Barry Woodward

I recently purchased and watched, for the first time, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army Of Darkness all in the same day. I really loved The Evil Dead and was curious to find out how Raimi was going to continue the story after what happened to Ash in the final scene. When I popped in Evil Dead II, to my dismay, key details from the original seemed to be disregarded (I know Raimi couldn’t use footage from the original but still). After initially being taken out of the movie, I accepted the fact that it was a quasi-remake and had a blast with it. I loved the ending and because I vaguely knew Army Of Darkness took place in the same setting I thought for sure the two would fit together quite nicely. When I popped in Army Of Darkness, to my dismay, the ending of Ash taking out the flying demon and the soldiers worshipping him in Evil Dead II was completely dropped. After the initial minor disappointment, I got over it and thought it was extremely groovy. Now I know what some of you might say to my reactions, “They’re just campy horror flicks, continuity be damned!” and I can understand that, to a certain extent, and I do love them just as they are now however the trilogy’s continuity incompatibilities have inspired me to want to re-edit Evil Dead II and Army Of Darkness in order for all three in the series to fit together as much as possible. Even Bruce Campbell himself mentioned to Raimi the potential for a re-edit of the series on the Army Of Darkness commentary.

So, here are some preliminary editing ideas I’ve had so far. The Evil Dead ends with that cool shot through the cabin and ends when the camera collides with Ash. The retelling of the awakening of the deadites in Evil Dead II can be completely cut out as well as the recreated cabin shot. The film can now begin with Ash flying through the forest and crashing into a tree. Everything plays as normal until Ash encounters the evil house. Cut out Ash trying to leave in his car because from the original, he already knows that the bridge is out. The shot of Ash saying something like “Get a hold of yourself.” in the bridge sequence with forest behind him can be used next (you don't actually see the bridge in the shot) as well as the following shot of the sun going down though it should be cut before we see the car in the shot. Cut out Ash trying to rush back in his car. Use the shot of the evil force crashing through Ash’s car (you can see smoke near the front of the car in that shot because in the original cut he crashed but other such smoke is seen in the woods so it can be written off as fog). Use footage of Ash running briefly and then cut to the tail end of the shot of Ash crashing into the tree (originally because he was ejected from his car but in this cut it can double as him tripping into the tree). Let the rest of the movie play as normal until the ending. Ash gets sucked into the portal like normal but the movie ends with the flash before Ash falls from the sky in the past.

Cut out the intro of Army Of Darkness and begin the movie with the flash and Ash falling to the ground with his car. Let the rest of the movie play as normal until the ending. Use the international/original ending of Ash isolating himself from the world in the cave and taking the sleeping drops. Show the transitions of time and his increasing beard but this time cut to the US theatrical ending in the S-Mart. Once he kisses the girl have him awake from his slumber in the cave (it was only a dream). Continue with the rest of the future ending. What do you think?

Matthew Chmiel

When Evil Dead II was being filmed, Sam Raimi did not have any of the the rights to use the footage from the first film. So in the beginning of the film, when the recap of what happened previously are occuring, Raimi shot entirely new footage to use. Evil Dead II begins the moment Ash is spinning through the air, after all the events have been recapped. It is not in anyway a "remake" of the original film.

With Army of Darkness, using the footage from the ending of Evil Dead II would be highly distracting, so creating entirely new footage when the moment Ash lands back in time occurs makes complete and total sense.

I believe that the trilogy is as perfect as it is (one of the best film trilogies out there). The only things I would change are the minor things between the Army of Darkness theatrical and extended cut. I prefer the extended cut, but I am annoyed by some of the dialog changes (I hate the line "I'm not that good." Especially compared to it's counterpart, "Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.")

Barry Woodward

Obviously, the entire film isn't a remake but the opening scenes are a remake/retelling of the events of the first film only not at all accurate.


So, you're saying that staying consistant would be more distracting than contradicting what came before?

Matthew Chmiel

Yes. It also helps that Army of Darkness is the better film of the three.

The Evil Dead trilogy isn't a trilogy well known for it's continuity or it's seriousness.

Scotts35

I think on the EDII Commentary Raimi mentions that they had the rights to original footage but they needed to reshoot and streamline it for pacing issues which was why they reshot it.

