Filmmaker Ryan Meade’s Invaluable; The True Story of an Epic Artist presents a look at the life and career of artist Tom Sullivan, the Michigan-based creator that many of you fine cats n’ creeps may recognize as the man that brought much of the iconography of our beloved Evil Dead franchise to screaming, biting life!
Speaking of Evil Dead, during the course of this demonic doc we get talkin’ head footage of many of the frightful franchises’ luminaries including the likes of Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Danny Hicks, Theresa Tilly, Hal Delrich, and Josh Becker… and let me tell ya; there are plenty of anecdotes that I can pretty much guarantee many of you fine fiends have never, ever heard before… and to that end I’m going to stop this revoltin’ review in it’s tracks to share something I learned watching this flick…
I have always wondered why Scotty has a frickin’ dog nose in a few sequences, and through this film (and some gorgeous concept art by Sullivan) we learn that originally he designed the Deadites to be extensions of the creatures of the surrounding forest, but the idea was ultimately rejected by director Sam Raimi… but when shooting commenced, effects weren’t finalized so what was on hand was utilized at times.
And the flick is jam-fucking-packed with cool ass things just like that!
We also get more modern looks (as of roughly a decade ago or more) at many of the locations utilized during the production of Evil Dead as well as places the cast and crew lived and ate while making the film, tons of incredible art, stills, and copious behind-the-scenes glimpses of the Evil Dead flicks… hell, Sullivan’s absolutely killer work for role playing game publisher Chaosium on their H.P. Lovecraft games is also explored… but the film offers some unbelievably heart-wrenching material as well as Sullivan has overcame some devastating personal issues which, while not featured as heavily as his art in the picture nevertheless illicit just as much emotion.
As you can surmise, this film is an absolute MUST OWN for fans of the Evil Dead franchise, and that’s just the main event… but there is plenty more to make this Blu-ray release from Synapse worth coughin’ up your hard-earned demonic dough!
Also included here is a second feature-length documentary, Other Men’s Careers, that explores the outrageous life of one of those cats mentioned up yonder, Josh Becker… and many of the luminaries that were spoken to for Invaluable returns here (joined by many more) to relate countless, (at times hilariously) unflattering stories of working with him on various films throughout the decades, Evil Dead included.
And as with Invaluable, Meade does an amazing (and enthralling) deep dive covering Becker’s career from short film maestro to feature director, with plenty of time given to his work on the Raimi produced Hercules and Xena TV shows as well… but, as with Invaluable you can expect some emotional gut-punches among the anecdotes and behind-the-scenes tales.
Also included are two trailers for Invaluable (and one for Other Men’s Careers), two short films from Meade (Bong Fly, followed by a behind-the-scenes featurette and a trailer, and Cosmos Locos), a nearly hour-long archival interview with Sullivan, a collection of extended interview sequences with Becker from Invaluable, an extended interview with Evil Dead I & II cameraman Tim Philo, a trio of bonus clips, and a stills gallery.
It’s literally right in the title; this film is Invaluable to fanatics of the Evil Dead franchise… you get two docs for the price of one, and both contain a Necronomicon’s worth of behind-the-scenes footage and anecdotes that makes one appreciate the legendary fright flick masterpieces even more!
