Gore-fest horror spectacular and archetypal Video Nasty.

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2014)

The horror genre has always benefited from low-budget movies: in 1968 George A. Romero independently produced the seminal zombie flick "Night of the Living Dead" and in doing so invented the zombie apocalypse genre as well as marrying incisive sociological commentary to evisceration; and in 1978 John Carpenter reworked some of the tropes found in "Black Christmas" (1974) and effectively suburbanized horror in the consummate slasher movie "Halloween" (1978). Both were low-budget efforts done out of love and both immediately and irrevocably changed the way we think about horror. In a similar way, Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead", although not quite in the same league as the aforementioned films, nevertheless was born in similar low-budget circumstances and was able to transcend these financial limits with sheer creativity and craft. And in doing so, created such a furore upon its release and spawning such a robust legacy that it can rightly said to be considered a classic.
However, having given such high praise, it remains to be said that the movie cuts an unusual figure among other "classic" horror movies (low-budget or otherwise) in being possessed of a definite self-awareness in its employment of horror clichés that have led some to consider the film a parody and not to be taken seriously - a kind of horror version of "This is Spinal Tap". Chief among these is, well, the whole plot: a group of young people head out to a remote cabin where they find an ancient book which they shouldn't read from but do and allow demons to come into this reality and wreck havoc. This kind of plot barely cut it back in the day, let alone these days (even though it was remade, quite well in my opinion, in 2013). And yet, despite an undeniable campy quality (with patchy-at-best acting augmenting the thinnest of plots), when it unleashes itself it can create a lurking sense of claustrophobic dread more penetrating than "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974), demons which pose a genuine threat in their sheer malevolence, gore that would make Lucio Fulci blush, and a very real sense of hopelessness.
So, even though the film has its camp flourishes (like the ridiculous and equally horrifying "Tree Rape" scene) and knowing nods and what-not, it seems that the distanced self-awareness that "The Evil dead" demonstrates is the very thing that allows the film to venture into the realms of excess with its gore and nihilism that allow it to ultimately stand above the tropes and genre conventions it employs. As such, being so bleak and such a gore high watermark, it's no surprise that the movie wound up on the list of official Video Nasties drawn up in the 80s; a list designed to remove from circulation movies which were considered morally corrupting. To be honest, a lot of the movies on the list haven't aged well and one wonders what all the fuss is about, but with "The Evil Dead", while morally corrupting may be pushing it (especially given the depths of recent movies "The Human Centipede" (2009) and "A Serbian Film" (2011), it still retains its ability to creep you out, make you squirm, and damn well entertain you.