Published by Titan Books - £12-99

"Join us….. Join us…." And with another classic line of film dialogue we enter the realm of the ‘cult masterpiece’. None other than Sam Raimi’s wonderful ‘The Evil Dead’.

I reckon Titan sure has got a result with this release. At the time of writing (August 2000) there’s a bit of an 80’s revival goin’ down. The fashions (please god no!) and music (ditto, ditto!) of that "period" are beginning to rear their ugly heads again. So its with some relief and major respect, I welcome this worthy addition to the Titan Books film writings series.

Film historian and journalist Bill Warren, previously wrote ‘Keep Watching The Skies!’, a seminal two-volume study of 1950’s science fiction movies, has written for countless film genre zines including ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’, ‘Starburst’, ‘Fangoria’ and ‘Cinefantastique’ and has now delivered a treasure of a tome on those tasty ‘deadites’. Indeed the jammy so and so has had unlimited access to ‘The Evil Dead’ archives, memories and related material. Some people get all the luck! The book itself, a quality trade paperback running to 272 pages of clear script and rockin’ illos, is the usual high class act production wise that we’ve come to expect from ‘Titan Books’. Once again they’ve come up with the goods!

Mr Warren presents an in-depth overview of all three ‘Deadite’ movies. These being (of course) ‘The Evil Dead’, ‘Evil Dead H’ and ‘Army of Darkness’. This being the only (so far) authorised history of the series, Mr Warren takes us behind the scenes of the making of all three films.

Chapter by chapter he takes us on a back-tracking, retro journey revealing all kinds of fascinating facts. details, myths, anecdotes and insights. The whole history comes together piece by piece by way of interviews with Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and other key members of cast and crew. Tom Sullivan throws in his bit with the special effect, Bruce Campbell (what a hero!) provides a running commentary on the making of all three episodes, including all the tales of hardship, discomfort and practical jokes that seem to go hand in claw with low budget film making.

The book also includes a complete listing of all of Raimi’s and Campbell’s other works and projects, including all their ‘three stooges’ type early stuff Most beneficial indeed is the brief but needed synopsis of each film near the end of the book. Made me go an’ viddy them all over again, one after the other great fun! Gleeful splatter effects and gruesome, gory humour come get some!

‘The Evil Dead Companion’? A must get. Essential reading for true fans. As Ash would say "Groovy"!

John Carter

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