Excellent Beginning to a Great Series

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2001)

The Evil Dead is the classic horror tale. Goofy kids go to remote cabin. Woman gets raped by tree. All escape routes are blocked. Kids resound to fight evil zombies who have possessed some of their party. Ok, so maybe not the typical plots, but Evil Dead certainly does have all the makings of a bad horror movie. Why then, is it so appealing?
First of all, Bruce Campbell (Ash) has a few really great one liners. Although not revealing his potential until the latter movies in the series (Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness), he is still a darn cool guy. Next, there is tons of fake gore and cool special effects. The effects Raimi uses are not the typical big budget effect. Big budget should not be used anywhere near this film. Instead the effect are more of a stage show, magical, slight of hand effect. Bruce Campbell remarked that Raimi was a master of such things.
I would certainly see this movie if you are planning on watching the rest of the series, or if you're just looking to see a funny, cheesy horror film from the early 80's.