“Bruce Campbell is the greatest actor of his generation!”
When an ancient Chinese demon is unleashed on the burg of Goldlick, the horror fan teen that unleashed the oriental beastie calls upon his hero to put the monster back in the grave. Groovy, baby, give me some sugar.
An unleashed Chinese god who chops off heads? Who ya gonna call? Why Bruce Campbell of course.
Jeff (Taylor Sharpe) and his pals are partying in a Chinese graveyard that dates back to the gold mining days of the small burg of Goldlick. A cave-in trapped a group of Chinese beneath the surface and the trapped people prayed to the god Guan-Di (James J. Peck), who is also the god of bean curd, for help. He didn’t exactly save them but swore to protect their resting place (gee, thanks).
Jeff sees a strange amulet on the boarded up entrance to the old mine and removes it. This unleashes Guan-Di who beheads everyone in the cemetery but Jeff, who escapes. The vengeful god is out to chop the head off of all of the relatives of those that let the Chinese perish and that includes just about everyone in Goldlick.
Jeff knows that they need a hero and he can think of only on man for the job, Bruce Campbell (Bruce Campbell). Campbell is shooting a film called Cavealien 2 to try and make a franchise to pay his alimony. His agent, Mills Todner (Ted Raimi), promises him that something big is going to happen on his birthday.
What Jeff doesn’t know is that Campbell is an alcoholic egomaniac that owes far too much money to his ex-wife Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss, his Evil Dead co-star). When Campbell brushes off Jeff, the creative teen kidnaps the star from his trashed out trailer. When Campbell awakens in the truck of Jeff’s car he thinks that he’s been taken by his “biggest fan” and has thoughts of Misery.
He’s let out in Goldlick and thinks that the quaint surroundings are the surprise that Mills has promised him so he plays along. It doesn’t hurt that Jeff ‘s mother Kelly (Grace Thorson) is a looker that he’d like to get to know better.
When he finds out that Guan-Di is the real deal and no relation to that peaceful dude from India, he does what any action hero would do – every man for himself and get the hell out of Dodge.
Bruce Campbell is an actor with an active cult following. Who better to design a valentine to the star than the star himself? Groovy. Campbell steps into the director’s chair and has created a film that any Campbell fan will go ga-ga over - myself included.
It’s not without faults. Guan-Di isn’t very well realized and they try and hide the seams by giving the beastie a CGI blur. To play devil’s advocate I’d have to say that this probably is just par for the course in Campbell’s film career since he’s encountered numerous rubber monsters over his film career.
It’s also obvious that his valentine was bought at the five and ten cent store and their wasn’t enough budget to do up Guan-Di right. It’s fun to see Campbell’s alums in the film as well - especially Sandweiss playing his ex-wife, it’s sure to get a chuckle out of devotees.
Raimi is all over the film playing Campbell’s self serving agent as well as a broad comedy relief sign painter and dons Chinese makeup as Wing. The town’s mayor and deputy who bear a striking resemblance to two fellows from Mayberry sing the narration.
My Name is Bruce is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary from director/monster slayer Bruce Campbell and producer Mike Richardson.
The 60-minute “Heart of Dorkness” is a parody on the Apocalypse Now making of feature Heart of Darkness and details the making of My Name is Bruce. The 2-minute “Awkward Moments with “Kif” has various troubles from the set with associate producer Craig “Kif” Sanborn.
The 4 minute “Bruce On…” has Campbell riffing on various subjects. Next is the 2 minute Cavealien 2 trailer and an 8 minute making of parody called “Beyond Inside the Cave: the making of Cavealien 2.” The 3-minute “Kif’s Corner” shows off some of the phony poster art that Sanborn made for the film. The 4 minute “The Hard Truth” is a humorous take on Campbell’s career.
The 1-minute “Love Birds” is about the two brokeback rednecks featured in the film. The 2-minute “My Name is Bruce” trailer also included. There are also galleries for posters, props, and a photo gallery. The case of the disc includes a comic book.
My Name is Bruce is a fun film and if you’re a Campbell fan then you’ll think it’s the cat’s pajamas. What would valentine’s day be without presents and some great special features are sure to make you see a ring of hearts floating about your head.
My Name is Bruce is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a March 2nd release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story