Excellent Low Budget Horror

Rating: Null/10 (18 July 2001)

The Most Serious of the three films in the popular horror trilogy. For the most part a grim and straight forward horror picture. Not bombarded with the unnecessary slapstick comedy that plagues Evil Dead 2(1987) and The Army of Darkness(1991). Better and more scary because of its serious tone. The Evil Dead(1982) was an innovative horror feature of the 1980s.

In my opinion its the best of the Evil Dead trilogy. Has more pure horror than the sequels. Ash is not portrayed like a member of the Three Stooges as in the following films. Evil Dead(1982) is excellent in its atmospheric aura and fast moving cinematography. Evil Dead(1982) also contains the coolest gore scenes in the entire trilogy.

The POV shots are used with such innovative bravado and technical efficiency. The POV shots are in the manner of Dario Argento. One of the first to use the shaky Cam effect. The use of POV in Evil Dead would influence a number of film directors. Sam Raimi is the best American filmmaker when it comes to POV shots.

Ash in the first Evil Dead is a tragic figure. Here he is a far cry from the clumsy Comedic heroic figure of Evil Dead 2:Dead by Dawn(1987) and Army of Darkness(1991). Ash in Evil Dead(1982) is tormented by the loss of his friends and girlfriend. Ash is pretty much patterened after the main character of Sammo Hung's Encounters of the Spooky Kind(1980). Ash is a simpleton who fights to survive against the demons that possess his friends.

One of the best elements of this movie is the subplot involving Ash and his girlfriend, Linda. Its this element as well as others that makes The Evil Dead(1982) my favorite of the trilogy. Bruce Campbell and Betsy Baker are wonderful in the scenes they do together. Its heartbreaking and sad to see Ash dismember and kill a woman he loved so much. The sequence where Ash gives Linda the necklace is one of the movie's lighter moments.

The humor is blended into the horror scenes without being overly ridculous. Evil Dead(1982) is full of dark humor that is both funny and scary. Mixing horror and humor is a tricky thing to pull off because there has to be a balance for the combo to work. The Evil Dead(1982) is successful in combining the two. Fun to watch horror with humor as opposed to humor with horror.

Notorious for the rape in the woods scene, Evil Dead(1982) becomes a daring picture at this point of the film. Scene like this separates the first from the next two as a masterful horror pic. Ellen Sandweiss is very brave in going through with this scene. A terrifying sequence to observe and watch. Sam Raimi reuses this scene in Evil Dead 2:Dead by Dawn(1987) without the absolute viciousness of the one here.

The gore here is fantasticly shown. For a low budget film the make up effects are impressive. Was not popular with the MPPA because of the extreme color used to portray blood. The filmmakers use a stylish and crude appoarch to make the gore scenes work. Joel Coen must have learned something about filming gore scenes from Evil Dead(1982) when he directed Blood Simple(1985).

The original title of Evil Dead(1982) was Book of the Dead. The book and many ot the film's themes derieve from the horror and scifi stories of H.P. Lovecraft. The big influence for Evil Dead(1982) was an early 1970s horror flick known as Equinox(1971). An early movie Joel Coen worked on before going on to become a major director and do films like Blood Simple(1985), Miller's Crossing(1991), and Fargo(1996). Shares many ideas with the Sammo Hung kung Fu horror pic, Spooky Encxounters(1980).

Some fabulous cinematography are used in most of the films' best scenes. Sam Raimi shows his talent in directing Evil Dead(1982) with his hyperkentic style. Some areas of Evil Dead(1982) reminds me of the Lucio Fulci films from the early 80s, especially The Beyond(1981). One of ten terrific horror features that came out in the 1980s. Many have tried to copy the style of this movie and most have failed.