Director Ryan Meade’s Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist details the life, times, and art of Tom Sullivan – including a unique look back at the making of THE EVIL DEAD. Using multiple film/video formats and new interviews, Meade creates an emotional tapestry and vibrant look at one of the key figures in making one of the greatest horror franchises of all time. Featuring brand-new interviews with the cast and crew of THE EVIL DEAD, including Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Josh Becker, Danny Hicks, Hal Delrich, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, and Theresa Tilly.
What We Thought:
If you enjoy the Evil Dead franchise you will quite enjoy Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist. The documentary is about Tom Sullivan who did the special effects for the Sam Raimi classic including designing The Book of the Dead and the stop-motion sequences. If you like documentaries on filmmaking, you’ll enjoy it too.
I grew up on the Evil Dead flicks so this was right up my alley. It follows Sullivan around with him going through old props and telling his stories from the film and his other work. It also includes Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell and the cast of the films. It follows them at different conventions and even goes to the original location of the cabin.
It’s a fun mix of original content, going to Raimi’s house, stories, from Michigan State and early works from all involved plus newer interviews with the cast and Sullivan himself. If you like making of special features on home video releases you’ll eat this up.
Sullivan’s life was pretty tragic too. It talks about him losing the love of his life and then being in a major accident which hurt his career. He was clearly a talented guy and could have been a household name ala Tom Savini if it wasn’t for the tragedies.
Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist is a must watch for Evil Dead fans. If you are only used to the reboot and Evil Dead Rise maybe it’s not for you, but if you grew up on Campbell’s Ash you’ll love hearing the stories and seeing the props. I totally dug it and will be recommending it to friends who love the Raimi movies as well.
Special features include OTHER MEN’S CAREERS – a bonus documentary about the life of filmmaker Josh Becker; a vintage Tom Sullivan “In the Spotlight” interview (1989); an unedited interview with Tim Philo, cinematographer of THE EVIL DEAD; extended interview segments with Josh Becker; INVALUABLE promotional trailers; two Ryan Meade short films: BONG FLY & COSMOS LOCOS; BONG FLY behind-the-scenes; and SNAP SHOTS – a motion stills gallery.
The Nerds Templar 