''Hail to the Deadites'' is a 2020 Canadian documentary that was written and directed by Steve Villeneuve, who also served as one of the producers. The documentary premiered at the 2020

Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

and centers upon the legacy of the ''Evil Dead'' franchise.

Synopsis

The documentary examines the fandom and legacy of the Evil Dead franchise. At the time the film was completed the franchise spanned three original films, one reboot film, a short film, a television series, a musical, and multiple video games and

comic book series a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

. For the documentary Villeneuve interviewed both people involved with the film such as

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low ...

, as well as fans of the movie from throughout the world.

Production

''Hail to the Deadites'' took multiple years to complete. When making the documentary Villenevue chose not to include footage from the franchise, stating that he was "proud to say that everything you will see or hear in this documentary was created by the fans.”

Release

''Hail to the Deadites'' had its world premiere on 20 August 2020, at the

Reception

''Hail to the Deadites'' holds a rating of on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews. A common aspect praised in reviews was the fan interviews, with NME highlighting an interview with the father of a child he named Ash, calling it "a heartrending reminder of the strange and unexpected ways in which stories become woven into our lives, helping us to make sense of ourselves and those we love." The Daily Dead was more critical as they felt that the documentary was too generic, writing that "Truth be told, this is a documentary that could have been made about any other horror franchise out there, and the results would be exactly the same."

Awards

* Bronze Award for Best Documentary at the Fantasia Film Festival (2020, won)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hail to the Deadites 2020 documentary films 2020 films Canadian documentary films Documentary films about films Documentary films about horror The Evil Dead (franchise) 2020s English-language films 2020s Canadian films