The Shemp Stays In the Picture: A Review Of “Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist”
The “Evil Dead” franchise has seen so many home video releases, that between commentaries, making-of featurettes, and interviews, that it has amassed more special features than Stefon’s latest nightclub find. While Anchor Bay drowned us in “limited” editions of each film in the original trilogy, one person was barely accounted for: special effects artist Tom Sullivan. Sullivan’s story is told with humor and heart in the latest Synapse blu-ray of director Ryan Meade’s “Invaluable: The True Story of an Epic Artist.”
By the end of the 1970’s, Sullivan had been working with Sam Raimi and his merry band of fake shemps since “Within the Woods,” Raimi’s pre-”Evil Dead” short. When the time came to make his first feature, Raimi brought Sullivan along to that fateful Tennessee cabin to craft the special effects and make-up for the original masterpiece. Essentially, Sullivan is one of the unsung heroes of “The Evil Dead,” and his stamp can be found on the iconic images of the franchise. “Invaluable” makes the rounds to several extended interviews with franchise tentpoles like Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, and Scott Spiegel.
Young Tom Sullivan doing the lord’s(?) work.
While it’s always fascinating to learn more about the making of seminal works of pop culture, “Invaluable” feels more at times like an extended featurette than a full-length doc. Sullivan goes back to the site of the now-demolished original cabin, which feels just like a Horror’s Hallowed Grounds segment. “Invaluable” is listed as a new release, but it was made nearly a decade ago. The aforementioned interviews with “Evil Dead” cast and crew were mostly from conventions held around that time.
None of this is to say Sullivan isn’t an interesting character. In fact, when the actresses from the original film give testimonials, they’re effusive about how protective he was of them. After hearing stories for years about how awful the makeup was to wear, it’s very heartening to hear. Sullivan doesn’t seem the least bit resentful, but you can’t help but wonder why he hasn’t been as heralded as much as Raimi and company. After all, he’s responsible for the ingenious claymation climax of the original film (along with other interview subject Bart Pierce). We also see some props from the films, including reunions between the actors and the very same latex appliances they wore. There’s also the original Necronomicon from Sullivan’s personal collection that looks like it could use a Necronomicon of its own, if you know what I mean. Though some of the pages look oddly pristine…
The blu-ray also comes with several extended interviews, as well as a short film by director Ryan Meade. There’s also a second feature-length documentary, “Other Men’s Careers” about Josh Becker, another Raimi collaborator and talking head from “Invaluable.” Becker is a lively interview and if you’re already this far into the Sam Raimi Industrial Complex, it may be of interest, though after Sullivan’s doc, this one is even more of a supplemental feature. It’s still unclear as to why an entire second documentary was included, and why weren’t they given a double bill on the disc?
Sullivan circa 2014.
There’s an early anecdote where Sam Raimi initially rejected Sullivan’s drawings (to be fair, he was busy at the time), so Sullivan had to intuit a lot of what Raimi wanted as they were shooting. Re-watching “The Evil Dead,” it’s clear Sullivan was the perfect collaborator for Raimi’s decades-spanning vision. While it may feel like a feature-length extra at times, “Invaluable” proves itself to be an apt title for Sullivan.
“Invaluable” is available on August 1st, 2023 from Synapse and MVD.
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