Bruce Campbell and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World of horror

Almost a decade ago, Bruce Campbell had this idea to gather all of his friends in the horror genre together to make a movie.

“I’m the guy at the party who, you look around and you go, ‘God, that guy’s still here?’” – Bruce Campbell

Cast of Thousands

During the golden age of Hollywood, some movies were so impressive in scope it seemed every actor in town wanted to be a part of it. Gone with the Wind, Spartacus, Lawrence of Arabia are some classic examples of this kind of movie making. One thing all of these epics had in common is that they literally had a cast of thousands meaning all of the hot actors around were starring in those spectacles.

On a smaller scale, those movies are still around today. Ocean’s 8 and Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming opus, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, are great examples of this type of picture. Both films have more than one major actor or actress in the leading roles.

Why am I going through this bit of cinematic trivia? Well, it leads me into our Ash Wednesday topic of the day. Almost a decade ago, Bruce Campbell was speaking with Hero Complex when the topic of “The Expendables of Horror” came up.

We Have Ideas

Anyone who follows Bruce probably remembers this concept that he had kicking around for years. After making the cult favorite, My Name Is Bruce, he was contemplating doing a sequel called Bruce vs Frankenstein. His idea was to get his convention buddy, Kane Hodder, to play the definitive monster.

As kickass as this idea sounds, it never came to fruition because Campbell was in the midst of his turn as Sam Axe on the hit television series, Burn Notice. Things never seemed to come together because he just didn’t have the time.

Well, now that he’s selectively retired, is there any possibility that he might be quietly working on one of these projects? We may never know but it is fun to think about. The one that sounds the most intriguing is “The Expendables of Horror.”

If he actually developed this effort, it could finally stop all the Ash vs Freddy vs Jason drama that has been circling the globe for years. Why? Because genre fans would finally get their wish of seeing Robert Englund, Bruce and Kane Hodder on the silver screen together.

In his own words, it would be more like “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World of horror.” For those readers that may not have seen this 1963 comedy gem, it was literally filled with all of the top comedians of the era. The film stars Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett and Spencer Tracy among other notables.

Campbell’s take would be a little offbeat and more in line with his approach to My Name Is Bruce. Instead of having the actors play the characters that they are known for and fighting some monumental evil force, Bruce has other ideas that are frankly more interesting and less predictable.

The Quirkiness Factor

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• 31 Days of Halloween: Revisiting American Gothic with Bruce Campbell

He is proposing a character study of sorts. “I want to find out the hidden sides of all of these people. I want to have Kane Hodder be very particular about what he eats and Robert Englund would be a tough guy like he knows Tae Kwon Do or something.”

In his mind, some of the actors would play themselves and play alternate roles as well. I have to admit this venture if it were to become real has promise. Just the thought of strong and imposing Hodder requesting to have his food prepared a certain way (think Meg Ryan’s crazy food orders in When Harry Met Sally) is hysterical.

Not to mention picturing Englund as a closet Ninja has its merits as well. Of course, we all know Ted Raimi would show up in some capacity. Since he’s predominantly known for portraying nerdy computer types, why not have him be a total ladies man with a babe for every day of the week?

Maybe Campbell pal, Michael Rooker, could turn up as well and play a shy, absent minded professor role. After his Guardians of the Galaxy stint as Yondu Udonta, that might be an exciting change of pace.

In the End

At the time of Bruce’s talk with Hero Complex, he stated that “there’s a script, it just kind of blows right now so no one’s really seeing it. We gotta work on it.” Well, Ash vs Evil Dead is out of the picture so maybe his fans might get to see this film idea come to life.

Just for fun, here is a fan made trailer of what Campbell’s movie might look like.

Fingers crossed, maybe someday coming soon to a theater near you!

Next: Ash Wednesday: Top uncharacteristic Bruce Campbell cameos

Would you like to see Bruce do an Expendables of Horror? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. We want to hear from you.