Crimewave (1985)
Dir: Sam Raimi
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088967/
Cast includes Bruce Campbell? Check.
Script written by the Coen Brothers? Check.
Directed by Sam Raimi? Check.
Sounds like a great fucking movie! Too bad it's not.
This movie was a mess of wasted potential. From what I've read in Bruce Campbell's book, everyone involved with this movie has pretty much disowned it. This movie is a blemish on all of their careers because it was their first real "studio" picture, and they had no clue what they were doing. Couple that with the fact that the studio overruled several of Raimi's choices, and it's a recipe for disaster. In particular, they removed Bruce Campbell as lead, and he had to be relagated to a supporting role. He still did a great job, and played a wonderful smarmy bastard, but that's more than I can say for the rest of the movie.
This movie is 1 part film-noir and 3 parts Three Stooges, who are an obvious influence on Raimi. While that zany, over the top humor worked well in the Evil Dead films, here it comes up flat. There were a few good bits (Turning up the Megahurts) but most of the jokes seemed to come up short, or were delivered poorly. The Exterminators, in particular, really grated on my fucking nerves. The fat one had a voice that sounds like the poorly dubbed villain in a kung-fu flick, and I cringed every time he spoke. The other one wasnt much better.
The movie at least looked good, or I presume it would if it was ever given a decent transfer. What I saw looked VHS quality, so it is hard to judge the cinematography too harshly or praise it too much, but some of the angles and camera movements were pretty cool, which I have come to expect from Raimi.
I guess the silver lining to this cloud is that it inspired Raimi and Campbell to do Evil Dead 2 on their terms and no-one elses, and damn if that isn't a wonderful movie.
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088967/
Cast includes Bruce Campbell? Check.
Script written by the Coen Brothers? Check.
Directed by Sam Raimi? Check.
Sounds like a great fucking movie! Too bad it's not.
This movie was a mess of wasted potential. From what I've read in Bruce Campbell's book, everyone involved with this movie has pretty much disowned it. This movie is a blemish on all of their careers because it was their first real "studio" picture, and they had no clue what they were doing. Couple that with the fact that the studio overruled several of Raimi's choices, and it's a recipe for disaster. In particular, they removed Bruce Campbell as lead, and he had to be relagated to a supporting role. He still did a great job, and played a wonderful smarmy bastard, but that's more than I can say for the rest of the movie.
This movie is 1 part film-noir and 3 parts Three Stooges, who are an obvious influence on Raimi. While that zany, over the top humor worked well in the Evil Dead films, here it comes up flat. There were a few good bits (Turning up the Megahurts) but most of the jokes seemed to come up short, or were delivered poorly. The Exterminators, in particular, really grated on my fucking nerves. The fat one had a voice that sounds like the poorly dubbed villain in a kung-fu flick, and I cringed every time he spoke. The other one wasnt much better.
The movie at least looked good, or I presume it would if it was ever given a decent transfer. What I saw looked VHS quality, so it is hard to judge the cinematography too harshly or praise it too much, but some of the angles and camera movements were pretty cool, which I have come to expect from Raimi.
I guess the silver lining to this cloud is that it inspired Raimi and Campbell to do Evil Dead 2 on their terms and no-one elses, and damn if that isn't a wonderful movie.
posted by will at
6:53 PM
