Requirements: 1 sense of humour, 1-5 buddies, 3-6 cans of lager, 1 strong stomach

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 2003)

Wow.
What an entertaining (and shocking) flick! I picked this one up after seeing a clip of it on a "Top 100 Scarey Moments" programme on Brittish TV.
Now, I am a person who finds it extremely hard to be frightened by a movie. The only movie that ever frightened me before was The Blair Witch Project, a movie with very mixed opinions in the public. The Evil Dead didn't scare me as such, but it did really shock and thrill me. This is a brilliant, original movie, with some great filmmaking and tricks with camera work.
This is such an inspirational movie, it deserves more recognition than it currently has. You name it, Evil Dead started it. So many films try to copy it's camera tricks, surreal effects and style.
It isn't a film which makes you think at all. 5 college students go out to an old cabin in the woods to spend some time there. There they find a strange, disturbing looking book, and a tape recording. Upon playing back the tape recording, the words recited on the recording awaken something in the woods... The spell is said to give the dead license to posess the living.
As has been copied by about a million films now, naturally, somebody gets possessed. When the possessed inflict wounds on the living, they will soon too be possessed. That sets the scene for the rest of the movie, with a 'survival horror' style. What follows are a series of shocking and gorey attacks and weird goings on.
The best part though, is this movie's great sense of humour. You won't just scream and cringe, but you will laugh too. The absurd 'gore humour' really is absurd. You'll feel guilty for laughing as Ash's headless girlfriend is humping him, blood leaking all over his face, whilst her head lies on the floor a few yards away making childish noises. That's the sort of absurd, sick over the top gags you can expect. The interweaved comedy sequences mix with your fear and disgust and balance it all out to just leave this feeling of enjoyment.
I think I have now made it clear what sort of people will enjoy this flick. If you take gore and things too seriously, or you don't like to be frightened out of your wits by sudden 'boo' sequences, then for gods sake stay away from this film.
To a horror fan, any horror fan, who also has a sense of humour, and isn't always looking for movies which take Einstein's brain to understand the plot, this is perfect, and a classic. One to watch. As I made obvious in the 'one line summary' for this comment, this film is perfect for a night with some friends and some drink.
The Evil Dead later spawned a kickass, although less over the top, sequel, Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn, and an odd comedy-adventure type movie (I suppose you could call it a spinoff?) called Army of Darkness.