Actor and producer Bruce Campbell speaks to members of
the media about horror films and the film industry during a
news conference at Hastings College Friday.
Hollywood actor and producer Bruce Campbell will tell you there is no genre of film that will give the viewer a greater rush than a horror film.
"It's like a roller-coaster ride," he said. "Go to the highest ride and do the big death drop so halfway through that drop, you're convinced you're going to die and you want that rush of adrenaline. Then you hit the bottom and go, 'Ahh, we didn't die after all.' "
Campbell shared stories about his insight into the human's fascination with horror movies along with other stories during a news conference at Hastings College Friday evening.
HC students then received an introduction from Campbell and a preview of the new "Evil Dead" movie he produced before they viewed "Army of Darkness," one of Campbell's most famous works.
Campbell is speaking at 7:30 p.m. today at the college's French Memorial Chapel on the topic of fear. The program, presented as part of HC's Artist Lecture Series, is free and open to the public.
Campbell's history with acting goes back to his childhood and his early days working with friend and future director Sam Raimi.
To make a movie, they had to rent a large camera, purchase the film, process the film, produce the sound and put it all together. That didn't include the work in seeking out financial support or lugging the film from theater to theater finding someone who would show it.
Today's film maker can buy a HD camera for little to nothing, good editing software for $800, a computer for another $800 and all the music can be found digitally.
"You've got nothing to complain about Jack," Campbell said. "You can make a movie for like $3,000."
While the work in the early days of film making for Campbell, Raimi and their friends was difficult, Campbell said it taught him a lot.
"It proved to me that we wanted to do it because we were willing to go through all that crap," he said. "You punks, it's easy for you to be lazy. You go, 'I don't know if I'll edit today or tomorrow.' I said, 'We've got to get this machine back by Monday morning or it will cost another $100.' "
While Campbell may sound a little bitter about the ease of today's movie making, he's actually jealous. In fact, Campbell said he would love to get a few cameras, a few wireless microphones and go out and make a cheap movie using today's technology.
He said it's the high price of today's Hollywood blockbusters that really upsets him.
Back in the day, Campbell said most movies were $10-15 million to make and got great reviews and made money. Today, if a movie doesn't cost at least $300 million, without marketing, it's not a big picture.
Campbell said he could make 200 films for what his friend Raimi spent on the film "Oz: The Great and Powerful," in which Campbell has a role. He said 100 of them would likely be awful, while 50 would be OK and another 25 would be good.
"You'd have five classics out of it and you'd make money and pay for the whole thing," he said. "Movies today are too expensive; $100 million to me is absurd, $200 million is even more absurd."
Campbell said the future of movies continues to shine brightly whether they be low budget or Hollywood blockbusters.
"There are plenty of stories to be told with this as a location because it looks different than the average Hollywood place," he said. "Why does everything have to be shot in Burbank, Calif.?"
Instead, he said movies should come from places like Billings, Mont., or Hastings and be told by the people who live there about the people who live there.
"Let Hollywood make their $100 bazillion movies. I don't care," he said. "I still love making really tiny movies where nobody tells me what to do. That's what I love to do."
To read more, see Monday's Hastings Tribune or the Tribune e-edition.>>>
