Cartoonishly Violent and I Love It!

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2013)

'Evil Dead' is a movie that you really should go and see without having and prior knowledge of it whatsoever.
The story is a group of buddies all going to a cabin somewhere in the rural Tenessee woods for a weekend getaway. When they get there, they discover a weird book and some tapes. The tapes belonged to an archaeologist who was studying the book and came to the cabin to not get distracted by anything at home, he explains how he believes this to be the book of the dead, or Necronomicon, itself. He managed to translate some of the writings and speaks them out loud of the tapes. The words summon demons to the cabin that slowly possess each of the friends one by one until the lone survivor, Ash, has to fight off the rest of the demons and somehow escape from woods alive.
Now, as soon as you see the phrase 'group of buddies' in the context of a horror movie, you want to roll your eyes. Yeah, it's a horror movie cliché to have a bunch of boring and unlikable teens just there for the sake of getting killed. But wait! We actually care for their characters. Okay, they're not exactly three-dimensional Shakespeare characters but at least they are decent characters. Especially the relationship between Ash and his girlfriend, Linda. They're an adorable couple that you want to see live but it all ends in tragedy as the demons use Linda to torment Ash.
The rest of the film? Really unique. There are very few films out there that can take place in one small space and hold my attention the entire running time. The cinematography is fantastic, with some shots really making you wonder how the hell they managed to do them. The atmosphere is fantastic, with very little music and more emphasis on sound effects. The wind blowing outside, the floorboards creaking, the squelchy noises the blood makes as the characters walk through them. Great stuff. The cabin itself is very creepy. If I saw anything like it in real life, I would just stay far away. It's widely known that the movie was on a really tight budget and the crew found the cabin abandoned in the forest. Knowing that makes it a whole more creepier.
The effects are jaw-dropping and a true testament that practical effects will always beat CGI. The way the demons look, the white stuff they spray out of their mouth when they are stabbed or shot, the ridiculous amount of blood almost literally coming out the woodwork and the stop-motion finale.
It's also pretty inspiring when you watch or read a lot of stuff that went on behind-the-scenes. How some of the effects where done, the hell the crew persevered through, the ridiculous controversy it caused especially in the UK but is now considered a horror classic. I highly recommend watching documentaries on the film if you have an interest in film making.
Is there anything bad about the movie? Of course there is. While I did mention the characters were decent, the acting is a bit bland. Even Bruce Campbell as Ash who has become one of the biggest cult movie stars is nothing to write home about in this movie but when the characters become possessed, then they turn up the ham dial all the way up to 100 and it becomes far more entertaining. I also don't think I need to say anything about the infamous tree rape scene. It's just out of place even in a movie as crazy as 'Evil Dead.' Well, that's my take on it. If you haven't seen it, do me a favour and do it soon. It's one of the most creative, original, entertaining and greatest movies of all time.