“The Evil Dead” Review

Filed Under Movies

Sam Raimi’s debut film, 1981’s “The Evil Dead,” went largely unseen during its initial release. Though championed by horror novelist Stephen King as well as “Fangoria” magazine, gorehounds and general audiences alike passed on the movie, and it disappeared from theaters without much fanfare. The film still made enough green to justify a remake/sequel, 1986’s “Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn,” but that, too, went largely unnoticed due to its X rating for splatstick violence. 1993 saw the release of “Army of Darkness,” the third “Evil Dead” film. Universal Studios, the film’s distributor, had so little faith in the “Evil Dead” brand, it dropped “Evil Dead III” from the film’s title. The first time I saw “Army of Darkness,” I thought it was a standalone horror movie.

In the intervening years, Sam Raimi has directed three mega-successful “Spider-Man” flicks, and Bruce Campbell, star of the “Evil Dead” trilogy, has gone on to become an inimitable genre movie icon. Meanwhile, the “Evil Dead” films have achieved cult status on home video.

Grindhouse Releasing — a distribution house co-owned by Sage Stallone, son of Sylvester! — is taking a brand new print of “The Evil Dead” on the road, so fans who’ve only seen the movie on a beat-to-shit VHS tape or one of the eleventeen crummy DVD versions can experience it in a theater with a couple hundred other enthusiasts. I caught it last Friday at midnight at the Nuart, one of my favorite L.A. venues for all things culty.

What a show. Grindhouse has included trailers for other upcoming films on their release slate. Exploitation movies have some of the best advertising. I didn’t even like “Cannibal Holocaust,” but I’ve got to admit the trailer made me think about giving it another look.

“The Evil Dead” is terrific on the big screen. The matte shot of the full moon is obvious as ever. Raimi’s camerawork, particularly the POV shots of the unseen evil charging through the forest, is endlessly inventive. And the creepier moments work like gangbusters. “The Evil Dead” is first and foremost a horror film. The sequels are played for laughs, but this one delivers the scares.

The film is about five college students on a road trip into the deep Tennessee backwoods. They stay in a ramshackle cabin, where they find an old tape recorder and a gruesome-looking book. Scott, the douchey alpha male of the pack, plays one of the recordings and inadvertently awakens an unstoppable evil force in the woods. One by one, the members of the group are possessed and become Deadites — white-eyed demons that are very tough to kill. Only nice guy Ash (Bruce Campbell) is left standing at the end of the terrifying night.

Raimi’s matured as a filmmaker over the past 30 years, becoming more polished and a more focused storyteller. But “The Evil Dead” showcases his raw talent and ability to make even the most modest budget work for his purposes. The film was independently financed by dentists in the Detroit area. I’ve always thought that cheapjack horror flicks have a more visceral quality to them, a unique and somewhat unseemly verisimilitude that makes them more engaging than the glossy, Platinum Dunes house style that permeates horror remakes of late.

Almost 30 years after its original theatrical run, “The Evil Dead” is now playing to sold-out audiences at midnight screenings across the country. It’s a long overdue reception for a flick that saw the debut of one of the masters of the genre. I’m glad I was finally able to experience “The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror” as so few people did in ‘81.

-Brad Lohan

If you like this post, share it!