The Evil Dead (1981)

Director: Sam Raimi

Writer: Sam Raimi

Tagline: The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror

Actors: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly, Ted Raimi

Runtime: 1h 25m

Category: Demon, Possession, Undead

Synopsis: Five friends retreat to a secluded cabin in the woods for a weekend trip. During some investigating of the cellar, Scott and Ash find a recorder and a small, strange looking book. Unknown to them, the incantations spoken on the recorder resurrect body-possessing demons! Now they must fight to stay alive or become just another one of…The Evil Dead!

Review: This is the original “cabin in the woods” movie. This movie did for secluded cabins what Psycho (1960) did for taking showers. I cannot begin to describe the level of brilliance this movie encompasses. But I will try…

The story is something that everyone thinks about when staying in a secluded cabin; is there something out in the woods…watching us? The fact that Sam Raimi was able to capture that essence with such detail is remarkable. I don’t think a remake could even capture it properly. Either way, the story was very easy to follow and pretty simple. Not a lot of hooplah or anything like that; just pure gore and terror. One of the first things that got me was right before the final scenes when it was just Ash. I thought that that was horrible because nothing was happening. But after thinking about it for a spell, I realized that Raimi had done that with the intention of implying a compounding sense of terror; where is it? What is it? How do I kill it? Where the hell is it!?! That sense of impending doom is something that is lacking from most horror movies today; most just go for the shock factor, animation, or copious amounts of gore (of which most is CGI anyway). But this beautiful marriage of story and implications makes this movie an instant classic.

The acting was another great part of this movie. I was very impressed with most of the actors, including those who were the demons. The girl’s characters were just kinda there and had no real substance. Seeing as how they turned into evil dead anyway I guess it doesn’t really matter. But the actors that did the demons were absolutely wonderful. They captured the creatures to a tee. As did Bruce “The Man” Campbell. Yes, Bruce Campbell is “The Man”. I don’t care who says that they are “The Man”, they are wrong. The only other man that could hold that title other than him is Vincent Price…and he’s dead. So that just leaves Bruce. That the Transitive Property of Equality bitches!

Oh my, the blood. I have to say that I have never seen such well done overkill before. The pipe of blood…wow! Not only was most of the blood unnecessary, it was perfect. Raimi certainly knows how to use a few gallons of the red stuff. Apart from the blood, the make-up and prosthetics were very well done for the times. Being an early 80’s movie, I was surprised to see such attention to detail in the make-up area. And those eyes…if I’m not mistaken, that is the first time I’ve ever seen those used. On top of all that, the chasing scenes were awesome. I loved how they never showed what was chasing them; it gave it an ominous feeling. Anyway, I loved all of the effects; especially the blood. BLOOD! BLOOD!

Rating: 25 automatically. There was no hesitation there. I think that it’s safe to say that this movie is a classic; without a doubt. I have seen a lot of movies like this but none compare to it. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you are not a horror “lover”…you are a horror “liker”. You “like” horror movies; they excite you and scare you. We are horror “lovers”; we eat, sleep, and breathe horror movies. We love horror movies to the point where LunchBox and I have had a “talking to” by our wives because that’s all we talk about (they just don’t understand). Eat it. Sleep it. Breathe it. Then and only then will you truly “love” horror movies. Don’t you want to be like us? You know you do. (25of25).