I was recently a guest on the Wake Up Heavy podcast where I got to talk to host Mark Begley about The Evil Dead. It always makes this Michigander proud to talk about this legendary film. Sam Raimi took the horror world by the neck and shook it until it begged for mercy. The Evil Dead caught the attention of Stephen King at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival and his pull-quote, "The most ferociously original horror film of 1982," placed it on every genre fan's must-watch list. Coverage from Fangoria, along with great notice from a string of festival appearances, helped solidify its notoriety.
Made on a shoe-string budget in the woods of Tennessee by a bunch of friends from Michigan, the movie was an exercise not only in scares and gore, but in moxie and gumption. Before the film was even begun the trio of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Rob Tapert formed Renaissance Pictures and took the business side of low-budget films seriously. They produced an instant classic that has withstood the test of time and spawned a franchise that has lasted 35 years.
Ash, his sister Cheryl, his girlfriend Linda, and they're friends Scott and Shelly take a little vacation to a dilapidated backwoods cabin and accidentally summon demonic forces. By the end of the night only Ash survives. Or does he? The Evil Dead may be short on story but it's long on dread, gore, and inventive film-making.
We conclude Czechtember 2020 with a look at Vera Chytilova's Fruit of Paradise (1969). This may be the most experimental and unusual movies we’ve covered as part of Czechtember. It’s a re-telling of the Adam and Eve story directed by Chytilova and co-written by her and Ester Krumbachova.
Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan join Mike to discuss this experimental narrative and squeeze oranges.
We continue #Czechtember 2020 with the 1969 Slovakian film Birds, Orphans, and Fools by Juraj Jakubisko. It’s a story of three young people in the turbulent year and place of 1968 Slovakia. There are birds, the characters are orphans, and they often play the fool as we experience a slice of their lives.
Kat Ellinger and Jonathan Owen join Mike to discuss the film, Jakubisco's other work, and his fellow Slovakian filmmakers.
On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike talks to Helena Trestíková (aided by the film's rep, Daniel Vadocký) -- half of the directing team behind the 2019 documentary Forman Vs. Forman -- about her life in occupied Czechoslovakia, her 45 year career as a documentary filmmaker, and the importance of Milos Forman.
#Czechember2020 continues with a look at Juraj Herz's Morgiana. Released in 1972 the film stars Iva Janzurova as both Victoria and Clara Tragen, two sisters who are driven apart by their father’s will and the jealousy of Clara by Victoria.
We’ve talked about Herz in the past including his incredible film The Cremator. And, for as subversive as that film was, it was Morgiana that got him into more trouble.
On this special episode of The Projection Booth we're looking at Park Chan-wook's Oldboy (2003). Based loosely on the manga by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, the film tells the tale of Oh-Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik), a salaryman who gets abducted and held in a cell for 15 years. Just as he's abducted without explanation he's freed just the same. From there the film becomes a mystery where Oh-Dae-Su tries to find not just who abducted him but why.
John Atom and Bill Ackerman join Mike to discuss the original manga, the 2006 Indian remake Zinda, the 2013 Spike Lee version, and the Brian DePalma film Obsession (1976).
Special Guest: Jonathan Owen Guest Co-Hosts: Noel Thingvall, Jim Donahue
We continue Czechtember 2020 with a look at Jindrich Polak's Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977). Based on a story from Josef Nesvadba and co-written by Milos Macourek, the film stars Petr Kostka as both Jan and Karel Bures, twin brothers, one of who has helped invent a rocket that allows people to travel through time.
A group plans to rent out a rocket just for them and, rather than going back to do a little sport hunting in the time of the dinosaurs like Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder, they want to go back to 1944 and speak to one Adolf Hitler...
We're doing something a little different for Czechtember 2020 with two commentary track episodes. First up, a discussion of Vojtech Jasný's All My Good Countrymen (1969), a tragic tale of a group of friends in post-WWII Czechoslovakia.
Spencer Parsons and Chris Stachiw join Mike to discuss Jasny's lyrical film which was banned by Czech authorities. We also talk about the unofficial "remake", The Moravian Land (1978) and the sequel, Return to Paradise Lost (1999).
I was recently a guest on the Wake Up Heavy podcast where I got to talk to host Mark Begley about The Evil Dead. It always makes this Michigander proud to talk about this legendary film. 
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