EVIL DEAD 2 / DEAD ALIVE

This is the first entry in the “Double Feature of The Week” so I decided to choose two of my all time favorite horror films to get it started.  These two particular films are about as ridiculous as you can get and have developed a massive cult following since their release.  Whether you love horror films or not, this double bill is sure to entertain the crowds of new and old with their combination of over the top gore and slapstick comedy.

Evil Dead II

Evil Dead II is often said to be the greatest sequel to a movie ever made and one of the most influential horror films of the last 30 years.  Those are some pretty high marks, but for good reason.  What makes Evil Dead II work so well? After the huge success of Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and front man Bruce Campbell attempted to work on other projects that just never found their mark.  So they decided to revisit the cabin in the woods with Evil Dead II, and what a beautiful idea it was. The amazing combination of Raimi’s camera techniques and Campbell’s over the top performance of an action hero prove that Raimi and Campbell are two of the greatest cinematic duos of our time.  Evil Dead II perfected the genre with the way that it can scare you, make you laugh, and then scare you again all in one scene.

      Rotten Tomato Score: 98% 

Dead Alive

Surprisingly a lot of people have never seen or even heard of this movie.  So for that I’ll give you a little rundown of it.  The movie has a rat-monkey, zombies, eating of dogs and humans, and a lawnmowers scene involving 5 gallons of blood per second.  Not sold?  How about the fact that it’s said to be the bloodiest film of all time.  That’s what I thought.  What makes Dead Alive work so well?  The fact that it is so utterly ridiculous. Seriously… as the movie goes on you will find yourself saying that there is no way Jackson can go any further, except he does and he does it gloriously. It’s honestly one of the most fun movies you can watch. With its non stop ridiculousness it will keep you laughing until your stomach hurts.  It’s a very crude and gory type of humor… but that’s the best kind!

Rotten Tomato Score: 86%

Why they are better together:

By now you might have noticed some pretty big similarities between the two films which is what you want to aim for in a double feature.  They don’t have to be the exact same type of movie but they need to have some common ground.

You can’t make a double feature with Erin Brockovich and Night of The Living Dead, it just does’t work like that.  

The cool thing about Evil Dead II and Dead Alive is how much in common the directors have.  Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi both started their careers with these insane horror films and eventually became two of the biggest directors in the world.  Raimi went on to direct the Spider Man trilogy while Peter Jackson made some movies you might of heard of in The Lord of The Rings trilogy. With this double bill you get the opportunity to laugh, scream and see some of the early work of two amazing directors. They pushed the boundaries of the horror genre and succeeded in making movies that will forever be loved by the true horror hounds out there. If you’ve ever actually sat down with a bunch of friends and watched a double feature such as this you would know how much fun it can be. I know a lot of people find it difficult to have time to sit down and watch even just one movie let alone two back to back, but I assure you, it’s worth it!  Movies are meant for an audience and what a better audience than a bunch of friends sitting around watching awesome movies together? I urge everyone to at least give it a shot, and start with these two, you wont regret it.