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Rating: Null/10 (25 October 2011)

Like Peter Jackson's 'Bad Taste', 'The Evil Dead' demonstrates director Sam Raimi's wild brilliance in its nascent form. Budgetary limitations can not serve to curb his fertile imagination. This movie is quite possibly the quintessential video nasty, but the liberal amounts of blood and gore on display are tempered by a very black sense of humour which ensures that the terror is balanced by laughter.
The premise is wonderfully simple: a group of friends decide to spend a weekend at a deserted wood cabin in the wilds of Tennessee. Once there, they happen upon an ominous tome called the 'Necronomicon' - the 'Book of the Dead'. This is accompanied by a reel-to-reel tape recorder featuring the recorded notes of a scholar studying the book. As part of his research, the scholar quotes extensively from the book and, when the group of friends play back this recording, an unspeakable evil is raised in the woods nearby. Said supernatural force invades the cabin and possesses several members of the group, transforming them into the titular evil dead. It is up to Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams (Bruce Campbell) - he of the superhero jaw and resourceful nature - to save the day... if he can! For those with a strong constitution, 'The Evil Dead' is an instant horror classic. It does not take itself too seriously which works heavily in its favour, and Bruce Campbell is an immensely likable everyman who plays the hero brilliantly. At one point, at his wit's end, he exclaims to the demonic forces which have laid siege to the cabin, 'Why are you torturing me, you bastards?!'.
Perhaps the most infamous and most discussed scene in the film is the from-out-of-nowhere rape scene in which a woman is sexually assaulted by a tree. It totally throws you a curve and is as bizarre as it is sickening.
It is no surprise that Sam Raimi has conquered Hollywood so effectively; the talent and chutzpah on display in 'The Evil Dead' - his directorial debut - really makes you sit up and take notice. Or take cover!