Six Degrees of Donnie to Ash

Time Travel - Both Donnie Darko and Evil Dead 2 involve themes of time travel, though they approach them in different ways. In Donnie Darko, time travel involves tangent universes, while in Evil Dead 2, it works in a circular fashion. When Ash looks at the pages of the Necronomicon in ED2, he sees a portrait of himself in the dark ages. He doesn't realize the picture is of himself, as he has not yet traveled back in time. Both movies DO share similar concepts in time travel portals. At the end of ED2, Ash is sucked into a vortex floating in the middle of the air. In DD, Donnie's portal also appears in the sky as a tubelike formation.

The Manipulated Dead - In Donnie Darko, Frank the Bunny turns out to be Donnie's sister's dead boyfriend from the future. At least, that's what he is in physical form. His body is being manipulated by some other kind of lifeform in order to give Donnie important instructions. In ED2, the dead (and even some living) are possessed by demons (hence the name Evil Dead). These demon infested corpses do what you would expect them to do - they kill people. But they also taunt the living. Henrietta's corpse attempts to trick Annie (her daughter) into thinking that she's not really possessed by pretending to be her old, living motherly self.

Two Tickets for Evil Dead - The most obvious connection between the two films is the theater sequence in Donnie Darko. Donnie takes Gretchen to a Halloween double feature, featuring Evil Dead. Now, Evil Dead ain't Evil Dead 2, but its still Evil Dead, ya dig? Interestingly enough, it could have been just as easily Evil Dead 2, as ED2 was released into theaters in 1987 and Donnie Darko takes place just prior to George Bush Sr. being elected president, somewhere around late 1988. Perhaps Richard Kelly (writer, director) prefers the original Evil Dead. Perhaps getting rights to show clips for ED2 were too expensive. Whatever the case, it's still pretty cool.

Frank the Bunny - James Duval, who played Frank in DD, appears in a lot of independent films. Often the characters he plays are stoner, dimwit types who stumble into trouble (like pre-manipulated dead Frank). One such character is Blank (rhymes with Frank) in the movie May. Poor, idiotic Blank is murdered by the title character. Cool, because Frank is murdered by the title character in DD. The director of this film is Lucky McKee. He is currently finishing up his next film, The Woods. Guess who appears in this new movie? Bruce, baby.

Spiderweb - During negotiations for Spiderman 2, it looked like Tobey Maguire would have to be replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal (they DO look like they could be brothers). Jake (who played the title role in DD) was so close to the deal, he had already gone through months of physical training for the movie. In the end, Tobey cut a deal with the studio and got his role back. Sam Raimi directed both Spiderman films - and all of the Evil Dead films.

New Direction - Richard Kelly is gearing up for his next directorial feature, Southland Tales. According to IMDB, Sarah Michelle Gellar will be play the lead. SMG stars in the American version of The Grudge, which also features an appearance by Ted Raimi. Not only is Ted Raimi Sam Raimi's brother, he also has parts in virtually all of Sam's films. in ED2, Ted played the possessed Henrietta. "Someone's in my fruit cellar!" An addition to this, Tim Blake Nelson will also be in Southland Tales. TBN starred in the Coen Brother's Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? Bruce Campbell has some close connections to the Coen brothers. Joel Coen was an assistant editor on the original Evil Dead. This lead to Bruce starring in a mock trailer for Blood Simple (the first Coen Brothers movie), used to attract investors to the project. In a sense, BC really helped jumpstart the Coen's careers. These days, the Coens, like Sam Raimi, often give Bruce a small, uncredited part in their newest films. My question is - why not just give him the lead? All directors should be so lucky.

 

090604