The Evil Dead
2014; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2047-7708
Autores Tópico(s)Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
ResumoEvil Dead Autopsy. Kate Egan. The Evil Dead. London: Wallflower Press, 2011. 120 pp. ISBN 9781906660345. $15.00 pbk.Reviewed by Jeffrey Andrew WeinstockAs contributor of volume on The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Wallflower Press's series, I must confess at outset that these short, sharp monographs devoted to movies that have achieved oxymoronic status of canonical cult films are near and dear to my heart. Intended as introductions to films and issues related to each, books generally offer equal amounts of close reading and attention to context and are meant as a series to consider films' particular appeal, ways in which they have been conceived, constructed and received, and their place in broader popular culture landscape (Cultographies.com). Usually framed by an introduction in which author details her or his attachment to film in question, books then go on to summarize production and reception histories, to consider films' relations to genre and ideas of cult, and to explore notable themes within works. While publication of Cultographies series ground to a halt during Wallflower Press's incorporation as an imprint of Columbia University Press, series is up and running again and at time of this writing numbers eight, including volumes dedicated to This is Spinal Tap, Donnie Darko, Blade Runner, and Bad Taste-with many more titles in works.Kate Egan's contribution on The Evil Dead sticks closely to established format as it offers a useful and readable approach to Sam Raimi's influential 1981 splatstick cult favorite. Divided into an introduction and four chapters, text begins with de rigour call to confession (Introduction: The Evil Dead and Me), and then goes on to consider film's creation and release (1: How to Be 'Ferociously Original': Production, Promotion, Initial Reception), its afterlife and growing cult status (2: Personality, Authenticity and Illicitness: The Afterlife of The Evil Dead), and themes within film (3: 'The Ultimate in Gruelling Terror': Analysing The Evil Dead), and then ends with a short fourth chapter {The Evil Dead's Status as a Cult Film). While Egan perhaps doesn't have as much fun with film as she might, text nevertheless offers a straightforward approach that will be of interest to researchers and fans of film, its sequels, and now 2013 remake.In short introduction, Egan explains that her attraction to horror in general has in some respects been an attempt to master childhood feelings of dread related to genre. She went from someone who spent her entire childhood being petrified by, and resolutely avoiding, horror films of any kind (1) to someone who decided as a graduate student to focus her research on British controversy of 1980s. As she increasingly honed in on the mysterious films in video shop that I was always aware of and secretly intrigued by, but which I could never quite bring myself to watch (7), she was impressed with aura of coolness that lingered around Evil Dead (5). So she approaches film not as a cultist, not as a lover of Evil Dead, but rather as a researcher interested in what cult films and their reception politics say about particular prejudices, cultural fears, and perceptions of what it was (and is) to be 'British' (4). This perspective allows for a clearheaded analysis, although Egan's investment in British cinema history also leads her to take for granted her readers' conversance with U.K. cinema history, including Video Recordings Act of 1984 that imposed a stricter code of censorship on videocassettes than on films in theaters out of concern that objectionable works might fall into hands of children. Given centrality of this legislation to her framing of discussion, absence of an explanation-even in an endnote-of just what video nasties controversy was is a notable omission. …
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