Bruce Campbell is a cult film icon that has engraved his name in movies and tv shows for the past 40 years. The movie that started him on his path to role that eventually be kicking deadites butts was a small flick at the time. The movie Evil Dead graced the world in 1981 to a different view of how horror is seen through the eyes of Sam Raimi. Yesterday, the star of the movie held a very special screening to fans at Tobin Center of Performing Arts in San Antonio, TX. We were invited as media guests and here is our review of the evening!
We arrived to downtown San Antonio by 6pm, an hour and a half early, to find some good parking at the Tobin Center garage. We walked to the venue and got in line to get our temperature taken prior to getting into the venue by security. While adhering to safety standards, we were 6ft away from the nearest person. We then got our tickets scanned and were able to get a signed poster from the man himself Bruce Campbell.
We found our seats in the orchestra level and found out many isles were taped off. This created more social distancing between patrons attending the event. While we are at our seats, that is the only time we are allowed to remove our masks. If we stand up to leave for the restroom and get snacks, which we did, we would have to put our masks back on. I felt so safe and secure with the amount of protection Tobin Center was doing to make sure fans were safe at the event. We were told throughout the screening and Q/A, Tobin Center employees will be spraying the air with anti-bacterial solution to help stop any spread of bacteria in the air. Tobin Center went above and beyond to make sure all guidelines were adhered and to be sure all patrons were safe.
At 7:30pm, the movie Evil Dead was shown on the big screen. The movie is an instant classic for fans of horror! I have seen the Evil Dead so many times at home that I had to buy multiple DVD versions of the movie as they would get scratched. So as a fan of these movies at a later age, just being able to see the movie on the big screen was epic. I felt like I was back in 1981 watching the movie with everyone else for the first time in a theater.
After the movie, Bruce Campbell came out to high applause from the crowd. He talked a bit about The Evil Dead history and how influential Steven King was to make sure that movie had a rave review. Bruce talked about how, at that time show at film festivals, would have people either throwing up, having seizures or leaving out of the theater. After the ban was lifted on the movie in Europe, the movie skyrocketed to huge success overseas. This opened the door for Evil Dead 2 to be filmed and even had additional help from Horror Icon Steven King to make sure the movie came out. Bruce also talked about his movie and TV career from his roles in Burn Notice, Bubba Ho-Tep, the original 3 Spiderman movies, Ash vs Evil Dead, and of course my favorite Army of Darkness.
Overall, the event was fantastic and safe! Tobin Center of Performing Arts welcomed a cult horror icon to San Antonio with open arms while adhering to safety standards for their patrons. Bruce Campbell brought a fun and exciting event to San Antonio. We all laughed, cried, clapped, and of course felt so proud that we were able to have this event in the city. I am very glad Tobin Center is taking the helm at bringing safe and secure events back to San Antonio and the surrounding areas. We can’t wait to see who they will bring next!
More information about Tobin Center of Performing Arts: https://www.tobincenter.org/
