Review of The Evil Dead (1981) by Nesbitt10 — 13 Oct 2013

Nauseating and amusing in equal measure, "Evil Dead" is one horror movie that easily obtains its cult status, managing to surpass even your wildest imagination of gore and visceral violence. This is the first installment of the popular Evil Dead trilogy a low-budget, B-grade gore-fest horror film with the Stephen King quote-tagline: "the ultimate experience in grueling terror." A thinly scripted screenplay becomes a kaleidoscope of skewed camera angles and energetic panache under Raimi’s remarkably assured guidance and direction. His debut might be short on budget, but it’s hardly bereft of ideas or spirit.

Five Michigan State University students spend the weekend in a remote Tennessee cabin, and inadvertently unleash dormant, demonic, evil spirits. In the cellar of the cabin, they find an archaeologist's tape-recording describing the contents of the Naturon Demonto (Book of the Dead). Unaware they are unleashing demonic forces one by one they must fight off evil spirits, and avoid becoming demoniacally possessed.

It’s obvious that Raimi takes great pleasure in all of his demented material, and he’s eager to share it with an audience that’s left equally shocked and thrilled. "The Evil Dead" is much more of a straight horror movie than its successors, but it’s no less fun. Heads and arms are frequently severed, but it's all done in such a fun spirit, and in a over-the-top manner that it's difficult not to grin. "The Evil Dead" is at times genuinely creepy, due in part to the imaginative camera-work devised by Sam Raimi, and cinematographer Tim Philo. The "shaky cam" (in which the camera gave us the point-of-view of the demon rushing through the woods), became a staple of the Evil Dead series. Raimi and company empty the tank of all its gore, make-up, camera, and stop-motion tricks into an unforgettable, resounding success of entrepreneurial filmmaking.