I saw Evil Dead for the first time

trekgeezer · June 12, 2005, 06:30:51 PM

That sounds weird for someone on this board, but yes, before last night on IFC Pulp Indies I had not seen The Bruce's first movie.

I have seen Army of Darkness many times, but other than Ash the two don't have much to do with each other (and please don't tell me about Evil Dead 2, I haven't seen it either but I know about it).

The one question I have, what part of the movie made it be rated NC-17? This is what DirecTV rated. The only really icky part (also the most realistic)was the pencil stab to Ash's girlfriend's ankle. I had a nerve conduction study on my legs once and the stuck a needle in the exact same place and wiggled it around, so I know that had to hurt.

It is interesting how you see the beginnings of Raimi's sense of humor and action that goes all the through AOD and the Hercules and Xena series.

Mr_Vindictive · June 12, 2005, 06:41:51 PM

Glad that you finally got around to seeing it Trek. It's the one film that I can blame for making me the film aficionado that I am today.

I'd have to say that the "tree rape" probably plays a big part in that NC-17 rating. The film is pretty gory through. You have to consider Scott hacking up his girlfriend with the axe, the scene with the demon being shot in the face, and the final death of the two demons at the end. Quite Gory.

Don't bother with Evil Dead 2 - You Aren't Missing ANYTHING.

odinn7 · June 12, 2005, 06:44:52 PM

I would say it was rated NC-17 because of the extreme subject matter for the time it was released. There was some nasty possession and plenty of blood in that movie. Also, perhaps the tree scene might've been enough to push it over the edge. I really think that throwing that rating on it helped it out as it was the talk of school at the time and how bad and gory it was. Sneaking in to see it was part of the lure.

Scottie · June 12, 2005, 09:23:31 PM

Skaboi wrote:

>
> Don't bother with Evil Dead 2 - You Aren't Missing ANYTHING.
>

Are you kidding about Evil Dead 2? It's fantastic!

Mr_Vindictive · June 12, 2005, 10:12:15 PM

Meh.

I figured I might catch some flak for that comment. No I wasn't kidding. I dislike ED2. I feel it's the low point of the ED trilogy. The humor doesn't work for me, and I just find it to be a bore compared to the original and AOD.

Blue.Brutal · June 13, 2005, 12:39:13 AM

Wat I find really interesting about this is that Evil Dead was releaced in 1981, and NC-17 didn't exist until 1990 (first given to Universal Pictures' Henry & June, releaced the same year). Someone went back and got an official MPAA - NC-17 rating for it? Weird.

odinn7 · June 13, 2005, 07:37:44 AM

Yeah, if I remember it right, when it was released it had that no rating stamp on it but then later it was changed to NC-17. "No rating" was a big deal back then as it usually meant it was something that you wanted to go to see.

Master Blaster · June 13, 2005, 12:04:53 PM

Ignore the blasphemer. See Evil Dead 2 at all costs.

Blue.Brutal · June 13, 2005, 03:05:49 PM

Yeah, I dig that, but was it re-releaced theatrically? The MPAA usually won't stick their ratings on something unless it's going into theaters; television has its own rating system (TV-PG and all that rot). I didn't miss a theatrical re-releace, did I?

dean · June 13, 2005, 06:27:57 PM

>>>>but was it re-releaced theatrically?

I think it was, though I'm not sure when. On top of this, would it need to get a rating if they were showing it as a limited release at a certain cinema after its initial release, as in a special screening of Evil Dead for some reason or another?

Mr_Vindictive · June 13, 2005, 06:37:04 PM

No, it actually wouldn't need a rating to be played at anytime. Films do not need a rating for a theater to show them. The problem with the current film industry is that theaters will not show a film unless it has been rated, unlike say the 70s when films like Dawn Of The Dead would bypass the MPAA and get released without a rating.

Scottie · June 13, 2005, 08:47:45 PM

Skaboi wrote:

> No, it actually wouldn't need a rating to be played at anytime.
> Films do not need a rating for a theater to show them. The
> problem with the current film industry is that theaters will
> not show a film unless it has been rated, unlike say the 70s
> when films like Dawn Of The Dead would bypass the MPAA and get
> released without a rating.
>

Nor will a major distributor pick up the film to begin with because they know the film won't make money due to a lack of widespread release. So it goes to a small company willing to make a risk and who is in contact with theaters willing to exhibit the film. The cycle is quite vicious. You can't get your film released because a distributor won't touch it, and a distributor won't touch it because no theater will play it. So it gets billed on the back side of a snuff film playing after the 2am showing of "Debbie Does Dallas" on 42nd street down the street from where sailors got all their kicks. It's really sad.

Blue.Brutal · June 14, 2005, 01:27:26 AM

Skaboi wrote:

> No, it actually wouldn't need a rating to be played at anytime.
> Films do not need a rating for a theater to show them. The
> problem with the current film industry is that theaters will
> not show a film unless it has been rated, unlike say the 70s
> when films like Dawn Of The Dead would bypass the MPAA and get
> released without a rating.
>
I got this from Wikipedia, which is pretty much what I had read on this particular subject:

In the early years of the ratings system, X-rated movies such as Midnight Cowboy (1969) and A Clockwork Orange (1971) could win Academy Award nominations and awards. But the rating, which wasn't trademarked, was usurped by the adult entertainment industry to the point where an X rating (which was never intended to imply anything about the nature of the adults-only content) became equated strictly with pornography.

This led to large number of newspapers and TV stations refusing to accept ads for X-rated movies, and some theaters' landlords forbade exhibition of X-rated movies. Such policies led to a compromise with the distributors of George Romero's 1979 horror film Dawn of the Dead: the audience restriction for X would be enforced, but the letter "X" itself would not appear in the film's advertisements or displays, with the following message being substituted: "There is no explicit sex in this picture; however, there are scenes of violence which may be considered shocking. No one under 17 will be admitted." The same dispensation was granted to some later horror films, including Zombie and Day of the Dead.

The URL I got this from is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPAA_film_rating_system