Top Film for Each Year of My Life – 1987

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn

“We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound ‘fine’?”

“Then let's head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch.”

“Someone's in my fruit cellar! Someone with a fresh soooul!”
Ahhhhh… back to my comfort zone. Take everything I said about Evil Dead and apply it here. Only apply it liberally, because I like Evil Dead II better than the first. This film solidified Bruce Campbell as one of the best physical comedians of our time. To watch him go head-to-hand with his possessed appendage is bliss. Sam Raimi pushed up the slapstick while maintaining the (discolored) gore and mayhem of the first. The film works on an entirely different level that the first, sacrificing scares for balls out insanity.

Campbell owns EDII. A combination remake/sequel, the film gives Campbell ample alone time in the cabin to play with the props: a severed head, a chainsaw, a severed hand, a headless puppet with a chainsaw, it’s all classic. Instead of being a wimp like he is in the first film, Campbell makes the transition to badass with surprising engineer skills. He even gets to be a Deadite!
The Evil Dead films are the epitome of laughable (intentional and accidental) horror, but made with such obsessive craft that you can’t help but admire them. No one involved takes the films remotely seriously, which makes it a treat to listen to the commentaries on the DVDs. Again, I can’t express how much these films influenced my appreciation of the horror genre. I don’t want to inundate you with all of the intricacies of the film. Those of us who love the films know them all already.

But ’87 was kind of an awesome year for movies, so I need to acknowledge the fallen. Firstly, Monster Squad which also ended with a vortex to another world. How is it that two movies in the same year used the same esoteric effect? But the rest of my top films are as follows: The Princess Bride, Full Metal Jacket, My Life as a Dog, Raising Arizona, Withnail and I, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Robocop, Prince of Darkness. Holy shit! That’s an epic line up alone. Anyone of those has a strong chance at the top spot in other years (easily for ’88).
It’s no surprise that EDII takes the top spot. Comedy and horror are what I love most. Combine the two effectively and you have gold. Combine the two effectively and intend to do so, then you have super-gold plus one. I can’t express enough how criminal it is that Bruce Campbell has not achieved a mainstream film career. I am going to resist the cliché quote from the film, because you all thought it the minute you read the title. Because you already knew…