Review of The Evil Dead (1981) by Gustavo A — 19 Feb 2014

"The Evil Dead" is about five college students: Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), her brother Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), their friend Scotty (Hal Delrich) and his girlfriend Shelly (Sarah York). They take a spring break trip to an isolated cabin in Tennessee; I personally would've picked Florida, but whatever.

They uncover the Necronomicon ex mortis, also known as the Book of the Dead, bound in human flesh and inked in human blood. They also play an audio tape of incantations from the book, but that unleashes a host of demons in the woods that surround the house. Cheryl takes a walk outside, but the trees suddenly attack and literally rape her. She convinces the others to take her away from the cabin, but the bridge that they drove in on has been destroyed. As they remain in the cabin, they all start to become possessed by the evil that has taken over.

The film relies heavily on atmosphere; there are plenty of quiet, creepy shots of the forest, which seems to give off an eerie glow. Its low budget works in its favor, yet there are some really impressive-looking special effects, particularly the demon effects. Its gore was enough to give the movie an X rating, and it became one of the most notorious and controversial splatter films at the time. The cinematography is also impressive, and has become a staple in Raimi's films.

Surprisingly enough, the acting is pretty decent here. Bruce Campbell hadn't become bad-ass yet; in fact, his character Ash is considerably more timid in this movie. He has to overcome his fears to be the one to survive what's happening. The film itself actually has a serious tone in comparison to its sequels. But I also think Ellen Sandweiss is pretty good as Cheryl, and she and Ash do share some pretty effective scenes together, most notably when she's possessed near the end.

The film was a struggle for everyone involved, with poor on-set conditions for an inexperienced crew; several actors got sick, and the crew literally got lost in the woods on the first day of shooting. When it was finally finished and edited, it had a successful "big premiere" in Detroit in 1981. Afterwards, Raimi went to many distribution agents in an attempt to get his movie shown. He soon met producer Irvin Shapiro, who had helped George Romero distribute "Night of the Living Dead." Shapiro was a founder of the Cannes Film Festival, and got it screened in 1982. Stephen King was present, and gave the movie a rave review. It kept gathering more and more momentum before New Line Cinema released the film to theaters and onto VHS simultaneously. It made back eight times its budget, and became the best-selling video release of the year.

To finish talking about the movie, there are some chilling moments. I think the best one is shortly after the tree scene; Shelly and Linda are playing a card guessing game, when Cheryl, who is sitting away from them, suddenly starts shouting out every card they're holding in the deck; then we see she has been possessed. I have to admit, that's pretty creepy. In conclusion, "The Evil Dead" was a landmark piece of cinema; it's awkward at times, but it's still a treat.