For a bloody good time, hit up Austin’s Salvage Vanguard Theater’s showing of Evil Dead: The Musical. Cult film fans will delight in this musical adaptation of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, complete with a “splash zone” seating section (think explosive bloodshed). Groovy.
Incorporating classic lines and the goriest scenes of the movies, things begin innocently enough, when a group of sex-starved spring breakers head out to a secluded cabin in the woods for a little breaking and entering. Well, fairly innocently anyway. All hell breaks loose, however, when a recorded recitation that happens to be Candarian demon resurrection passages is played and a game of Scrabble goes horribly awry. Once the trophy moose head on the wall starts singing, “We’ve got your hand!” Ash (played by David Gallagher) has no other choice than to remove the appendage with a chainsaw. Soon he has also decapitated his deadite girlfriend (“Baby, you got reeeeal ugly”), best friend Scott, best friend’s date Shelly, and even has an epic battle against own (now) disembodied evil hand. Fortunately for Ash, said hand is soon replaced with a double-barreled shotgun, better know as his “boomstick”. “Good? Bad? I’m the one with the gun!”
Corley Pillsbury is a sight to see as the shrieking, “I’ll swallow your soooul!” demon-possessed sister, whose wince-inducing puns are nearly as terrible as her skin-peeling face. The body count continues to rise as more demonically possessed characters burst onstage and into musical renditions of “Look Who’s Evil Now”. Other crowd pleasing tunes include “What the F@#$ Was That” and MJ’s Thriller-inspired, toe-tapping deadite dance number, “Do the Necronomicon”.
Luckily for all of us, Ash recited the ancient words invoking the spell reversing the power of the Necronomicon, sending the demons back down below and returned safely to S Mart, Housewares. Well, maybe not every single tiny little syllable, no, but basically he said them, yeah. Did you hear that noise outside just now?
The explosive blood-like substance smelled like Kool-aid. I’ll check the stain in the white skirt I wore….
I checked the stain on the skirt I wore, and I can confirm that it was indeed Kool-aid.
Let’s all give David Gallagher a hand (heh) for taking on the role made famous by the incomparable Bruce Campbell. He was really fun to watch!
Evil Dead done in 60 seconds with CLAY – 2010 from Lee Hardcastle on Vimeo.