Just an average guy

Rating: 5/10 (24 September 2017)

In the first Evil Dead movie, Ash was just an average guy. He was cocky and egotistical. He wasn't stupid. He wasn't brave. In fact, he was the Beta male to his friend Scott. Hell, throughout the opening of the movie, people are calling him "Ashley", not the much cooler "Ash" he gets in later movies.
A lot of what fans have come to expect from Bruce Campbell and Ash weren't in this movie. Bruce Campbell himself said on Reddit that the problem was that he couldn't act in this movie. But that's not the whole story. This movie didn't have campy humor or a strong hero. This movie was scary. You were thrown into the movie with no sense of humor, just dread.
The movie had a $50k budget, which was spent over a few years that the film was thrown together by two friends. Every expense was spared. But it has still had a lasting impact on the modern horror genre.
And, while I find most modern horror movies to be forgettable, I find myself coming back to Evil Dead every year around Halloween. It is scary and gory and unique in some way I find fun and endearing.