"We were a bunch
of idiots trying to make a movie," proclaims actor Bruce Campbell
star of one of the most celebrated, and rightfully so, cult films
of the last twenty years. The idea for The Evil Dead sprung from
an 8-mm film director Sam Raimi (Darkman, A Simple Plan) and producer
Robert Tapert shot entitled Within the Woods. When they decided
to expand it into a feature length film they left their Michigan
homes and headed down south to create one of the most absorbing
and visually creative films of the eighties.
You
won't mistake the cinematography and special effects with Aliens, but
low budget horror films aren't supposed to look, or sound, this good.
Distorted angles and out of control point of view shots, help to fuel
the nonstop violence and atmosphere of complete chaos the movie achieves
thirty minutes in. Part Herschell Gordon Lewis, part Three Stooges,
the film is a blast from beginning to end.
We
follow Ash, his girlfriend and their two buddies to a creepy cabin in
the middle of nowhere. While messing around the house they discover
a book of the dead and an old school, reeled tape machine. The tape
is a recording of a man who had discovered the book and released a horrible
evil that was plaguing his cabin. Terrific P.O.V. shots and sound effects
make the dark woods come alive seemingly watching the cabin from the
forest. When Ash's female buddy is raped by the woods (!) she becomes
a putrid possessed lunatic and soon all hell breaks loose.
Classic
scenes abound: the floating, pencil wielding possessed girl who sinks
a an old fashioned number two into her girlfriends leg, Ash hacking
his possessed friends arms, legs, and head off, a demon gnawing through
its own hand letting it flop to the floor in a pile of gore, and the
horrid, pupil-less possessed girl that mocks Ash by singing nursery
rhymes. Bruce Campbell is a wonder to behold as Ash, getting splattered
with blood and having the physical presence of the great silent film
comediennes.
With
the help of a glowing review from Steven King, The Evil Dead defied
the oppression of the studios and found international success. Sam Raimi
went on to direct many big budgeted hits including Darkman, his academy
award nominated A Simple Plan, and now he runs the world as director
of the hit Spiderman films.
