The Evil Dead (1981) New Line/Horror RT: 85 minutes No MPAA Rating (graphic bloody violence, extreme gore, intense terror, language) Director: Sam Raimi Screenplay: Sam Raimi Music: Joe Loduca Cinematography: Tim Philo Release date: September 1983 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich, Betsy Baker, Sarah York. Box Office: $2.4M (World)
Rating: ****
There’s no way young first-time director Sam Raimi could have predicted the huge cult following that The Evil Dead would ultimately attain. It only cost about $375,000 to make. The money was raised by the filmmaker and his friends. It was strictly a DIY job. The result, a low budget movie that’s approximately 500 times scarier than most so-called horror movies churned out by major studios. It’s the work of a mad genius bent on driving audiences insane with dizzying camera work, copious amounts of gore and an almost unbearable level of terror. It’s to horror what Blood Simple is to film noir.
I didn’t get to see The Evil Dead at the cinema because it didn’t open in any theaters convenient to 15YO MG 24/7. Despite my age, I would not have been deterred by its “No One Under 17 Admitted” policy. I still would have tried to get in and probably would have succeeded. By this point in my life, I absolutely refused to let anything stand between me and movies with a lot of violence and gore.
I finally got to see it when I rented it from the local video store near the end of December ’84. I was very impressed with it. I felt Raimi did an incredible job for the small amount of money he had available to him. At the time, I would never have guessed that lead character Ash (played by Raimi’s childhood friend Bruce Campbell) would become the cult hero he is today. I also would have never guessed that The Evil Dead would spawn four follow-up films, a comic book franchise, a TV series and a video game. It may be a low budget production with cheesy special effects and amateurish acting, but it’s still one of the most effective horror movies of the 80s. For my money, the demons in The Evil Dead make Jason and Freddy look like the pesky little boys next door.
It’s not the most complicated of plots, yet so much crazy stuff happens over the course of 85 wild blood-soaked minutes that the viewer might not realize the simplicity of it all. It starts with five college students heading to a remote rundown cabin in the Tennessee woods for a little R&R. They are Ash (Campbell), his sister Cheryl (Sandweiss), his girlfriend Linda (Baker), his friend Scotty (Delrich) and his girlfriend Shelly (York). It’s where they find the Book of the Dead (known as the Necronomicon in the subsequent movies) which contains demonic incantations. They also find an old reel-to-reel tape recorder which contains a tape of an archeology professor reading passages from the book (written in blood, bound in human flesh) that unleash evil demons into the world. Now the nightmare begins!
Cheryl goes outside and into the woods where the trees come to life by way of demonic possession and rape her. Raped by trees, that’s original! Then Ash discovers that the bridge that brought them to the cabin has been destroyed thus leaving them with no way out of there. Then Cheryl becomes possessed and tells everyone the demons will eventually take them all. As the night progresses, the demons make good on that promise until only Ash is left standing. One could argue that The Evil Dead is an origin movie that explains how Ash became the bad ass demon killer that we all know and love today.
In my not-so-humble opinion, The Evil Dead is a great movie. Let’s start with the fact that it looks damn good for a low budget horror flick. Its cheesy grotesque makeup effects look far more convincing than the CGI effects seen in today’s movies. I was relieved to learn that the remake will be completely old school as far as the effects go. The Evil Dead also has an abundance of gore which for me is the strongest selling point of any horror movie. I’m not ashamed to admit that I want to see a lot of bloody stuff in horror movies- decapitations, dismemberments, disembowelments, impalements, mutilations, etc. Just bring it on! Well, that’s exactly what Raimi does in The Evil Dead.
I don’t mind that the acting is strictly amateur night type stuff. In the context of a movie like this, it works beautifully. Who wants to see a Method performance in a movie destined to play the grindhouse/drive-in circuit? It actually adds a sense of naturalism to the proceedings which, in turn, allows for a more visceral viewing experience.
The Evil Dead really does live up to its reputation as one of the ultimate horror films. One can’t talk about it without making mention of the wild and crazy camera work that gives the audience the feeling of being in a carnival funhouse while tripping on drugs. From the opening tracking shot through the smoky woods to its insane closing shot, it’s a ride you will never forget.
Now I’d like to address a question that I’m sure many Evil Dead fans have on their minds. What exactly is a “fake shemp”? Undoubtedly, you’ve seen this term in the movies’ closing credits, but don’t know what it means. In short, these are the actors that Raimi would use as stand-ins for background shots of the characters if the original actor was preoccupied or busy with something else. The term “fake shemp” derives from Raimi’s lifelong love for The Three Stooges. Who says movie reviews can’t be educational too?
The Evil Dead puts a lot of other horror movies to shame with its purity in form and sheer effectiveness. It’s low budget filmmaking at its finest. It gets my highest recommendation. Take that, Blair Witch Project!
