Some other cool things about Hail to the Deadites are that instead of using footage from the movies themselves, Villeneuve used footage from the seemingly endless number of fan-made tribute videos, which go from the bare minimum to stop-motion animation and everywhere in between. There is also a visit to a London, Ontario based production of Evil Dead the Musical.
As I said previously, the most important thing in Hail to the Deadites is the Evil Dead fandom. It also talks about the bigger point of what fandom means to people, both the fans and the objects of their adoration. Bruce Campbell says, “Fans, what they can do is be tremendously impactive, either good or bad,” and immediately after points out that stalking is the bad that he is talking about. Campbell’s charm comes in at several points in the movie, as well as a parade of amazing, colorful suits.
“…a feel-good movie that highlights the joys of fandom at large…”
Again, though, this is about the fans, not my own Bruce Campbell fandom. Those who consider themselves fans of the Evil Dead must see this movie if only to feel extreme shame that they don’t have an actual piece of the Necronomicon or a Japanese Betamax signed by all the cast. It should always be seen to appreciate the other people involved in making the trilogy besides Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi (who is suspiciously absent).
Hail to the Deadites is a feel-good movie that highlights the joys of fandom at large, but it’s really cool to see that Evil Dead has such a huge life that a documentary is being made about it almost 40 years later. It’s very impressive for a film that didn’t do super well in its theatrical debut, and something to give hope to every independent filmmaker in the world. Maybe one day, you will have fans making tribute films of your movie on YouTube! Hey, stranger things have happened.
"…maybe one day, you will have fans making tribute films of your movie..."