Groucho

I would like to know the continuity behind the wrestling announcer in Spider-Man. What turn of events got him a job as an usher on Broadway?

Matthew Chmiel

And why didn't he even realize he was turning away The Amazing Spider-Man?

Groucho

Could it be? Did George Lucas have a hand in the script?

berserker37

Well, a few years ago I came across a post (I thought it was in this forum, but I could be wrong) from a guy who had done 2 new edits: one for "Army of Darkness", and one for the Evil Dead trilogy. He basically researched all of the available versions of all of the movies, and then re-edited them to include absolutely every scene that was available. He did this not so much to make the BEST version of the movies, but to make the most COMPLETE versions (understanding that some continuity errors would be present). Not quite the same thing as you're talking about, but similar.

I bought both of them from him (on VHS); I watched AoD but still haven't gotten around to watching the Evil Dead Marathon. I found his AoD cut to be interesting and entertaining, since I'm such a fan of the series.

Shannon Nutt

Twin Brother - the one mom likes (theater usher) and the black sheep of the family (wrestling announcer).

Jackskeleton

Two years have past. clearly the turn around rate in this bush economy is higher and thus Wrestling announcer has to make ends meet by taking a second job as a theater usher to keep his russian land lord from saying "RENT?" over and over agan. (breath!)

Matthew Chmiel

Do you think his Russian landlord's daughter asks Mr. Usher/Ex-Wrestling Announcer for some chocolate cake, but really gives him yellow cake instead?

JLyon1515

Greetings from Rochester, NY, Barry Woodward!

I found the topic of your post quite interesting, something I've never thought about before. I like the idea, and from what I read of your editing, it sounds really cool. Would be interesting to see.

LivingINClip

Thread Crap Warning!!!!!


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It's to bad they all suck.

Rival11

............and I agree with ya

TomOpus

[BANNED]

scott shelton

*spits drink*

No amount of your fu**ing incessant overuse of the winking emoticon will get save you from that comment.

Rival11

Matt, what the hell man?? I didn't notice this until Scott quoted you..........ah well, you like what you like but dammnit why!!!! (just kidding)

rennervision

Barry. I actually did this very thing a few years ago. The cut between Evil Dead I & II in my version is exactly like you described. I even made the S-Mart ending a dream just like you said, then had him wake up in the cave!

Your suggestion of the cut from ED II to AOD makes the most sense. I considered doing that, but it bothered me because I absolutely love the way ED II ends when Ash realizes he's the guy in the ancient prophecy, and all of that would have been cut. So what I did was I included the entire final scene of ED II (with a little insert from AOD that has that great shot of the camera looking up into the sky when Ash and his car appear out of nowhere and plummet to the ground). Then, I cut to an intermission. (During the intermission, the two Metallica songs used in the original AOD trailer are played.) Then the movie resumes with the wizard saying something to the effect, "I believe this is the one spoken of in the book." (I'm probably not quoting exactly.) Of course, the whole introduction where Ash narrates and Linda is suddenly played by Bridget Fonda is now cut.

The intermission helps with the continuity issues between these two scenes. You're free to disagree, but since there are already unavoidable continuity issues with the movie (i.e., going from straight horror to zany comedy, a single-barrel shotgun turning into a double-barrel shotgun, Ash's hair turning gray then turning back to normal), I would say this works fine for me. Good luck.

rennervision

Barry - I need to add one more thing to my last post.

There's a brief shot at the beginning of AOD that shows Ash working at S-Mart. If the introduction to AOD is cut, the joke where he climbs out of the pit and says, "Shop smart, shop S-Mart." falls a little flat. (As well as the final battle in S-Mart.)

So what I did was this: At the beginning of EDII, there's the part where Ash is attacked, goes flying through the treetops, then gets possessed. The sunlight drives the demon away and he collapses onto the ground, exhausted. At this point I insert the S-Mart shot as a dream. Ash says something in this scene (directing a customer to the right aisle I think), then I cut to Ash in EDII lying on the ground and his eyes open. After which, I just let the rest of ED II play like normal. (Although your idea of cutting out the bridge sequence makes sense.) So, there will be two times in this newly edited trilogy where Ash falls asleep and dreams he's working at S-Mart. (Kind of funny in itself, if you ask me.)

majorjoe23

Bruce told my friend that AOD was the best film when we saw him speak.