Category Archives: Bruce Campbell

The Woods – Bruce Campbell week

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This is Bruce Campbell week. The Woods is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: The Woods (2005) – Rated R.

“Set in 1965 in the buttoned-up world of an all-girls private boarding school, this horrifying tale features the acting chops of Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson, who appears as the chilly headmistress. Based on the nightmarish visions she has been having since her arrival, new student Heather (Agnes Bruckner) knows that the woods surrounding the school are not normal. And when her classmates begin disappearing, she has no choice but to investigate.”

“We have a certain way of doing things here. And you better find out what that way is or there will be serious consequences.”

I like that Lucky McKee has a distinctive voice in modern horror. I have not seen his first feature, the direct to video All Cheerleaders Die. His second feature May was a wonderfully oddball film inspired by Frankenstein which details the trials of a lonely lady slowly coming unglued.

The Woods is not as good as May, perhaps because it is somewhat more mainstream. Still the David Ross script, being set in an isolated girls school in the 60s, automatically precludes it from real mainstream. I really enjoy the slow burn story it tells.

Bruce Campbell has a rare serious role here and, in spite of the prominent billing, is not in the movie that much. He plays Joe Fasulo, the father of our protagonist Heather.

Agnes Bruckner capably plays our tough girl, Heather. Lauren Birkell shines as wallflower Marcy. Rachel Nichols has fun as the evil schoolgirl Samantha but not as much fun as when she plays the green-skinned Orion cadet on the Star Trek reboot.

Patricia Clarkson steals the show from the young ladies as a wonderfully creepy headmistress.

I love the soundtrack. It features not one, not two, but three Lesley Gore songs – “Young and Foolish”, “You Dont Own Me”, and “He Said Goodbye.” – one of which is done to a nice montage implying schoolgirl lesbianism (no not the titillating exploitative kind – get your mind out of the gutter). My guess is that it would have featured more if there had been a bigger budget.

It turns out that the two things I look for in a horror movie are either a good monster (Alien, Predator, The Host) or a good story (The Sixth Sense, The Descent, Frailty). The Woods has a good story and a lot of good atmosphere. The movie is creepy without being scary (which means I could show it to my wife).

This film is not without faults (the third act is weaker than the first two) but is worth a watch recommendation. I really like a lot of places the story went to and was thankful that it was not a cookie cutter Hollywood movie. I would not want to spoil any of it but I especially liked a scene where Heather pulls back a blanket.

Trivia: The filming of this made M. Night Shyamalan change the name of his film from The Woods to The Village even though this film did not actually get released until two years after The Village.

People Watch: Frequent Lucky McKee star Angela Bettis (May, Sick Girl) is the Voice in the Woods.

My Name is Bruce – Bruce Campbell week

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This is Bruce Campbell week. My Name is Bruce is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: My Name is Bruce (2006) – Rated R.

“Mistaken for the character he plays in the Evil Dead films, B-movie icon Bruce Campbell (playing himself) is kidnapped by the citizens of a small mining town who want him to save them from a vengeful demon. At first, Campbell thinks it is all part of an elaborate prank. But when he realizes the demon is in fact real, he comes face to face with a second terrifying enemy — his own fear. Ted Raimi co-stars in this tongue-in-cheek comedy.”

Bruce Campbell tackles the rough assignment of directing Bruce Campbell playing Bruce Campbell in this meta-comedy. I will say that no one plays Bruce Campbell better than Bruce Campbell.

Ted Raimi goes back into Evil Dead mode here and plays several characters. He is Mills Toddner, Wing, and the sign painter. He is delightful here in each of the roles.

Grace Thorsen is our female lead, Kelly Graham. She is a down-to-earth mom of the biggest Bruce Campbell fan on the planet (excepting of course Bruce himself). Taylor Sharpe is the aforementioned fan, Jeff and boy is his room loaded with memorabilia.

There is so much Campbell trivia packed into this movie.

Ellen Sandweiss plays Cheryl here and played Cheryl in the Evil Dead.

Dan Hicks plays dirt farmer here and was Jake in Evil Dead II.

Timothy Patrick Quill, who plays Frank, was the blacksmith in Army of Darkness (aka Evil Dead III).

Mark Verheiden, nerd extraordinaire, packs his script with plenty of Campbell references as well. Between name-dropping (Sam Raimi) and phrase borrowing (groovy, boomstick, gimme some sugar baby), there are plenty of in-jokes for die hard Campbell fans.

DVDs of Maniac Cop, Man with the Screaming Brain, Alien Apocalypse, Bubba Ho-Tep as well as some fake Bruce Campbell movies are featured. There of course is a chainsaw featured in a very humorous scene.

My Name is Bruce is in-joke after in-joke and operating on that level, it works fabulously. Unfortunately it delves a lot into some really bad toilet humor. There are unfunny jokes about urine, drinking from a dog bowl, etc. Even though Verheiden is the only one credited with the script, it seems as if two people wrote it.

The other thing wrong with this film is that it is essentially a horror remake of Galaxy Quest and Galaxy Quest was near perfect in script, cast and execution.

