A landmark for horror movies.

Rating: 10/10 (16 July 2017)

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of horror movies, so when I sat down to view the first Evil Dead movie, I didn't know if I would even like a film about scary things in the woods, demon possession and a B-list actor, but much like a lot of movies I've watched, Evil Dead totally surprised me with it's use of atmosphere, horror, music and of course Bruce Campbell. After viewing this, it's become one of my favorite horror films period.
The film starts with five collage students heading to a remote cabin in rural Tennessee for a vacation. While there, one of the kids hears a feeble satanic voice calling her to join them then her hand becomes controlled and she draws a book with an evil face on it but isn't sure what to do about it, so she doesn't mention it to any of the others. Later on, the door to the cellar strangely opens, compelling two of the kids to venture down and examine it, while down there, they find a Sumerian chronicle of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. While listening to a tape recorder that was found with the book, the voice of the archaeologist a cycle of chants that awaken a strange devilish creature that possesses one of the students. Now it's up to a remaining students to battle the entity while trying to not get possessed themselves and keeping their sanity.
Sam Raimi was able to take a budget of 350,000 dollars that would seem small compared to the Hammer horror movies and has given us a truly great horror film that wears it's rating like a token of integrity and shows no mercy or takes no hostages. Evil Dead is still a film that is able to hold it's own despite the film being branded a "video nasty" over in the UK due to the overabundance of gore and blood, and yet one can't disagree how much influence Evil Dead had on the horror film genre, and while it's not difficult to view things in the movie like trailing shots, the extreme amounts of carnage and the house in the forest location and call it noticeable and quintessential, it's easy to overlook that all of these clichés that have become so associated with horror films over the last few decades arose because of this movie and while that's not to say that the movie isn't silly or over-the-top because it certainly shows that, it's equally amazing when you are aware of the confines the movie was filmed under.
Sam's camera work here is nothing short of perfect. By means of rapid camera work and forceful shots, he made a creepy world which is difficult to stare at but too thrilling to not glace at and his way of filming is distinctive which is apparent in the opening scene where the camera produces so much ambiance to make the viewer start nibbling their nails in anxiety of what will happen next. It's one of the best opening shots in film history and dripping with atmosphere. Another incredible shot is when the shadows from the trees begin to pursue the characters and are hitting everything in their path, truly one of the best sequences in any horror movie.
Even with it's small price tag, the movie is astonishingly polished on a technological stage, and while the visual effects do come across as outdated and ridiculous, they were made on the cheap when set side by side with modern blockbusters and yet I haven't seen any major Hollywood movie where demons fall apart both externally and internally, bits of body tissue drying up, skulls blowing up, blood spewing everywhere, demons gnawing their hands off and faces rattled with shotgun ammo like darts on a dartboard. The film also works because of it's own self-awareness of that fact that it's a low-budget zombie picture, and yet doesn't take itself very seriously and doesn't think the viewer should either. The film is supposed to be a little on the campy and cheesy side and yet scary and haunting at the same time and there are times in the movie is poking fun at itself and the horror genre too.
Of course, a great horror movies are nothing without great characters and the actors who bring them to life and Evil Dead has the best of both. Ellen Sandwess might be dull-looking but she still does well in the part particularly when she gets taken over by a demon. Hal Delrich, Betsy Baker, and Sarah York all play their parts well, but the reason to watch this movie is for Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Bruce was born to play this role and he isn't played up as the clichéd Hollywood strong man or the James Bond type hero, but rather playing a regular man who is just as scared as the viewer at what's going on around him. His performance in this movie is what has made him such a hero amongst the cult movie crowd. Bruce portrays the character of Ash with such a comedic brilliance and yet is incredibly benevolent, rather than the toughed bad-ass that we see him become in the second and third movies, while oozing swagger and charisma with unquestionable bravado. His growth as a character is also well done here where Ash starts out as a timid coward and as the film moves along, he becomes a shotgun-holding demon killer by the end. Simply put, Bruce Campbell will always be Ash, no questions asked.
Honestly, there really isn't much else I can add to what has already been said about The Evil Dead. It's a timeless horror classic that broke a lot of new ground for the genre which continues to be felt to this day, so if you haven't already seen this, then go out and watch it, you won't regret it!