Rating: 4/5
Classification: R18+
Year of release: 1981
Run-time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Genre: Horror
This review contains SPOILERS
The Evil Dead is about five young friends take a vacation to a remote and isolated cabin in the Tennessee woods, not long after they arrive in the cabin little do they know they have just released flesh possessing demons. This movie goes without saying that it is a horror landmark and an absolute must see for anyone looking to become a horror movie expert. The Evil Dead has may have had a low budget but that is a huge part of why it’s a horror classic. The movie feels like anyone who is an aspiring director can film a low profile movie like this in their own backyard for very little money and this very movie can still have such a huge legacy and can be adored and beloved by audiences many years later.
The premise of this film also makes for the perfect recipe for a legendary and scary horror movie, as soon as the characters arrive at the isolated cabin you instantly feel as alone and claustrophobic as the characters in the movie. There is an ingenious scene when some of the characters attempt to drive away and the car doesn’t start initially when they try and drive it when they want to leave the cabin. The car starts after a few attempts and as they drive the car you think that the characters are going to escape, until they find the bridge has been destroyed and our characters are now well and truly stranded.
As those who have seen this movie already know, all except one of the characters do end up becoming possessed by the demons. In my opinion this makes it all the more scary that the possessed victims were our main characters rather than having infinite waves of zombies (which probably wouldn’t have been possible given the low budget of the movie anyway) trying to possess or kill the characters. The waiting game of watching these characters would be possessed makes for quality suspense and is sure to make audiences highly uneasy, frightened and curling up in their seats. Bruce Campbell plays the protagonist Ash in this movie along with its two sequels and this was the movie Bruce Campbell was born to play, the character of Ash is a true horror icon because of Bruce Campbell’s charisma and also because of Ash’s ability to fend off these zombies. Ash has also resisted much of the violence in these movies, when the zombies get killed off or when their limbs get chopped off and during much of the violence of the movie it usually makes for some of the most powerful imagery the horror genre has ever seen.
The Evil Dead is an ultra-violent and quintessential horror movie that every horror movie fan must see, thanks to a scary premise that is the envy of many other movies of the genre, a career defining performance by Bruce Campbell, make-up effects and scary scenes that are still remain scary over 30 years after it’s release. On a side note if the low budget of this movie bothers you then you can watch the second one.