The Evil Dead (1981)


REVIEWER RATING: 
8/10


Before director Sam Raimi tackled the $130-million dollar web-slingin' Spider-Man, he was just a man with a dream, a camera, and a group of friends. Before Evil Dead, there was Within the Woods -- a short 30-minute pilot that featured Bruce Campbell as a man who becomes possessed by evil spirits and murders his fellow comrades in a secluded cabin. The film was made with a $1,600 budget and Sam hoped to strike interest from possibly investors. He succeeded and collected an estimated $375,000 to shoot The Evil Dead. I saw this movie many years ago after doing research online for horror flicks I hadn't seen. I rented this flick the first chance I got and I've enjoyed it since, even after countless viewings, it never gets old and the reactions from those who I show it to always makes the experience worthwhile. The film is a cult hit amongst horror fans and turned the Ash character into an icon.

For those of you who may not have seen this (*slap*), the story follows four friends as they vacation at a small secluded cabin deep in the woods. Once there it's apparent that the cabin was once inhabited as some items were left over, one of which is an old book called "The Necronomicon" A.K.A. "Book of the Dead". Naturally some of the pages are read aloud, and well, you can guess what happens next. Thus begins all the gore and mayhem that is The Evil Dead. This is a film that's known to those that may have seen it at the theaters to be one of the "scariest films ever made". Next to the Exorcist, I'm sure, but they were right about one thing -- it is a film that will stay in your mind after the first viewing.

Next to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films and the Friday the 13th series, the Evil Dead trilogy is one of the most copied themes in the genre to-date. Many movies over the years were inspired by this film and its sequels and I don't blame them. Hell, they're even doing a remake. I suppose there's just something about an eerie abandoned cabin in the woods that really sucks people in. This film is the darker of the three films and some say the "scariest" as well. You'll later see in the next two some say the "scariest" as well. You'll later see in the next two films that the tone is lightened and the action is kicked up a notch, but I'll get to those in my other reviews.

The darker film of the three and possibly also the scariest. A good movie that every horror fan must view at least once in their lifetime.
OVERALL: 
The darker film of the three and possibly also the scariest. A good movie that every horror fan must view at least once in their lifetime.


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