Crimewave (1985), directed by Sam Raimi

 

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune - "Is It A Crime" by Sade

       Sam Raimi occupies an unenviable position in the world of indie directors that made good. He’s made some critically successful films but nothing as acclaimed as those films by David Lynch or Quentin Tarantino. He’s made some commercially successful films, but he’s not a household name like James Cameron. The awkward middle child of the bunch, although when you’ve got a couple million bucks in the bank that notoriety feels a little overrated.

Obviously I and a lot of people in my age group know Raimi through his adaptation of Spider-Man, but as a big nerd I knew him principally through his cult classic (a proper one this time) Evil Dead trilogy, particularly Army of Darkness as that was one they would play on TV. The blend of gorehound violence, surreal horror and cartoonish slapstick, with the snarky, tortured but utterly badass Bruce Campbell at the center of it all, played perfectly to a kid whose mind had been shaped by Tim Burton and Ren & Stimpy. Those three films, made up the entirety of what Raimi’s career was prior to getting the Spider-Man gig, and it wasn’t until years later when I was reading Bruce Campbell’s book “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-movie Actor” that I learned about a film that Raimi made in between the release of The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. Moreover it was written by a young Joel and Ethan Coen, who had also been extremely influential in developing love of cinema. Prime Marathon material, the kind of film this blog was made for, and yet the years come and go and I always end up finding something new that strikes my interest at the time. So instead of bothering with formalities and all that rigamarole, why don’t I just watch the movie like a normal, non-crazy person, and we can go from there. Sounds good? Good.

Released in 1985, Crimewave was directed by Sam Raimi, written by Raimi, Joel & Ethan Coen, and produced by Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell through Embassy Pictures and Renaissance Pictures. It’s a dark and stormy night in Detroit, and convicted serial killer Vic Ajax (Reed Birney) is set to be executed for his crimes. Vic vigorously maintains his innocence, as you are wont to do, and through flashback tells us his side of the story; Vic was a simple schmuck working for Odegard/Trend security company, installing cameras and striking out with the lovely Nancy (Sheree J. Wilson). Prior to this (although still part of the flashback) Mr. Trend had learned that Mr. Odegard was planning on selling the business out from under him, and in a fit of murderous rage hired a pair of exterminators, Faron Crush (Paul L. Smith) and Arthur Coddish (Brion James), to kill him. Which they do, with panache. Before he can celebrate his gruesome victory however, Trend discovers an important truth: if you hire exterminators to murder a person and they agree, then they’re probably fucking crazy, and when it comes to Crush and Arthur there’s no ‘probably’ about it. As a storm rolls into Detroit the situation immediately deteriorates after Crush and Arthur accidentally murder Trend as well when he comes by the scene of the crime, setting off a chain of events that spells disaster for everyone involved. Vic, Nancy, even an immaculately dressed Bruce Campbell won’t be able to escape the pull of this Crimewave ™ .

Being preoccupied with the Evil Dead trilogy as I was, you might watch Evil Dead II and assume that the decision to incorporate slapstick was a spontaneous one, maybe Raimi was watching some Tex Avery and was inspired. As it turns out, Raimi had already tested the comedy waters a couple years prior. Where ED2 utilized a bit of slapstick to establish the Ash’s degrading sanity and powerlessness against the Deadites, Crimewave starts off bizarre and just gets crazier from there. In the review of The Fugitive I said that the film had a classic Hollywood feel and it sort of rings true here as well, only instead of Hitchcock it’s The 3 Stooges and Don Knotts vehicles from the 60s. Or to go a step further, even just a full on cartoon -- suave Renaldo’s every move is punctuated by a sound effect, Arthur’s shock box for killing rats has a convenient human setting, and Crush and Arthur’s weirdly ADR-ed voices brings to mind the mumbled dialogue of old Popeye toons, there’s even a hallway gag for those needing a Scooby Doo fix. We’ve seen a couple of films on this blog that do something similar, Monkeybone comes to mind, but Crimewave has a dedication to showcasing that absurdity visually that’s impressive.

Crimewave is also the first film of Raimi’s career to have some money behind it, and you can definitely tell. Raimi is blowing up cars, he’s got building miniatures, there’s an elaborate scene involving a chase through a series of doors out of nowhere, and so on and on. This all came back to bite him in the ass when the box office came in and it turns out that they made back 5 thousand bucks off of a 2 million dollar budget, but as a viewer I really appreciate Raimi going all out. One because the rising chaos pairs so well to the film’s absurdist tone that it just couldn’t work without it, but also because it feels like Raimi is having fun. He’s a young hotshot director that has all these new toys to play with, actual sets et cetera, and because you never know if you’ll ever get this opportunity again he’s making the most of it. It’s the same feeling that makes watching the Evil Dead and to a less extent Darkman so fun, that the filmmakers are having fun seeing the kind of wild shit they can get on film.

As far as casting goes, any film that has Bruce Campbell going ham is on the right track. Reed Birney plays the milquetoast well as Vic Ajax, in spite of him constantly reminding me of the judge from Night Court. His chemistry, or more accurately anti-chemistry with Sheree Wilson’s Nancy is a good bit of comedy, her ability to convery the message ‘fuck off nerd’ entirely through body language should be commended. Paul L. Smith and Brion James are exactly how you’d imagine lunatic exterminators would be, a regular Laurel and Hardy if they were born near a toxic waste dump although strangely they never really work together that much in the film, despite being set up as a duo. Anyway, as with the special effects, everything is turned up to 11.

This all should tip you off to the fact that if you go into this film expecting a Coen Brothers movie, then you’re likely going to be disappointed. While there is a thread of the Coens in Crimewave, the common refrain throughout this film of Vic being a decent person and the universe punishing him for it does seem up their alley, the high energy, screwball nature of the thing runs against the more grounded temperament of their later films. Aside from Raising Arizona, which does venture into Tex Avery territory when the bounty hunter enters the picture. Don’t go into it expecting to forge an emotional connection with the characters or learning some universal truth about the human condition and you should be fine.

Going into it as a Raimi film though has its own set of troubles. Despite Bruce Campbell being in the film the film lacks a strong character like Campbell’s Ash to build the story around. Reed Birney plays a good dweeb but not a captivating one, and while the exterminators are fun there’s something about them that just doesn’t click. I’ve referenced the 3 Stooges and Laurel & Hardy and that is definitely the vibe they’re attempting, but it feels surface level. Like they establish Crush as the leader, the Jackie Gleason to Arthur’s Art Carney, but that dynamic is rarely explored. Hell Crush ends up doing most of the legwork in this film, so they should have paired them up more just to give Arthur more shit to do. At the very least it would’ve increased the body count, as this psycho killer comedy made by the Evil Dead guy is barely pushing past PG as it is. How the hell that ended up happening I couldn’t say.

Crimewave is not the highlight of either Sam Raimi or the Coen Bros. career, but as a silly spectacle I was entertained the whole way through, so I’ll give it the recommendation. If you liked The Mask with its big band retro aesthetic you’ll find something familiar here, or you could go down the 80’s horror comedy route and pair it with The Burbs or Fright Night, or even Evil Dead II if you wanted to be weird about it. Guaranteed to be better than death by electrocution!