"Why are you torturing me like this?"

Rating: 3/10 (11 June 2012)

I might get a lot of heat for this review, but, in my opinion as both a horror movie fan & a fan of cinema in general, "The Evil Dead" is simply a poorly executed film.
The plot is simple; a group of "teenagers" (calling them teenagers seems inaccurate, I'm in my early twenties & they look older than me) venture into the woods for a retreat at a cabin. In this macabre cabin they discover an ominous ancient book & an audio recording. After they play the audio recording, which recites a spell to reanimate the dead, that's when the "horror" begins.
The story is simple & easy to follow, & that is not a complaint. It is a unique way to create a movie about a common horror movie subject—the undead. The setting is well created; the woods (within Kentucky, I believe) are creepy & the cabin definitely has a very dark & ominous vibe.
Sadly the setting & the story are the only well-done elements in the movie. The dialogue was mediocre & the acting of the characters ranges from cardboard to obnoxious overacting. There were moments where I just wanted some of the characters to be killed off just to save me from their acting. Once the second character had "turned," I just wanted the movie to end.
The special effects are really good; I give the creators credit in that regard; they did particularly well for an obviously low budget film. "The Evil Dead" definitely pours on the blood, guts, & gore; however, that didn't help my opinion of the movie; special effects simply aren't as important to me as good acting & coherent dialogue.
As far as the music score, at some points in the film it blended well with the events occurring while at other times it clashed.
Something as rudimentary as cinematography also struck me as amateur, not simply low budget but amateur.
If you would like to see a movie that properly combines elements of horror & black comedy, I would strongly recommend "Frostbitten" (Swedish title: "Frostbiten") or Hitchcock's black comedy films (specifically, "The Trouble with Harry"); if you would like to see a very low-budget horror film, check out "Just Before Dawn;" if you want to see a simple-minded slasher-type gory horror movie, then see one of the Halloween sequels, its remake, or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. All those disparate films have something in common that is lacking from "The Evil Dead;" they all have good acting.
I have read that this film was considered by some fans to "take itself too seriously" compared to the rest of its series, perhaps I'd feel different about it after watching its sequels; however, I cannot recommend this movie; if you're looking for any of the elements that I mentioned above, check out the other suggestions I mentioned.