Campbell was the star of a 2011 Burn Notice made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe. Probably best known for his work in several Sam Raimi and other "B" films, Bruce Campbell offers a memoir of his early life and his career in Hollywood. Four generations later, my grandfather ventured westward to attend the University of Michigan as a pre-med student.

I can’t say that I was the first Campbell to be published, because George John Douglass Campbell, eighth Duke of Argyll, kicked out a half dozen books in the late 1800s—my personal favorite being The History and Antiquities of Iona. That became obvious to me one school morning as I leaned down to buckle up my rain boots at the top of the stairs. Genealogies appearing in book form usually begin with a great statesman, a renowned warrior, an illustrious divine, poet, author or reformer, and are so blended with fabulous detail as scarce to leave room for the supposition that the founder of the family ever had a father. With enough anecdotes on cheap film making to make anyone think they could do it, to the bizarre stories of fandom which might put you off and everything in between.

narfna on “What the stories never said: at the end of the day, if a man wants to kill you, he kills you. Anecdote rich and often funny, this account covers Bruce's career up until 2001, from his early years making Super 8 shorts with Sam Raimi and Robert Taipert, through the arduous but ultimately career launching production of The Evil Dead and on through the occasional ups and frequent downs of life as a member of 'the Hollywood lower-middle class'. Star of the cult Evil Dead trilogy, with a CV that ranges from buddy Sam Raimi’ s Spider-Man, through The X-Files and Xena: Warrior Princess, to the less-than-glamorous Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, you’ ve probably never heard of him.

That’s the perception, anyway—the horror movie nerd as unfuckable, illiterate moron, haunting the sub-basement and getting in Reddit arguments about the relative ambulatory speed of different zombie varietals. The popularity of Bruce, the cult hero of cable TV and Hollywood' s second rung, is burning brighter than ever, his legion of fans undiminished after over thirty years.For everyone else, it acts as a wonderful reminder for just why they fell in love with him in the first place.

He kept incredible diaries throughout his entire early life and friendship with Raimi, and his accounts of being a goofy kid on the outskirts of Detroit diving head-first into the wild world of film making are meticulous and hilarious. I was 18 and absolutely tripping over myself to host an event with this Big Name, and he made it easy. As a kid exploring the woods between these upper-middle-class homes, the city might as well have been a million miles away.

But now he's giving you a chance to get to know him through this book (and Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor - I just bought that one as well) and I appreciate the honesty, wit and charm he brings to his writing. Bruce is charming and relateable and funny, and I loved how he started each section with fan or hate mail. He later recorded an audio play adaptation of Make Love with fellow Michigan actors, including longtime collaborator Ted Raimi. This game evolved into lava tossing, where you flung the napalmlike substance at your opponent (or brother), as it dripped from the melting man.