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''I know now that my wife has become host to a Candarian demon. I fear that the only way to stop those possessed by the spirits of the book is through the act of... bodily dismemberment.''
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Bruce Campbell: Ash
While Evil Dead obviously was never in the running for an academy award, it has touched two generations of fans now in the last 35 years or more. It was made by college kids as nothing more than a B-movie/home made effort but it turned out to be one of the most original and gruesome movies in the last quarter century.
Evil Dead is a tale about 5 college kids taking a vacation in a secluded cabin among the woods somewhere in Michigan. During their stay they stumble upon the centuries old Necronomicon, the book of the dead. (Not to be confused with the book of the dead from The Mummy).
After stupidly reading from the book, the ancient evil the book possessed, comes to life and begins attacking the 5 kids (including one scene where a woman is raped by a tree) until they are either killed or possessed. One by one they are dispatched by the one remaining survivor named Ash and by daylight the evil is gone....or so we are led to believe.
This movie took the possession concept from The Exorcist to a brand state of mind. This was supposed to be an Amateur effort orchestrated by young students yet the special effects are not bad for 1981 and non-Hollywood standards. If you see this movie and not the next 2 in the series, its quite amusing to see Ash play the role of the normal, afraid everyday nobody as opposed to the hero he'd become. If you look at the movie from the perspective of it was a low budget flick run by unknown actors, actresses, directors, etc you can truly appreciate its lasting effects on the world and the sequels spawned from it.
''We're going to get you. We're going to get you. Not another peep. Time to go to sleep.''
The POV shots are used with such innovative bravado and technical efficiency. Shots used in the manner of Dario Argento. One of the first people to use the shaky Cam effect. The use of POV in Evil Dead would influence a number of film directors. Sam Raimi is one of the best American filmmakers when it comes to these specific shots.
Ash in the first Evil Dead is a tragic figure. Here he is a far cry from the heroic figure of Evil Dead 2(1987) and Army of Darkness(1991). Ash in Evil Dead is tormented by the loss of his friends and girlfriend. Ash is pretty much patterned after the main character of Sammo Hung's Encounters of the Spooky Kind. Ash is a simpleton who fights to survive against the demons that possess his friends.
One of the best elements of this movie is the subplot involving Ash and his girlfriend, Linda. Its this element as well as others that makes The Evil Dead(1982) my favorite of the trilogy. Bruce Campbell and Betsy Baker are wonderful in the scenes they do together. Its heartbreaking and sad to see Ash dismember and kill a woman he loved so much. The sequence where Ash gives Linda the necklace is one of the movie's lighter moments.
The humor is blended into the horror scenes without being overly ridiculous. Evil Dead is full of dark, gruesome humour that is both funny and scary. Mixing horror and humor is a tricky thing to pull off because there has to be a balance for the combo to work. The Evil Dead is successful in combining the two together in a combined effort. Fun to watch horror with funny proceedings and dialogue, as opposed to humour with unsuppressed gore.
''You will die! Like the others before you, one by one, we will take you.''
Notorious for the rape in the woods scene, Evil Dead becomes a daring picture at this point of the film. Scene like this separates the first from the next two as a masterful horror picture. Ellen Sandweiss is very brave in going through with this scene. A terrifying sequence to observe and watch. Sam Raimi reuses this scene in Evil Dead 2 without the unrivaled viciousness of the one here.
The gore here is fantastically displayed. For a low budget film the make up effects are impressive. Was not popular with the MPPA because of the extreme colour used to portray typical blood.
The filmmakers use a stylish and crude approach to make the gore scenes work. Joel Coen must have learned something about filming gore scenes from Evil Dead when he directed Blood Simple.
Unlike alot of other horror film examples, there is no sex scenes(Branch scene doesn't count). Which makes the film that bit more professional, although Raimi still flashed a girl topless just for laughs. Raimi tried to capture what real teenagers would do in a cabin miles from the nearest town, But when Bruce inhaled real marijuana smoke in front of the camera for a scene, he was totally senseless. But still the totally untrained actors tried there best to do every stunt, every emotion, everything that Raimi threw at them for as little pay as $100 a week. One of the hardest scene to shoot was the last. How are we to end this film with a good kick? how about the supernatural energy running through the house and into Ash. True non-acting locals were called in to do the sequence of doors, noises and Sam himself was behind the camera. He started at a shot of a leaf on the ground, then started running through the woods, through the back door, through the closed doors of the house, out the front door and straight into Bruce. Although there was a rumour that Sam did the whole scene on a motorbike because of the speed the camera seems to be going. The Evil Dead, a real good start for Bruce Campbell and for Sam Raimi if what abit dated and rough round the edges now, a true classic, for most, for its impact on low-budget film history.
''Now the sun will be up in an hour or so, and we can all get out of here together. You, me, Linda, Shelly. Hmm... Well... not Shelly, she? We'll all be going home together. Wouldn't you like to be going home? I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? Scott?''
7/10