Still there are a lot of very funny moments in the film, many of which are not in-jokes. I give this a watch recommendation but if you are a Bruce Campbell fan, this is definitely a must-watch.

People Watch: Associate producer and graphic artist Craig Sanborn cameos as Bowling Shemp.

Man with the Screaming Brain – Bruce Campbell week

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This is Bruce Campbell week. Man with the Screaming Brain is currently available on instant Netflix.

PASS: Man with the Screaming Brain (2005) – NR – Not rated.

“B-movie king Bruce Campbell stars in this bizarre tale of murder and mad scientists. Wealthy industrialist William Cole (Campbell) heads to Eastern Europe for a tax shelter. After a maid murders Cole and ex-KGB operative Yegor, a mad scientist merges part of Yegors brain into Coles. Complete opposites, Cole and Yegor fight for control of the body they now share. The odd couple cannot agree on anything except hunting down the murderous maid.”

“You must forget to remember, before you remember to forget.”

I will say that I did like that right off the bat the film begins “Somewhere in Bulgaria…”. This is such a nice change from all the Syfy movies that are filmed in and around there yet claim to double for the Amazon, the Appalachians, etc.

Bruce Campbell not only stars, directs and co-produces but also wrote the story and script. His story is a real hodge-podge updating of The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971) and The Thing with Two Heads (1972). The problem is that this had already been done by Carl Reiner in 1984 with All of Me (among others).

Since William Cole (Bruce Campbell)  is eventually going to become the Man with the Screaming Brain, Campbell plays the role quite straight. He is really wonderful as the Ugly American. Later he gets to show off his slapstick chops when he only controls half of his body.

Stacy Keach guest stars here as our Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov. He has such wonderful lines of dialogue as “her heart is kaputski” and just gruffs it through, putting up with the antics of his assistant. He does seem to have a fun time with some of his scenes.

Ted Raimi has a much larger role here than normal as Pavel, the assistant to Dr. Ivanov. He uses it to be so goofy that I doubt that he is using the script. While I normally get a big kick out of any role I see Ted Raimi in, he could have used a bit of direction here. He has a few cute moments where he acts like Ygor but he could have used a bit of reigning in here.

Tamara Gorski and Antoinette Byron play our femme fatales here. Gorski is Tatoya, a murderous gypsy maid. Byron is Jackie Cole, the shrewish wife of our titular character.

This is a very silly movie to watch if you are in the right frame of mind. It is certainly better than most of the CGI drek on Syfy. Unfortunately that is not quite enough to recommend it. I found this amusing but I did not do much actual laughing.

So again another film to watch if you are a big fan of Bruce Campbell. Otherwise give it a pass.

I will note that the picture quality for this seemed quite fuzzy at times. As this is not normal for Netflix, I was unsure if it was them or my cable provider.

Also Ted Raimi raps over the end credits for those who are interested.

People Watch: Neda Sokolovska, who played Aida in Alien Apocalypse, plays a waitress here. Vladimir Kolev, who played Fisherman Bob in Alien Apocalypse, is Yegor the taxi driver here.

Alien Apocalypse – Bruce Campbell week

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This is Bruce Campbell week. Alien Apocalypse is currently available on instant Netflix.

PASS: Alien Apocalypse (2005) – NR – Not rated.

“Returning from a mission to outer space, astronaut-physician Ivan Hood (Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead) and his lovely assistant, Kelly (Renee OConnor), are greeted with an awful reality: Earth has been invaded by slave-driving aliens who use humans as their work force. Helping the enslaved population organize and rise against their captors, Ivan and Kelly incite a revolution that puts the evil extraterrestrials on notice.”

“Ungh… you said you are a doctor. You are supposed to heal people.” – “I am. Your stupidity is terminal. And now you are cured.”

Alien Apocalypse begins by stealing a page from Planet of the Apes: Four astronauts land on a future Earth that is no longer run by humans. It does not take long for that number to be reduced to two.

Aside: how can you remember the Probe mission that went up 40 years ago and only be 35 years old? Did they not read their own script?

Josh Becker wrote and directed this made-for-SyFy movie. His previous credits included 9 episodes of Xena Warrior Princess so it is no surprise to see Autolycus (Bruce Campbell) and Gabrielle (Renee OConnor) as the stars. His writing could use a lot of work but as a director, he keeps things moving fairly briskly.

Aside: this movie has some of the worst fake beards I have ever seen. One might almost call them pythonesque.

Bruce Campbell headlines again here playing Dr. Ivan Hood. His character is as self-centered as most of his are. He basically plays an intergalactic chiropractor since the only evidence of his healing ability is that he can crack the backs of those with poor posture. One of Campbells strengths as an actor is that he can visibly have fun with even bad material. The material here is not terrible but it certainly is not very good either.

Aside: okay the aliens invaded twenty years ago and everyone has forgotten what a handshake is? Even when many of the cast are well over 20?

Renee OConnor plays the female lead and other surviving astronaut, Kelly.She appears to be having fun although she is not given that much to do and the best lines go to Campbell. Strangely they sideline her for a good portion of the movie and substitute a generic attractive young blonde in a leather bikini for her. My guess is that they only had her for a few days of shooting (or perhaps she refused to wear that outfit :P ).

