| Sam
Raimi, Michigan Thespian |
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One thing on my mind these days is that I love Sam Raimi. If I could walk down the street banging a giant drum with Sam Raimi’s name on it, I surely would. Everyone knows that the number one son from Franklin, MI, is man in charge these days. He’s not only the brains behind Spider-Man 2, the most anticipated movie of the summer, but creator of the internationally loved Evil Dead film series. His story is one of the little movie lover from Michigan that made it huge. This summer, all eyes will be on the director and I’m sure that after many see his triumphant second chapter in the Spider-Man series, many will speak of just how far this local guy has come. I seriously doubt very few will be speaking of Mr. Raimi’s brilliant, yet far too short, acting career. In a touching little 1987 film titled Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except, Raimi gave what the New York Daily News called “the worst performance ever done by a director.” Let the hacks in New York point fingers, because what Raimi does in Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except is what I call breathtaking. Directed
and filmed entirely in the Detroit area by director Josh Becker,
who went on to make the classic film Running Time, Thou Shalt Not
opens with a scene set in the jungles of Vietnam (actually filmed
in the woods of Hartland, MI) where we see Marine Sergeant Jack
Stryker (Brian Schulz) and his platoon trapped in the jungle. After
Stryker is shot in the leg a few times, his platoon members decide
to flip out and kill everything in their path out of revenge. Fast-forward
a few years and Stryker and his Marines are back home in Ferndale
and getting together for a few beers at a cabin in the woods. It
takes about forty-five painfully slow minutes to get to this point
in the film, but when we do, things begin to heat up, because this
is where Raimi enters. The Spider-Man director plays a baby-killing,
blood-drinking, cheap-Halloween-wig-wearing Charles Manson clone
with drawn-on stubble who spurts out shiny gold lines of dialogue
like, “Don’t you ever touch the sacrificial fluids,
okee dokee?” Once Stryker discovers the killer has brutally
wiped out his Grizzly Adams lookalike buddy Otis and written “THE
BLOODBATH IS COMING” on his wall, he and his ex-platoon members
grab rifles and head out to as they say, “go clean ‘em
up.” Thou
Shalt Not Kill...Except was put out a few years back on DVD by the
Troy, MI-based Anchor Bay Entertainment. Although its been popping
up less and less on shelves these days, it’s still easy enough
to find for those ready to experience Detroit independent film making
at its highest. The DVD also features a witty commentary track by
director Becker and the film’s co-screenwriter, best-selling
author and local hero Bruce Campbell. The two provide information
for those curious just where in the area every scene was filmed,
and just who is in every scene and how absolutely nobody got paid.
Sadly, Raimi does not appear in front of the camera in this summer’s
big blockbuster, but the spirit of solid fun in these early Michigan
gross-out productions remains in his work today. Thou Shalt Not
Kill...Except, with help from a little beer in the fridge, makes
for a perfect Spider-Man 2 after-party viewing session. That way
you too can see just how far the brilliant Sam Raimi and his crew
of goony goons from the suburbs of Michigan have come. A2P
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