The Good

Evil Dead 2
The Evil Dead 2 builds upon its predecessor. Well, actually, in the first five minutes it retcons its predecessor so it can continue with a different actress playing Ash's girlfriend, but then it is a direct sequel. Confusing at the start, it quickly gets better. Ash is a much more interesting hero than the uni-browed coward from the first film, and the supporting cast is slightly more interesting.

The monsters, while still looking terrible, are MUCH better, and even the trees are less perverted (more on that later). There still doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how the monsters work, per se, but we get over that because of just how awesome goofy manly bad-ass Ash his. I mean, he replaces his hand with a chainsaw! Come on!

I rate this movie, on a scale of campy awesomeness, as a solid 9. It's enjoyable, and you can probably skip the first one without losing TOO much. Well, maybe.

The Bad

All Superheroes Must Die
There is nothing redeemable about this movie. The hero costumes are tacky (which is ok), the characters themselves are mostly 1 dimensional, the back story is given in awkward black and white scenes in such a way that we REALLY don't care about the characters, and the actors themselves are pretty damn bad. The bad guy and the lead hero maybe are in the ok zone for a campy film, but the other three are absolute rubbish.

The worst part, though, is the way they portray the female protagonist. Not only is she 100% useless in the film (she literally sits there and watches her partner/sometimes lover get SLOWLY gutted), her only actionable moment is to die (presumably) with the man she loves instead of accepting his sacrifice. Her character would have single-handedly brought down the film for me if it wasn't all together terrible.

They're all pretty awful.

That being said, the premise wasn't the worst I'd seen, hence why I rented it. Someone, please make a better movie out of it soon. As it stands, I'd rate it at a 2/10, simply for the plot existing and attempting to be used. And the one reveal towards the end of the film was almost interesting.

The Ugly

Evil Dead
This was, I believe, Sam Raimi's first film. It is a pretty rough start. The characters are unlikable and at best completely stupid. The monsters look awful. A bunch of trees actually rape a girl. And, the worst part, the main character is a tepid coward with a uni-brow who does more or less nothing effective in the entire film.

My cat, Durgin, watching Evil Dead with me.

And I'm really confused by why the monsters MUST come in the doors when they've been shown smashing into windows before (... and those windows are still WIDE open). Maybe this was supposed to reflect the characters going insane instead of any external threats actually existing, I'm not sure, but it was pretty bad.

That being said, it is completely acceptable in that it leads us to Evil Dead 2 and eventually Army of Darkness (a movie I particularly enjoy).

I rate it was a 5/10. It is crappy camp, but it obviously has potential.

Ok, next you'll either be seeing my review of the first arc of Thor: God of Thunder or the quick Pull List Review I'm very late on. We'll see!