No one dislikes Bruce Campbell—people either adore him or have no clue who the heck he is. For all those mired in the ignorance of the latter category, Campbell is a B-movie god. The star of such classic films as Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness (original title: Medieval Dead), he has created an acting career out of being a caricature of a tough guy. His more mainstream work has also had an indie edge, much to the chagrin of network executives. So “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.” lasted a season. So did his recent program, “Jack of All Trades.” His frequent appearances on “Xena: Warrior Princess” never gave him the national recognition of a Lucy Lawless, but he has continued to press on nevertheless, and as more people have discovered his work, they too have become believers.
But Bruce is more than just a pretty (funny) face with chisled features. Now he’s a published author. If Chins Could Kill, his collection of musings on his unique career, has reached number 19 on the New York Times bestseller list. What was originally supposed to be a little project culminating in 4,000 paperbacks has become a run of 70,000 hardcovers and a book tour. Oct. 16, he stopped by Harvard Square to sign books and paraphernalia—including the occasional chainsaw or two. Wordsworth Books hosted the event and, as a special treat for Campbell fans, joined up with the Brattle Theatre to combine the book signing with a special showing of Evil Dead 2, the acclaimed masterpiece of his troika.
Like the book, which has sold spectacularly since its release, the Campbell event blew away Wordsworth’s expectations. “We expected it to be big, but not that big,” said manager Sanj Kharbanda. An estimated crowd of 1,000 people came to some part of the event, which ended up running until about 2:30 a.m. Kharbanda noted that it was one of the top five most popular talks in Wordworth history.
The bookstore had reserved the First Parish Church for the talk, in which Campbell read excerpts from his book and took questions from the audience. After about 700 people smooshed into the pews, he walked to the front of the room and, doing his best minister impression, told the crowd, “Let us pray.”
He first tackled topical issues: “Is this a great country or what? Thank God I’m an obscure B-movie actor, because Osama bin Laden has no idea who I am.” Then, he quickly segued into reading a chapter entitled, “Fanalysis,” a review of weird interactions between him and his fans.
Campbell, who spent most of the event’s Q&A section making fun of his followers, has a complicated relationship with the tattooed, pierced and slightly freaky-looking fans who populated his talk. But he managed to keep coming up with zingers that kept them laughing. When discussing an upcoming straight-to-video release in which he plays a 68-year-old Elvis who teams up with a black Jack Kennedy to save the residents of his nursing home from a soul-sucking mummy, he said, “Usually movies with a budget that low are not released. They escape.”
He ended the discussion by divulging the deepest secret of the movie industry: “I think it’s important to share with the world at large that it’s not all limousines and blow jobs. I mean, that’s mostly it.”
He was certainly more accessible than most Hollywood stars. After signing a slew of knick-knacks at the church from 7 to 9 p.m., “the party moved on to Wordsworth,” Kharbanda said. “He talked to everybody and was having a great time.” Quoting himself in Evil Dead, Campbell bid everyone farewell in the wee hours of the morning by saying, “Meet you again for the sequel.”
