Hail to the Deadites (Fantasia Fest)
“Hail to the Deadites” is a movie by fans, for fans, more than it is about the movies they are fans about. Much like “Best Worst Movie” and “The People vs. George Lucas,” Steve Villeneuve’s documentary looks at the fanbase that has emerged around Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy, and if you are a fan of the series yourself, I think you will enjoy this very much.
The film centers around individual fans of the franchise, and even gets some interviews with actors from the films, including Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell. We are brought in to individual lives of fans, how they were introduced to the series, and how they were introduced to the fandom. We get glimpses of people watching productions of the “Evil Dead” musical, going to conventions to meet the actors, and even meeting and connecting with fellow fans, and how those convergences sometimes lead to memorable encounters with the people who made the films.
If you’re online, you’ve no doubt noticed how exhausting fandom can be- it feels like so much of the oxygen can be driven by what people hate about certain properties more than what people love; the sense of negativity and entitlement is exhausting, and hard to take. “Hail to the Deadites” shows us the pure love of fandom at its best, which is something that can be lost online, but which is always felt at conventions and cosplay opportunities. That’s because those places are all about the experiences in showing our appreciation for the artists responsible for the art, not complaining about issues we have with it. There’s not a lot to “Hail to the Deadites,” but whether you’re a fan of the “Evil Dead” movies or not, it’s worth watching to be reminded of that appreciation.
