Why simply trudge to the local multiplex like a good little horror movie consumer to see the slick new remake of camp gore classic Evil Dead when the original is being given a rare theatrical screening just up the road?
Champaign’s ever-scrappy Art Theater Co-Op is doing its best to steal some of the new release’s thunder with midnight showings tonight and tomorrow of Sam Raimi’s 1987 Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (itself more of a remake of than a sequel to the future Oz the Great and Powerful auteur’s mega-low budget 1981 original).
Word has it that the new release pumps up the blood and guts at the expense of much of the absurdist humor of the originals, so if you want to watch Bruce Campbell wage big-screen battle upon his own severed hand – bringing to mind a demonic Senor Wences – this is your chance.
The Art Theater Co-Op is located at 126 W. Church n Champaign.
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This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2013.
