Evil Dead Director Sam Raimi Creates Horror-Inspired Chevy Commercial
Chevrolet finally seems to be getting over its aversion to using actors in commercials, as evidenced by a decidedly cinematic ad that was just released by the American automaker. The 60-second faux-movie trailer, which will play in 2,300 theaters nationwide during its six-month run, is a light spoof of horror films directed by one of the genre’s masters, Sam Raimi.
Take a look:
“We approached the development of the Chevrolet trailer in the same way we would an actual movie—by thinking through the plot, characters and eventual outcome,” said director Sam Raimi. “I’ve been in plenty of theatres where the audience is so concerned for the safety of the main characters that they call out warnings to save them. That’s what this is based on.”
Raimi, who directed the Evil Dead trilogy and produced the entire The Grudge franchise, was the perfect choice for this kind of thing. Not only was the filmmaker born and raised in Chevy’s home state of Michigan, but his Evil Dead 2 is considered one of the best tongue-in-cheek horror comedies of all time, not to mention the fact that almost every single one of his films is secretly a car commercial (albeit all of them for the same, out-of-production Oldsmobile).
As a longtime fan, my only complaint is that the guy off-screen who shouts at the main character that “there’s a monster in there” isn’t voiced by frequent collaborator Bruce Campbell. That sort of cameo would have been pretty, you know…
“We continue to look for unexpected, attention grabbing ways to tell our story,” Paul Edwards, US vice president of Chevrolet Marketing, remarked in a press release. “With this trailer, we have thrown a twist into that quintessential, edge of your seat horror movie moment to highlight the comprehensive suite of available active safety technologies in our new Malibu and Cruze.”
Active safety technologies available on the all-new 2016 Chevy Cruze and Malibu include Front Pedestrian Alert, which uses a forward-looking camera to help avoid crashes with pedestrians ahead of the vehicle and apply automatic last-second braking; and Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, which lets the driver know when he is drifting out of his lane.
Patrick Grieve was born in Southwestern Ohio and has lived there all of his life, with the exception of a few years spent getting a Creative Writing degree in Southeastern Ohio. He loves to take road trips, sometimes to places as distant as Northeastern or even Northwestern Ohio. Patrick also enjoys old movies, shopping at thrift stores, going to ballgames, writing about those things, and watching Law & Order reruns. He just watches the original series, though, none of the spin-offs. And also only the ones they made before Jerry Orbach died. Season five was really the peak, in his opinion. See more articles by Patrick.