THE EVIL DEAD - One Of The Best Horror Films Ever Made

Cheryl [demon possessed] Why have you disturbed our sleep? Awakened us from our ancient slumber…You will DIE!


Directed by Sam Raimi
Bruce Campbell as Ash
Theresa Tilly as Shelly
Richard DeManincor as Scott
Betsy Baker as Linda
Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl


The Evil Dead 1981


The Plot / Storyline

The Evil Dead is set in the back woods of Tennessee in an old abandoned cabin. Five young kids, all in their early twenties are all set for a weekend of camping, partying and having a good time. All is going well until they find the basement in the cabin. There had been some kind researcher living in the cabin quite some time back. It appeared that he had left in a hurray or just never came back to get his materials. Scott and Ash found a book and some audio recordings. So while having a few cocktails they decide to listen to the recordings. While listening to these recordings they unwittingly released some serious demons who really have their shorts in a bunch over being awakened. They waste no time invading one of the girls body and use her to become extremely violent. In just a small amount of time she inflicts a severe wound on one of the other girls. After a while they manage to get the demon possessed girl locked down in the basement. Another girl is attacked when she goes outside. The woods come alive, tear the cloths from her and rape her. With the woods alive there only hope of survival was to stay in the cabin until morning when they thought it would be safe. But first they would have to survive the night with plenty of bent demons to possess them all!


Conclusion

The Evil Dead is one of my favorite horror films. The film was made with less than $5,000.00 and I consider this film to be one of the scariest horror films ever made. That’s quite an accomplishment for a young director with a young actor and friend Bruce Campbell using just five grand. I think Sam Raimi knew he had a good spooky movie but not even he could have known how huge this movie would become. The Evil Dead was a phenomenal block buster hit and it continues rent and sell very well to this day, nearly twenty-five years later. I watched the movie last night and even by today’s standards the film is still pretty good. Although it didn’t have the impact that it made on me the first time I saw it as a teenager back in 1982. I was young, the story was good and the movie freaked me out! The story was as good as it gets for a scary film. Camping , woods, demons, naive young people, chainsaw and no way out makes great ingredients for a classic horror film storyline.

It goes to show that you need a good story more than all of the special effects and computer graphics that money can buy. Some of the very best horror films are low budget films, The Evil Dead, The Blair Witch Project, Phantasm, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Tourist Trap are just a few that come to mind. The first Evil Dead film spawned two more sequels that I did not like as much as the original. Sam Raimi did an outstanding job directing this film with what he had. The acting was pretty good. The story was as good as it gets. The camera work was good too. They had to use some imagination and innovation to come up with ways to get the camera moving through the woods at high speeds. The make up was excellent. These possessed girls looked freaky and scary! It was not as good as Linda Blair’s make up in the The Exorcist but close.

For not having much of a budget the possessions, blood, guts and gore looked realistic and spooky. There is plenty of it too. The demons can only be killed by cutting off the arms, legs and heads of those possessed. Although most areas suffered because of the very low budget the film was and still is a huge success. The film was low quality, the actors and actresses were very new and it showed. But the story, the make up, the setting the directing and demon possessions made up for it. If you like to be scared by a movie you’ve probably already seen this one. If you have not seen The Evil Dead you should just to see what a motivated director can do with a solid story, very little money and a great imagination. I give The Evil Dead five of five stars and look forward to the remake in 2007.


RUNTIME: 1 Hour 25 minutes
Rated : [R] graphic horror violence and gore

† Top Ten Scary Movies of All Time
† The Exorcist

Thanks for the read,

© 2005 Joe McMaster