Romero v. Raimi

The weekend just gone I had the immense pleasure of going to the Prince Charles Cinema for Romero v. Raimi: Battle of the Undead Trilogies. Since then I've pretty much had a massive headache, but I think that's more to do with eating vast amounts of flapjacks in the middle of the night, and not anything to do with being subjected to vast amounts of blood and gore on the big screen.

I was so excited before it started. They re-released Evil Dead a while ago, so I've seen that at the cinema, and I saw Evil Dead 2 at some sort of cinema-bar type thing, but that's not the same, and I'm way too young to have caught any of them on their cinematic release. None of the films disappointed.

Still, given the title of the event, I found myself forced to consider which I preferred, Romero or Raimi? Before the evening began, I was leaning towards Romero. I mean, this is the man, and these are the films, that brought us the zombie as we know and love it today. I can't imagine what I would do with my time without him. My book and DVD shelves would certainly be a lot emptier. By the end of the night, however, I'd remembered exactly how much I love old-school Sam Raimi, and he's got to be the winner, just for having made Evil Dead 2 and bringing Bruce Campbell into my life.

I mean, it has everything. Horror? Yes. Humour? Yup. Jumps? Certainly. Big splattering bouts of blood and gore? You betcha. What more could you possibly want? Oh, a million catch-phrases you can quote along to? "Groovy." "Who's laughing now!?" Done. A gorgeous male lead you can love forever? Sorted. The scene where Ash is battling his evil hand must be some of the best physical acting of all time.

Watching Evil Dead 2 at an age that the censors would probably consider far too young is one of the films that really got me into horror, and for that it, and everyone involved in it's making, will always hold a special place in my heart.

Lovely.

PS: Sorry if this makes no sense. I really need some painkillers.