The absolute pinnacle of international rip-off merchants in cinema has to be Italy. During the seventies and eighties especially, the Italian film industry pumped out any number of blood-splattered horror masterpieces. Which meant they marvelled whenever an American director beat them at their own game. Sam Raimi did just that with his first two Evil Dead films, a pair of gore-drenched supernatural zombie flicks with a black sense of humour that pitched everyman Bruce Campbell against forces of unholy evil. Including his own possessed hand, chopped off and replaced with a chainsaw. Because of course. Raimi eventually produced a third in the trilogy the time-travelling fantasy epic Army Of Darkness - but Italy was sick of waiting by that point. Knowing their way around a bucket of fake blood, in the time it took the official Evil Dead 3 to be made they produced a trio of La Casa sequels (Italian for Evil Dead) themselves. Released elsewhere as Ghosthouse, Witchery and Beyond Darkness, each film had an even more tenuous connection to Raimi's original than the last. But they did still have a lot of violent zombie deaths.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
