Thank you @papacrusher for bringing all these twitter prompts to my attention along with @thisismylife for the great idea. A huge thank you to all those reading, writing, commenting and building a film and television community like this. I had no idea about the CINETv twitter account and Discord channel.
Now that I've seen your posting you've inspired me to talk a little bit about my favorite movie prop. A book not meant for the faint of heart!
So what's this Necronomicon you say? The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis otherwise known as The Book of The Dead. There are sinister tales held within and unleashed upon the world in the film The Evil Dead (1981).
So what's the 10 second plot? A group of students go into a cabin in the woods. The Book of The Dead is found along with a tape that summons forth evil. The evil consumes them one by one as they try to make it through the night.
The aspect ratio seems off on this clip to me. The audio is what matters here.
Originally rated NC-17 which is the mark of death for a film. This was a phenomenon and riddled with blood and gore but also black humor. All this mixed together and there's nothing quite like it out there. All this combined with a new director Sam Raimi who went on to be a household name years later. Enough about the film let's get more to this interesting prop.
Bound in human flesh and inked in human blood as the tale goes. A book used by evil forces to battle humanity. The ability to open a portal between their world and ours is one of its main purposes. The deadites come forth looking to possess humans. I'll swallow your soul blah, blah, blah another day in the realm of the The Evil Dead.
Ilustrations are re-tracing of screenshots taken from the movie. This is some seriously great work by a fan that creates props based on the book. Excellent job! Sorry about the huge image dump here, I'm not sure how to present it nicely.
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My big piece of advice is not to read from it aloud. The good old professor did so and cost everyone dearly in that quaint cabin in the woods.
I own the limited edition DVD and it's a fun replica of the original prop. The original film prop had several different versions that have since been ravaged by time much like mine too.
Time is a cruel mistress
My left eye is completely missing!
My copy appears to be made of foam, where's the human flesh? The plastic was so supple and pliable when I first purchased it. All these years on a shelf has caused some serious wear. I can't even touch it as it crumbles to dust. Opening it would clearly have the entire book disintegrate. In case you were wondering, I take immaculate care of my stuff so I'm not sure what happened here? This is quite a shame honestly.
Here's what it's supposed to look like brand new.
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Scary and fresh I know
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Yes, that's an ear back there along with the mark from Tom Sullivan.
Tom Sullivan helped design the original movie prop and is closely tied with The Evil Dead franchise as he was a special effects artist on these films. There's a very interesting documentary about him called Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist (2014) for those that wish to know more. He seems like a very nice man and is always accommodating towards the rabid fanbase.
At this point in time Evil Dead DVD's were being released almost every other week it seemed. Anchor Bay were releasing so many genre films at this point I was in heaven. The jump from VHS to DVD along with all the added benefits of the format had me purchasing so much in this era.
As time progressed, many people were also getting tired of certain companies coming back with a new release all the time of the same film. A real cash grab at moments with an added feature on certain releases while leaving the actual film untouched. This version came out and they worked directly with Tom Sullivan to design a book that looked like the prop. Any fan couldn't resist this and I snatched it up on day one.
A full visual review of this edition for those that are interested
This was something to witness sitting on the shelf at the time. Seeing this front and center on day one on a Tuesday in your local spot was a great and funny thing to see. People would walk by and see The Book of Dead and do a double take. I'm pretty sure it had a funny smell due to the molding and plastic used to create the final product. Didn't smell like flesh, don't ask me how I know haha
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Ashley will help you out in your time of need
The world can relax if I owned the original. I'd protect it with my life and not open portals to the underworld too often. Ash Williams is a good friend of mine and we hang out often, especially when I need wood to be cut.
This was a fun prompt and brought back some memories of the DVD heyday. I even had the chance to dig out my crumbling Book of the Dead that will be gently placed back on the shelf to continue its slow decomposition into dust.
Thanks for the read 🙂
wow these are all things that I didn't know yet.. so I have to read it again probably. I do appreciate your effort in joining one of the writing prompts!
here's !1UP :)
Thank you very much for the curation and most especially for the inspiration. This book is so fragile at this point I fear a quick glance will reduce it to dust 😀
!PIZZA
Ugh ! I don't love evil, gross, scary or slasher dasher stuff.
So.. .it may be great for those who love that sort of thang.
Ick.... ha ha
I know it's not for everyone. I've always been fascinated with things that go bump in the night but only on film or fiction. In reality I'd be under the covers pretty quick 🙂
!PIZZA
You have received a 1UP from @thisismylife!
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Great movie... and I've been using "Necronomicon" instead of "Omicron" in conversations a lot recently... so I hope I help give Army of Darkness some new life. lol
That's right. Ash vs Evil Dead is a fun and over the top continuation if you haven't seen it yet. I never expected to see that all these years later.
I always loved that skeleton from Army of Darkness that says in a posh British voice "Let's get the hell out of here!". I'm surprised there is no gif I can find, I might need to make one.
An interesting use of the Necronomicon there and seems fitting haha
!PIZZA
I forgot about that skeleton! So funny. 😄
And I'll have to check out the new one... thanks for the heads-up.
I like to get people going... but not enough people know where the reference is from for the joke to land consistently. Bummer. lol
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