STARS : Bruce Campbell, Richard Demanincor, Betsy Baker, Teresa Seyfirth & Ellen Sandweiss

This was the only horror movie I couldn’t finish in my teens due to it’s horrific depiction of violence. I remember making it up to about the pencil in the ankle and then was out of there like a shot. Several years later I went back and finished it but was still quite wary of it and to this day haven’t watched it again….until now.

The Evil Dead marked the directorial debut of Sam Raimi (Spiderman) and in a way his acting debut as he is the evil voice you hear during the film as well as one of the fisherman on the side of the road early on in the film.

Evil Dead is primarily set in a tiny cabin where a GROUP of friends have headed off for a holiday and for a lot of sex, drugs and partying. It turns out though that this particular cabin is possessed and the demons are unleashed when upon venturing down into the basement, yes this cabin has a basement, an old book called “The Book Of The Dead” (the original title of the film) is discovered. Perhaps naievly, one of the kids reads an inscription and, in a nutshell, unleashes the hounds of hell.

What follows is some of the goriest action scenes ever witnessed in a horror film. There is plenty of blood, plenty of screaming, plenty of grotesque demons, plenty of shaky camera work and above all else plenty of good old fashioned horror!

The acting is terrible, the plot is simple, the effects are average, the music is ordinary but yet despite all of these shortcomings, the film succeeds remarkably well is now by all definitions a cult classic.

Verdict : An outstanding example of how a great film can be made on a next to nothing budget.

THE EXTRAS

* Booklet - The Evil Dead Journal : This booklet, written by Josh Becker who worked on “Second Unit Sound” and kept the only known record of the making of Evil Dead. It’s more a diary than anything else but makes for quite interesting reading.

* Documentary - “Discovering Evil Dead” (13:00) : A short documentary discussing how Evil Dead came to be. Stephen Wooley (Co-Director), Evil Dead afficiondo Bill Warren & Nik Powell (Co-Director) talk passionately about the film that started their careers and the issues in getting it to the screen.

* Scene Outtakes (18:00): Lots and lots of short takes of scenes we’ve already watched during the film. The colouring is shocking as it most of the imagery but this is footage that die hard fans will be drooling over.

* Posters & Still Galleries : A list of posters and ads covering all three Evil Dead movies from around the world.

* Filmographies : There are 4 people listed here which are : Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Rob Tapert and Josh Becker. This is a very comprehensive list of films/tv shows and even video games that each has been associated with.

* Evil Dead Quotes & Trivia : A list of comments on Evil Dead but more interestingly little pieces of trivia on the film.

* Theatrical Trailer : This is a very cool trailer that shows just how gruesome and tacky the film really is. It also shows just enough of the well known “tree attack” scene to get your interest.

* Evil Dead Credits : A list of people associated with the making of Evil Dead.

CONCLUSION

This film still makes me a little uneasy due to it’s being so intensely claustrophobic. This is the way a horror film is supposed to be and sadly just isn’t attempted any more/

Evil Dead is available to buy now through Big Sky Video