"Splatter Zone" tickets are available in the front rows of the theater for $25.00. Patrons in the "splatter zone" should be prepared for a bloody good time and dress accordingly.

Evil Dead: The Musical unearths the old familiar story: boy and friends take a weekend getaway at abandoned cabin, boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons, boy fights until dawn to survive. As musical mayhem descends upon this sleepover in the woods, "camp" takes on a whole new meaning with uproarious numbers like "All the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons," "Look Who's Evil Now" and "Do the Necronomicon." Buzzing chainsaws and dancing demons add to the frenzy, slaying audiences with a tale of lust, love and dismemberment.

GIVE IT A (SEVERED, BLOODY) HAND
November 2, 2006 -- YOU'D better steel yourself for "Evil Dead: The Musical," the new theatrical adaptation of Sam Raimi's 1983 cult horror flick. Not because of all the blood spurting off the stage into the all too accurately named "Splatter Zone" - but to resist the relentless sledgehammer approach of a show that practically declared itself a cult sensation before anyone had a chance to see it.

Following "The Rocky Horror Show," this approach has become de rigueur for shows that cash in on the rabid need for communal irony. Even before the curtain went up on the preview I saw, the audience was as noisily revved up as the chain saw wielded by the story's hero.

Said hero is Ash (Ryan Ward, delivering an effective approximation of Bruce Campbell's deadpan comic performance in the film), who, along with several other horny young people, is besieged by evil spirits at a remote cabin in the woods.

As the characters succumb one by one to zombie - and bad makeup - transformations, they perform such numbers as "I'm Not a Killer," "Ode to an Accidental Stabbing" and the showstopper, "You Blew That Bitch Away."

Along the way, the audience is subjected to killer trees, many mimed masturbatory gestures, numerous severed limbs and heads with lives of their own, and dialogue on the order of "I'll smash your sac and make a testicle fondue."

Those who can't recite the film's dialogue by heart may be left cold by all the campy bloodletting, although numbers such as the one performed by a group of dancing demons have a certain goofy fun.

The sexy young cast members - who get ample opportunity to display their taut physiques - go through the paces with comic gusto. The staging by Christopher Bond and Hinton Battle has a number of funny, inventive touches, most of which involve gruesome effects.

Ultimately, "Evil Dead: The Musical" is for those who think the Greenwich Village Halloween parade isn't quite outrageous enough.

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL
New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St.; (212) 239-6200.

SpookyDan stumbled on some big news at this week's TIFF. The Evil Dead Musical is coming to theaters in 3-D, according to Screen Daily! Creators Christopher Bond and choreographer Hinton Battle are set to co-direct the amazing adaptation of the stage play that has been running here in Toronto for a while. The film should go in front of the cameras in Toronto sometime next spring. "I got a change to see it last weekend," says Spooky. "For fans of the film, it's amazing, for non-fans, it’s a blood soaked comedy with some great music. The highlight song is called 'What the Fuck Was That?' " Watch for more details as they come in.