Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Screening – Fans of The Evil Dead movies, aka “deadites’, come together to discuss their love of the franchise that irrevocably changed horror forever in Steve Villeneuve’s documentary titled Hail to the Deadites (2020). Premiering to unsuspecting audiences in 1981, The Evil Dead was surprisingly gory but also displayed a level of artistry that had not yet been seen in horror, and most notably, injecting more and more comedy as director Sam Raimi continually remade/reinvented the story, beginning with The Evil Dead, then Evil Dead: Dead By Dawn (1987), and finally, Army of Darkness (1992). Presented by Happy Villains Entertainment and produced by Diggerfilms, Hail to the Deadites is screening during the virtual Fantasia Film Festival this year!

With such memorable practical effects created by Sam Raimi and team, it is truly surprising how low budget these movies were — innovative does not even begin to describe Sam Raimi. The movies have since found a cult following, though at the time of The Evil Dead‘s release it was not critically acclaimed. It is now a franchise that spanned 3 decades and has since taken on a life of its own and has fans of all ages as it is passed down by passionate forebearers to their progeny. Each movie is an exercise in the changing sensibilities of Raimi, beginning with as horrifying as he can get (besides with Drag Me to Hell (2009), of course) with The Evil Dead, then moving into doing more of a gore-toon with Evil Dead II, and then leaning into the popular action and comedy of the 1990s with Army of Darkness.

In Hail to the Deadites, a collector named Steve Villeneuve sets out to locate, meet, and pick the brains of the biggest Evil Dead fans around the world. After having launched a competition in 2013 and meeting Bri Cummings, the lucky winner who got to meet the grinning king himself, Steve realized that there is a larger community scratching at the heels of the franchise to connect with each other. Villeneuve interviews other superfans such as Martin Bruyere, Kevin Edwards, Elise Holmes founder of thedeaditeslayer.com, fellow documentarian Michael Felsher, super-collector Denis “Ash” Carter Jr., Jonathan Picariello, and a young Bruce Campbell lookalike named Adam King to see how they’ve infused The Evil Dead movies into their home life and follows them while attending horror conventions.

The movie also has brief interviews with cast members and the production team including Ted Raimi, brothers Don and Bruce Campbell, special FX guy Tom Sullivan, and the complete cast from The Evil Dead, however, this is mostly a fan-focused movie. It would have been nice if there was more from the production people, but if you’re looking for that kind of documentary you can watch something like The Gore the Merrier (2000) or Invaluable (2019). Hail to the Deadites is more so about the people who have found an emotional connection with the movie, why they did, and how their love of the movies has effected their lives.

One of the great things about The Evil Dead franchise is how much of a complete world that these movies build, producing props that are coveted by fans — anything from scraps from the original Necronomicon to a rock from the floor of the basement where the movie was shot is a highly sought after item to these superfans. The movies’ shockingly effective special effects, the ineffable and unequivocal magnetism of Bruce Campbell, and the artistic eye of Sam Raimi have swallowed the souls of many people who now follow the cast to conventions year after year, watch and recommend the movies constantly, and religiously collect any props from the movie that can be found. Although Hail to the Deadites is light on analyses of the movies and the time dedicated to interviewing the franchises’ cast members than I would like, this movie focusing specifically on the fans is an interesting and cute idea to show the passion behind the cult following. In the end, though, it may be a little slow for fans of the franchise looking for more behind the scenes information, stories, and the like.

MOVIE RATING — 6 out of 10