Fellow Bedmates

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The chainsaw scene is ethically indefensible even for the era, and I hated it. Even "kids playing at movies in the woods" don't get a pass for risking Betsy Baker's life for a shot.¹

With that out of the way... I enjoyed this film a fair deal. The gore effects weren't beyond my limits (well, not quite) and they were very impressive for the tiny budget this movie had. The claustrophobic atmosphere was excellent, and both sound (effects more than music) and camera work were great. I was genuinely creeped out at times, such as in an early scene with Cheryl in the woods.

The Deadites' eye effects were produced unhealthily, but they're remarkably otherworldly and disturbing. Then there's the stop-motion! Not terrifying, but disconcertingly grotesque, especially at the end. As for the acting, Bruce Campbell was easily the pick, fortunate given his central role. Everyone else was cheesy-to-good, with the cheese most prominent in the less intense early scenes.

There's not much actual plot, and characters repeatedly do stupid things because reasons, but my goodness the pace of it all. Once The Evil Dead gets into gear it never takes its foot off the floor. There is one notorious scene involving a tree that I disliked. I thought was pretty exploitative and much too long, but apparently many fans think the same way. Overall, a very solid film. ★★★½

¹ There's a still partway down this Blu-ray.com page. There's a bit of blood but no gore. The saw is live, with the chain on, being throttled, and is genuinely as close as it looks. It's a catastrophic violation of "Don't point a loaded weapon at anything you don't intend to destroy."

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In the end, a fairly comfortable win by the Greens, with Reform just pipping Labour to second and the Tories and Lib Dems nowhere near saving their deposits. Social media is full of "hot takes" from pretty much all sides, so let's see if I can put together my "lukewarm take" that isn't likely to please anybody!

1. I am glad Reform didn't win. I think they are deeply unpleasant and divisive, and too many of their politicians are more or less openly Trumpist in their views. Stopping Reform would have been my number one priority had I been a voter there.

2. I am not especially keen on the new, urban wing of the Greens. They seem to be prioritising Corbynite left-wing policies rather than their traditional environmentalism, and Corbynite policies are not always appealing to me.

3. Labour are now in a real bind. I'm pleased they've been shown that trying to ape Reform isn't necessarily a vote-winner, but can they get back to being the kind of balanced centre-left party I'd like and drop some of the incompetence and authoritarianism? Probably not with Starmer still there.

4. Of all the "main" parties, the Lib Dems are often closest to my views these days, but they got under 2% of the vote. Voting LD this time would have been like spoiling my paper. The same goes for the Conservatives, had I been predisposed to vote for them.

5. Reform's Trumpian rhetoric about "family voting" having "stolen" the election is unacceptable. This is one reason I wanted whoever won to do so by a clear majority, as has happened. It's clearly an excuse for failing to win over enough voters.

6. At the same time, I do think it's a genuine issue if even a few women are being pressured to vote a certain way by their husbands. Until recently you could say, "Well, it's a secret ballot" – but with mobile phones women can now photograph their ballot papers (illegal but very hard to stop) to show that they have voted the "right" way.

7. Turnout was quite high for a by-election, only marginally down on the general. This wasn't a huge surprise to me. I think that's just the usual case of people thinking that because it was close, there was a reason to get out and vote.

8. First Past the Post is a terrible voting system, and if we see a party win a majority in 2028/9 with 25% of the vote it will become even more obvious. Yet the parties in power are too wedded to self-interest to change it, and I doubt despite current rhetoric Reform would either.

9. Labour allowing Andy Burnham to stand might have won them the seat – might – but then they'd have had another nightmare in the form of a Manchester mayoral election, since you can't be mayor and an MP at the same time.

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Have some late-night music! This is one of the best known songs by perhaps my favourite blue-eyed soul singer, Dusty Springfield. She was born in England to Irish parents, but by this time she was a star on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to songs such as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966). I've chosen her appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in late November 1968, a fortnight after the song was released, since the audio is remarkably good for the era. "Son of a Preacher Man" was written with Aretha Franklin in mind, and she did release her own cover in 1969, but Dusty's was the original recording. Enjoy!

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Well, that's odd. I went into town this morning to buy a pack of ibuprofen. Sainsbury's charged 90p, so I walked down the road to Tesco, where they were 35p. Both standard generic packs of 16 tablets, the same as you get in every supermarket in the country. And no, it wasn't that one was tablets and one was caplets. They were identical. What Sainsbury's are playing at I don't know. Here endeth the health report. :P