This program origionally aired on 09-05-2017.
Bruce Campbell has been producing and starring in films since the 1970s, and through work largely with low-budget horror films, he has carved out a niche for himself as an iconic B movie actor. His most recognized role is that of Ash in the Evil Dead film franchise, which has produced three films, six video games, numerous comic books, and a critically-acclaimed TV show on Starz entitled Ash vs. Evil Dead, which was renewed for a third season in 2016. He mentions how his horror movie The Evil Dead received some added credibility from a fellow horror icon.
"Stephen King also saw it in probably '82 or something," Campbell says. "He saw at the Cannes Film Festival, and called it 'the most ferociously original horror film of the year.' And this really changed the game, because a lot of reviewers saw it with new eyes, if you will. Because before that, the reviews were very dodgy. An Atlanta paper called it, 'the sickest of the sick. Every bad idea Sam Raimi's ever had, he put into a low-budget blender.' After that, after the Stephen King endorsement, we begged him to use that quote, so of course that was right on the poster. The next review we got was from the LA Times; Kevin Thomas called it an 'instant classic.' So I know that it's not an instant classic, and it's not the sickest of the sick. It did change the radar of the movie."
On this Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe speaks with actor/producer/writer/director Bruce Campbell about his life as a B movie icon, and his new book entitled Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor.
