This is the legendary horror film that launched a million fanatics, as well as the careers of director Sam Raimi and cult superstar Bruce Campbell. This is the first, the original, The Evil Dead. When this movie was released, it was billed as the ultimate experience in grueling horror. At its heart, the story is constructed in the vein of an H.P. Lovecraft tale, involving an unimaginable evil force lurking just outside the realm of our reality, and trying to get in.
The film opens with the audience's point-of-view skimming just over a bubbling swamp, then cresting over a wooded hill to peer at a yellow Oldsmobile driving through the forest. Inside are five young adults on their way to spend the weekend in the absolute last place anyone would want to be if they knew they were in a horror movie, a dilapidated cabin in the middle of nowhere. The group seems to be pretty up-beat about the trip though, in spite of a near head-on collision and crossing a questionable bridge. Scott, (Richard DeManincor) Linda, (Betsy Baker) Shelly, (Theresa Tilly) Cheryl, (Ellen Sandweiss) and Ash (Bruce Campbell) settle in to the cabin fro some rest and relaxation, until they discover a few items lurking in the basement. The group investigates a ceremonial dagger, a tape recorder with a strange narration, and a book, bound in human flesh and inked in blood. It is the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead, and would become an icon of this film and the franchise. As the group listens to the tape recorded by a nameless archaeologist, detailing his findings about the book and of the Kandarian demons and reciting an incantation from the book. While most of our merry band of vacationers sees little reason to be afraid, their cabin and the surrounding forest soon become the tools of ancient evil powers.
On the page, this is all pretty textbook horror movie stuff. Isolate a small pack of people and have a malevolent force start picking them off one by one. What separated this film from the slue of low budget horror films that were popping up like mushrooms in the 1970's and 1980's, is the artistry that went into the movie's production. Sam Raimi definitely had a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish with this film. The aforementioned P.O.V. shots where the audience looks through the eyes of the Kandarian demon as it stalks and chases its victims is surprisingly effective at building tension and leaving the exact shape of the monster to the viewer's imagination, or maybe the demon just has no physical form. For a film that cost less that $400,000 to produce, it it has a plethora of gore money-shots and plenty of disturbing make-up effects. For the most part, this cult classic still holds up today as a little, blood-soaked treasure.
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