Low Budget, Campy, But Severely Impressive.

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2006)

"The Evil Dead" has been hailed a horror classic for many years now, and I can understand the hype behind this gruesome little low-budget shocker. The story is rather simple: a group of five friends are driving up to a secluded mountain cabin to spend a few days. They arrive at the old, rundown little cabin in the middle of nowhere, and while investigating around the property, they find a creepy book with a tape player in the cellar. The kids decide to play the tape around the fire, and unknowingly, they release an evil force. Soon after, the friends begin to become possessed by an evil entity that turns them into grim, deadly zombies. As each of the friends begin to turn into the horrible monsters, Ash (Bruce Campbell) is the only one left, and must fight against his friends-gone-zombies. Can he survive the night?
While this movie has a large amount of flaws, its unique originality make it so rewarding. There's continuity errors all over this movie. We see the tubes used to spew blood from the zombies, things change in-between shots, and you can obviously see that the moon in the background of some shots is clearly a matted image. So, what gives? This movie is still an excellent piece of horror despite all of the errors. It's amateurish, yet it's not. Had the filmmakers had more resources, this movie would've been perfect in nearly every way. But I think the low-budget feel that this movie has is part of its campy charm. The budget on the film somehow manages to not bring down the movie in the least. The camera-work in this movie is highly impressive, and I can understand why Sam Raimi became such a big director. He knows how to make a movie, and does it well and with style.
The acting in this film, like everything else, isn't perfect. It's decent enough, but nothing even remotely award winning. Bruce Campbell is the lead character, and is likable and has the audience rooting for him throughout the movie. The special effects in this movie are sometimes laughable but oh-so-messy. The blood and makeup effects are really corny looking, but despite that this movie is unbelievable violent. I can see why it was given an NC-17 rating. Even though the violence may not be entirely realistic, it's pretty nasty stuff. The atmosphere and setting in the movie is perfect - the secluded cabin in the woods is a perfect backdrop for the story, where almost everything in the movie takes place. I really liked the cabin setting, it was claustrophobic and worked greatly in the film's favor.
Overall, "The Evil Dead" is campy, violent, and often funny in some respects, but it remains an important film in the horror genre because of its originality and craftiness. Its campy and unbelievable violence is a treat for horror fans, and even if that's not your cup of tea, the movie offers a handful of genuinely frightening visuals and situations. While it may be amateurish, it's also very atmospheric and unique, and just for that, it is a deserved classic. 9/10.