Great horror film

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2015)

It has corny effects...that are awesome! It has hammy performances... that are great! And some of the most atmospheric direction and creative use of limited resources you'll see in any film. On a budget of somewhere between 350 and $400,000, Raimi was able to churn out a film that received praise from Stephen King for being "terrifying" and went on to gross $2.4 million on its original release. So let's dust off our old VHS, get our box tellies out of the garden shed, dim the lights and take in this horror classic: Sam Raimi's Evil Dead.
Our story begins with our hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) going with his girlfriend Linda, her sister Cheryl, and another couple Scott and Shelley to stay at a cabin in the woods. These early scenes are a little painful, with Ash failing to gain much interest..or anything.
Some typical foreboding things happen on their way to the cabin (a near hit car incident and a semi-collapsing bridge) but they make it the cabin safely. Upon getting there Cheryl's hand is possessed by Satan (or something similar) and she draws a weird picture. Inexplicably finding this normal, she mentions it to no one. Later on at dinner time the attic door in the cabin flings open, Ash and Scott decide to check it out, again because there's nothing abnormal about an attic door flinging itself up for no reason. In the attic they find the Book of the Dead and an old tape player with some incantations on it. Needless to say these incantations release evil and demonic spirits.
Cheryl was already demonically possessed earlier and so naturally she is the first to really have horrific things happen to her, like a pretty full on scene where she is violated by a tree. She gets back inside and no one believes her. This is pretty good gradual revelation as the audience and Cheryl know more than the other four characters. Cheryl is understandably hysterical and so Ash tries to drive her back into town, but they realize that the semi collapsed bridge has fully collapsed and they are trapped at the cabin.
They arrive back at the cabin and Cheryl turns full zombie. From there they turn one by one until it's just Ash remaining trying to survive the night and survive the zombies.
As classical as a horror film plot that is, and I hope from that synopsis of the setup that it comes across just how well this movie builds in the first act, the real star is the awesome shots of the camera zooming through the woods. Now, they couldn't afford dollies on their budget so apparently Raimi tried everything from improvised wooden sliders using trees to getting two guys to run around in the woods holding a camera attached to a wooden rail sleeper. However he did it, Raimi and his virtually novice crew are able to create the sensation of a spirit or force moving through the woods. These shots are unsettling in the first act and downright frightening as the film continues.
Another star is the gore effects, even though there are some scenes where you can see blood capsules and melting plastic. In the end, these zombie looking things actually are pretty scary and do work, at least within the world this film happens in.
Campbell does grow on you as the film continues and his panicked flailing near the end of the film is excellent. The rest of the cast are inexperienced and do what they're asked by a director who appears to be taking great pleasure in subjecting them to all manner of discomforts and indignities.
This film was widely praised when it came out and still highly regarded now. I think I've revealed the most unexpectedly disgusting part, but there's a lot of stuff in here that may offend. With this type of story and budget, you know what to expect, but you can also expect to get a film far better than you typical horror outing. One of the very best the horror genre has to offer.