Review of The Evil Dead (1981) by Spangle — 15 Jun 2017

Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is a truly frustrating film to watch. Throughout the entirety of the film after the young college-age protagonists arrive at their cabin in the woods, it is impossible not yell out, "USE THE AXE!" or "USE THE GUN!" It is just one of those horror movies, I guess, where characters have weapons sitting right next to them and instead they opt to let the demon zombie continue to live and just sit right in front of them without doing anything. Nonetheless, this oddly a major part of the film's charm as a pulse pounding and thoroughly thrilling romp through the middle of nowhere while zombies possess everybody in this cabin. Luckily for them, they have the man who will become Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) at the helm, ready to discover his true calling in life: putting zombies on ice.

Providing scares from the moment this pack of morons find a spooky recording summoning demons from the Book of the Dead, Raimi's film consistently uses some exciting ways of spooking the audience and leaving us on edge. With the cryptic nature of that message being read as he shows us something coming to life under the soil, Raimi's film begins to fully realize the tension that had only been hinted at from the beginning. This hinting takes on the form of absolutely brilliant handheld point-of-view shots of something lurking outside of the cabin. Hanging about outside and whispering to Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) to "join us", Raimi smartly leaves us in the dark as to what is awaiting these kids before we finally get introduced to the sinister evil bubbling underneath the floor boards of this cabin in the woods. It is a terrifying way to build suspense without tipping the film's hand and it is only a mere hint at how scary this film will become.

Through explosively campy and low-budget gore and make-up, The Evil Dead keeps the mood relatively light for how dark its plot becomes, but that does not mean it is not a horror film at its core. With tense and thrilling encounters between the kids and their now possessed friends, the film constantly shows the horror of having to kill your friends to survive, while also delivering terrific zombie scares throughout. Featuring an unsettling score that is occasionally accompanied by a truly haunting heartbeat sound and liberal usage of oblique angles when the climax arrives, The Evil Dead is a film that has no problem leaving the audience sweating what is awaiting Ash around the next corner. Compared to Army of Darkness, this initial entry into the trilogy is a lot less tongue-in-cheek and that lack of one-liners is felt when the zombies are around every corner and Ash has no idea how to finish them off. It is tense, thrilling, and an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that will leave you curling up while wondering if you need to look away or not. It is truly unbridled fun that knows it is fun, but never lets that fact obscure just how scary the film becomes.

As with many horror films, The Evil Dead certainly has something going on with the women in the film, namely Cheryl. The first one to get attacked by the demons, she runs in the woods (horrible idea) and gets attacked by the trees. Holding her down, ripping her clothes off, showing us a boob, and then having a tree branch penetrate her, the film quite overtly creates a rape scene. Many horror films include vaginal or penile imagery and this film is certainly no exception as that scene demonstrates. With many horror films also killing those who have sex during the course of the film, it is certainly not far-fetched to believe the two are firmly intertwined. Playing up on the typical sensuality felt when a sex scene is in a film by draping it in blood, guts, and horror, horror films manage to make the audience even more uncomfortable. It is unsettling to watch Cheryl get attacked by the trees and it is only worsened by how vulnerable she is when the trees strip her down. It seems as though there is nowhere to go as it violates it and puts a demon inside her and that inevitability at a point when she is so vulnerable and unprotected is really what makes the scene so effectively terrifying.

Scary and thrilling throughout, The Evil Dead lacks the comedic bite of Army of Darkness and with how bad the effects are, that may not be a good thing. However, Raimi plays it so light with some self-awareness about how dumb it all looks that it winds up remaining truly scary and yet not scarring. That said, it was probably a good idea to turn its sequels into horror comedies, if only because it plays so nicely into Sam Raimi's wheelhouse and skillet. However, as a more straight-up horror film, The Evil Dead delivers the goods in a fun and thoroughly spooky film.