The Evil Dead Review

 

Originally I was gonna review the all of the Evil Dead films when the newest movie (Evil Dead Rise) came out, but that got pushed back to April 21st, 2023. So I'd now just review these for good old fashioned Halloween season fun. And no, I won't be reviewing the Ash vs. Evil Dead tv series. I got enough of my plate as it is.

The Evil Dead is a 1981 supernatural horror film. It was produced by Renaissance Pictures and distributed by New Line Cinema. The Evil Dead was written and directed by Sam Raimi.

The story is five college kids decide to take a vacation in a small cabin in the woods. Things quickly take a turn when the five find a tape recorder that not only tells them about the Book of the Dead, but also chants an incantation. Because of this, the group is soon thrusted into a fight for survival against demonic forces.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Mix

The only gray point in the movie, for me anyhow, is the characters. They're not too bad. There could've been just a bit more, but there was plenty of stuff with them to make you care if they get killed or not. If anything the characterization is acceptable. Which isn't too bad, it's serviceable.

• Positives

Now let's get into the positives, one of those being Sam Raimi's directing. It's truly amazing how this was his first feature film, and yet there was none of that that give it away. His visual style is fantastic, and there are so many creepy shots. Not too mention, that even if the film had a low budget ($357,000 to be exact), Sam really did let it show too much. What I learned when doing behind the scenes research for this movie, is the cellular door and the cellular itself it actually filmed in two different locations. One in shot in Tennessee and months later they filmed the basement scenes in Michigan. And it's cut together so well, you wouldn't even notice. Again, for one of Raimi's first, it's very well put together.

Another aspect of The Evil Dead that makes it an amazing horror flick, is the pacing. The movie's only an 1hr and 25 minutes, and yet that runtime time just breezes by. I mean it too. Cause as I was watching it really didn't feel like I was sitting on my couch for an hour. It almost felt like only a few minutes went by.

What also worked for the movie was yes, the blood and gore. Not only is it used when it's needed, but it also has some range. There's your typically f*ck yeah gore, but then there were times when it was just gross. Like whenever the Deadites are killed, they gush out blood, pus, and some weird slime stuff. But the worse was the ankle stab. No seriously, that looked painful. I'm even cringing just thinking about.

Now that a got that sort of joke out of the way, another thing I loved about this flick was the makeup and special effects. Again, despite the low $370,000 budget, everything was very well done. Whether it be something practical like a Deadite getting chopped up, or something really good claymation at the end of the movie.

The last thing I'll give credit to is the suspense. Even when there's nothing violent going on, there's still plenty of creepy moments. Heck, the moment we arrive at the cabin, you already don't have a good feeling about it, whether you've seen this movie or not. Sounds also played a big factor in this as well. Especially with the Deadites. Their disturbing echoing voices were very effective, and I'm even getting a tiny bit of chill just thinking about them as I'm writing this. Sometimes even the way the camera moves gave an unsettling feeling. It's like the camera itself was an evil entity, just watching over our characters and waiting for their demises, whether that was the purpose or not.

The Evil Dead is definitely one of my many favorite horror movies. While character is just serviceable at best, the movie makes up for that with Sam Raimi's spectacular directing, top notch pacing, the perfect amount of blood and gore, nicely done makeup and special effects, and perfect suspense.

My final rating is Great.

That was a fun watch. Due come back on Thursday, Oct 6th for my A Look Back at review for 1987's Hellraiser. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.