The Evil Dead

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsey Baker, Theresa Tilly
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Horror, Thriller
1981

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Ash (Bruce Campbell) and a group of friends arrive at a cabin deep in the woods to spend a relaxing weekend. They find a tape recording of a strange incantations, which soon awake evil spirits, which possess Ash's friends- and he soon finds himself fighting for his very life.

Review:

Tim: Part of me absolutely hates The Evil Dead. It is a disgusting, vile, offensive, over-the-top, sick movie. It is easy to make the case that this is a terrible, stupid movie. However, because this movie is so vile and disgusting, because it takes great pains to offend nearly everyone in the audience, because it is determined to go as far past normal boundaries as possible, it sets itself apart from all those other movies. Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is a benchmark in the horror genre because it goes all out- there is nothing sacred here- and it is impressive to see a movie so unafraid to make us uncomfortable.

What is amazing is that this movie had such a small budget, but Raimi and company get the most out of their "special effects." It is often quite impressive to see the more gruesome moments of this film- the pencil to the ankle, decapitations, vomiting, and much more- and while thy might not be the most believable, they are effective. It is equally impressive how much blood, gore, and guts are shown in this movie- it was rated NC-17 for a pretty good reason- you will see some of the foulest, most disturbing images you can imagine. There isn't much screen time where you're not squirming in your seat.

In true horror movie fashion, the cast is mostly forgettable. Bruce Campbell does an decent job with Ash, but the rest of the cast was fairly poor. There are some unbelievable scenes, where one of them is being attacked by a possessed person, and the other just casually watches. These scenes were bizarre, and took me completely out of the movie. I am not sure how much of this was intentional (I am willing to bet some of it was), but it still hurts the movie.

The Evil Dead is a hard film to wrap your head around, because it feels like it goes out of the way to be awful. It was almost like this movie was created to be a ridiculous spoof of horror movies, and accidentally ended up being a fairly good horror movie in its own right. I am completely sympathetic to viewers who hate this movie- I partially hate it, too. However, despite my disgust with many of the moments, I also have to commend Raimi for creating an unforgettable, unique, crazy horror movie. For that reason, I (almost) reluctantly have to say, this is a good movie.

* Update- years after watching The Evil Dead for the first time, I sat down to watch it again. My second viewing was interesting. I still acknowledge everything I wrote in my original review, but I felt like I better understood why and what Sam Raimi was doing. If you're a young director trying to make your mark in horror, this is a pretty good approach. You tell a story with so much gore and violence that you guarantee that you'll horrify, disgust, or terrify your audience. Raimi's film is one of excess. He takes a lot of risks in this film. Some are notorious and in bad taste (the infamous tree rape scene), and some are just vomit-inducing. It's shocking how much blood, vomit, and pus are in this film. There's scenes where I almost laughed- blood doesn't pour out of bodies like a fire hose for those kinds of injuries. That's where the hateful elements of the film come in- it's all too much. However, you have to give Raimi credit for having a clear vision of what he wanted to do here. He executed it from a technical standpoint and the movie deserves credit for that.

Like many horror movies in the 1980s, the actions of the characters are mostly moronic. Almost no one acts naturally. I mean that from a character perspective, as well as an actor talent perspective. The performances are mostly bad. Even Bruce Campbell hadn't quite figured Ash out here. It's not like he looks all that great (but compared to the others, he's clearly the strongest actor). That definitely hurts the movie.

The idea behind the movie is an intriguing one. I have to admit, after watching this movie the first time, I never followed up and saw the rest of the trilogy. I'm going to rectify that in the coming weeks. I'm interested in seeing where Raimi and Campbell take these films. You do need to give this movie credit for establishing a story that was able to become a trilogy, then years later have a remake, plus a three season television series.

As far as The Evil Dead, I still stand by my original review. This is a good movie, but not much more than that. It's impressive that Raimi put this together and you have to marvel at the over-the-top gruesomeness of this film. However, that doesn't make a great movie. This might be flawed, but it's still an effective horror movie. My second viewing helped me to like the movie more, and feel slightly less disgust/hate towards it. Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness