Of all the horror films released during the 1980's, none has generated a cult following the way Evil Dead has. Sure Freddy, Jason and Micheal each had a long running film series but not a single one of their films reach THE EVIL DEAD in cult status. Originally made for $375,000 (slighlty more than F13), the film had trouble finding a distributor until a European company bought the rights and released it theatrically. It went on to take in some $2.4 million. Not bad for a low budget B-quickie.
Our story concerns Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his friends whom we find driving through the Tennessee mountains to one of the most deliberately creepy cottages I've seen. From here, the film doesn't waste any time getting right down to business. Ash finds what turns out to be "The Book of the Dead" in the basement and also a tape recorder. He and his friends listen to the last thing recorded, which unfortunatley happens to be some sort of a calling to the dead, waking them up and starting the nightmare for everyone.
Over the next hour we get, a woman being raped by a tree, an ankle stabbing (with a pencil), chicks turning into outrageously hideous and annoying demons and a whole lot of blood and make-up effects. The make-up of THE EVIL DEAD is very well done, and the foggy atmosphere outside the cottage just can't be bought. These are the two strongest traits of the movie. Gore fans will not be disappointed either. The film is truly creepy at moments but never gets too scary I find. I suppose the more religious you are, the more you will find to be scared at with this film.
If anything is weak, it's some of the terrible dialogue over the first half hour not to mention mediocre acting. The Evil Dead has achieved such a high degree of cult status and it's almost unfair that it has. Is The Evil Dead good? Why of course, but it is highly overrated. I would not even place it on my top ten 80's horror list. I still don't understand why this movie has such a strong following while superior efforts such as FRIGHT NIGHT don't. I must commend the film for it's lack of false alarms (only one) which were cliche at the time and would have been easy to give into, if not only to pump up the running time. So, I do like EVIL DEAD, I just don't love it the way my 80s loving comrades do. It is quite a campy flick, maybe just a little bit too much for me. Followed by a soon-to-be-reviewed sequel. THREE STARS OUT OF FIVE.
I think the acting and dialogue were meant to be the way they are. Sam Raimi's not the best director, but he does know how to direct actors, (Campbell is amazing in his own right) and I believe the film is so self-aware of its own genre and blatantly flagrant of its own limited budget and therefore was intended to be high camp. It's almost a parody of every horror film we've already seen with its story, characters and acting. The true originality comes from the thick atmosphere, which somehow transcends the campiness and the comedy and the unoriginality to make it actually frightening to watch (for me). The special effects also add to this. I think the fans of TED recognize this and that is why it has such a strong following.
ReplyDeleteOh of course. The whole film is mostly camp and I appreciate what it has to offer but somehow I've never been able to love it the way so many other students of the genre do. I can't explain it exactly but it doesn't work for me on the same level. I do really like the stop-motion in the film though. The sequel will be one of my next few reviews.
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