The Evil Dead is a rather class film if you ignore the improbable story. Five college students named Ash (Bruce Campbell), his sister Cheryl, his girlfriend Linda, his best friend Scotty, and Scotty's girlfriend Shelly go to a cabin in the woods and discover a book called the Necronomicon, translated the Book of the Dead. They play a tape recorder with chants from the Necronomicon and the evil dead is awakened in the woods and begins to possess the students one by one. While this plot idea would seem rather creepy it did take over thirty minutes for the suspense to begin and for a film 85 minutes long that's almost half the film gone. The plot is a bit too much like The Exorcist, The Shining, and The Haunting. However it is a shining example of this genre.
The film is a good vehicle to show off Sam Raimi's directorial talent, which he has plenty of. He's a truly stylish director and one of the best in the horror genre(I consider George Romero the best). The blood and gore in The Evil Dead is more than abundant. I would say this is number six in the goriest and bloodiest movies department with Dead Alive being the obvious first. Want examples? A girl is stabbed by a pencil, another girl is totally dismembered by an ax, the house literally bleeds, etc, etc. There were some suspenseful scenes but there were also some plot holes. For example: Cheryl was raped by a tree yet when she ran back to the cabin it was quite obvious her underwear was still on yet she became possessed. Chery stabbed Linda with a pencil and Linda became possessed. That's pretty confusing, by a pencil? Later on, Ash is cut pretty badly by Linda's fingernails but he's never possessed. (at least not until Evil Dead 2 but what took so long?) But this is still one of my favourite films I mean its more fun having plot holes anyway.
The Evil Dead is a very gory gross out horror film that will please die-hard horror fans, Evil Dead 2 is a horror-comedy, and Army of Darkness will attract those who love comedy, action, adventure, fantasy, and special effects
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Production Year: 1998 - Horror - Director: Steve Miner - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams, Adam Arkin, Adam Hann-Byrd, Janet Leigh, L.L. Cool J.
Feb 16th, 2001
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