INVALUABLE: The Joys And Sorrows Of The Monster Kid Life
The original version of The Evil Dead became an instant cause celebre for Fangoria-reading horror fans because it delivered everything you could want from a low-budget horror flick: feverish style, unpredictable and dangerous shocks, a pitch-black streak of weirdo humor and, naturally, gruesome special effects by the bucketful. There was a raw "let's put on a show" appeal to it yet it was surprisingly accomplished in its visual style and the array of special effects it incorporated - not just gore and monster makeup but even stop-motion animation.
All of those wild special effects were largely the work of one Tom Sullivan: he never became a household name like Tom Savini or Dick Smith but his strange wizardry lives on with gorehounds. He's become a regular on the horror convention circuit, where Deadites of all ages give him a hero's welcome every time. His story is told in Invaluable: The True Story Of An Epic Artist and the result covers his career in-depth as well as providing insight into Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and their group of friends/collaborators from a novel angle.
As documentarian Ryan Meade lays it out, Sullivan led the classic life of a 'monster kid,' using art to cope with shyness and following his muse as it led him into drawing and experimentation with filmmaking and special effects. Despite his artsy interests, he was also wholesome enough to marry his teenage sweetheart. There's a nostalgic sense of Americana here that is made more interesting by being filtered through a monster kid's perceptions.
As a young man, his interests led him to cross paths with the likes of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Josh Becker. This leads to become involved in the production of The Evil Dead as a kind of one-man special effects department, handling not only gore but stop-motion FX, character designs, special props and more.
This lengthy section of the documentary will probably be its main draw for Evil Dead fans and it delivers what that audience wants. Virtually every key player in the film except for Sam Raimi contributes memories, with really interesting stuff from the actors that Sullivan worked with directly, plus you get lots of cool behind-the-scenes footage and photos as well as visits to locations. It's fascinating to see this familiar film revisited from the perspective of the FX department and it gives you a new appreciation for all the hard work Sullivan put into its shoestring-budgeted macabre spectacle.
Sullivan also contributed to Evil Dead II and that's touched upon here but the focus of the latter part of Invaluable is the challenges that Sullivan faced in his personal life. Without getting into specifics, he faced more than his fair share of tragedy on multiple fronts and Sullivan doesn't hold back on discussing it with Meade. However, he does get a second lease on life with his monster kid passions via the horror convention circuit and the film ends on a pleasant note as his boyish, guileless personality becomes a big hit with Deadites and other horror fans.
Invaluable is more rough-hewn in style than fans of modern documentary fare might expect - this was clearly a labor of love - and as a labor of love, it gets indulgent at times and runs an extra fifteen minutes or so longer than it really needed to. That said, Sullivan is a consistently likeable documentary subject and there's plenty of rare material here for Deadites to feast upon. Simply put, if you're a fan of the original Evil Dead or just like '80s horror in general, Invaluable is likely to intrigue your inner Fangoria-reading monster kid.