Aside: as mentioned the aliens invaded twenty years ago, yet still everyone has forgotten what a doctor is?

Veteran genre actor Peter Jason (Mortal Kombat, Prince of Darkness, Arachnophobia) plays the President but his screentime is exceptionally brief.

Aside: keep in mind when you see the President that according to the story he was President over twenty years ago. Apparently we elected another young ”un as twenty years later he appears to be the right age for a President.

I could go on with aside after aside but I think you get the picture. This movie is goofy and stupid. I cannot really recommend this except for die hard Bruce Campbell, Renee OConnor, or Xena fans.

Aside: if they have bows and arrows and modern guns with plenty of ammunition, why do they only ever use the bows and arrows?

People Watch: The role of Kelly was initially offered to Xena (Lucy Lawless) who turned it down before it was offered to her sidekick Gabrielle (Renee OConnor).

Bubba Ho-Tep – Bruce Campbell week

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This is Bruce Campbell week. Bubba Ho-Tep is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: Bubba Ho-Tep (2003)  – Rated R for language, some sexual content, and brief violent images.

“In this black comedy, Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) is an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home who switched identities with an impersonator years before his “death” and missed his chance to switch himself back. When the King teams up with a fellow resident (Ossie Davis) who thinks he is John F. Kennedy, the two old codgers prepare to battle an evil Egyptian entity that has chosen their long-term care facility as its happy hunting grounds.”

Elvis – “My God, man. How long have I been here? Am I really awake, or am I just dreamin I am awake? How could my plans have gone so wrong?”

First a word or two of warning. This movie is profane. Really profane. This makes the target audience a bit tricky to judge as the main characters are two elderly men in a nursing home who spend much of their time graphically discussing how old age has betrayed them, often in reference to their naughty bits.

The elderly might be offended by the constant stream of profanity. I know I would not show this to my mother or my in-laws. On the other hand how is it to hold the interest of young people when there are essentially no young people in it?

While this is primarily a horror comedy, it also has a lot to say about our mistreatment of the elderly. The convalescence home is of course a misnomer – it is clear that even before the horror starts, no one is leaving the home alive.

I really like how Coscarelli portrayed the home as a place where people are just sitting around waiting to die. Elvis spends most of the movie in bed. Coscarelli has a lot of lovely time-lapse photography showing things from the invalid point of view.

The concept, from a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, is brilliant. Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy team up to fight evil beings in a nursing home. Don Coscarelli wrote the script and as I have not read the short story, I am not sure which one of them to credit more with the lunacy that occurs.

Don Coscarelli is best known as the creator of the Phantasm series of movies. He directs here in addition to writing the screenplay. He does quite well especially given his restrictions on using actual Elvis material.

Bruce Campbell does a wonderful job as Elvis. His wry, self-deprecating delivery is so spot-on that Coscarelli gives him a lot of voice-over material in addition to his dialogue. Next to Ash, Elvis is the best character Campbell has brought to life.

Ossie Davis provides fine support as a very dignified if pigmentally-challenged JFK. Ella Joyce has a scene-stealing role as the nurse. Coscarelli regular Reggie Bannister (Phantasm I-IV) has a small role here as the rest home administrator.

Fun fact: Not one piece of Elvis music is heard in the film. Not only that but the Elvis movie marathon does not feature Elvis. On the DVD audio commentary, Coscarelli mentions that playing just one Elvis song would have cost half his budget.

As a favor to Coscarelli and his micro-budget, noted special effects group KNB did the effects for just the cost of materials.

As long as you do not mind the profanity, I recommend this fun off-the-wall film.

People Watch: Although it has not yet been filmed, Coscarelli has written the script for Bubba Nosferatu.

Lazy Weekend musings – B-Movie acting and Bruce Campbell

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There is a great deal of difference between a character actor and a B-movie actor just as there is a great deal of difference between great actors and stars. The terribly negative way of putting it is that B-movie actors are the stars that never made it (or have fallen from grace). They possess some of the talents of stars but not all or enough of them.

The mighty Arnold aside, the surest way to get sidelined from stardom to the B-side is a thick accent (hello Christopher Lambert). Other problems can include non-traditional looks (I think Bogart would have been a B-movie actor today), lack of charm or charisma (Dolph Lundgren), and a reputation of being exceedingly difficult to work with (you cannot really be a primadonna unless you are on top of the game first, difficult second).

One of my absolute favorite B-movie actors is Bruce Campbell. He does suffer from the non-traditional looks category. This is easily evidenced by the artwork for his best known film, Army of Darkness. Take a look at Bruce Campbell then take a look at the stylized representation of him on the above poster.

Bruce Campbell is funny, charming and has a great history of one-liners (most of them in Army of Darkness). I loved his hammy cameos in the three Spider-Man movies as well as his starring roles in the three Evil Dead movies. He currently appears to have settled down to playing second fiddle in Burn Notice but Netflix has a number of his films available on instant play.

So as you might guess this week I will be celebrating as Bruce Campbell week.