Original

Rating: 6/10 (28 January 2008)

While this movie was never in the running for an academy award, it has touched two generations of fans now in the last 26 years. It was made by college kids as nothing more than a b-movie but it turned out to be one of the most original and gruesome movies in the last quarter century.
Evil Dead is a tale about 5 college kids taking a vacation in a secluded cabin among the woods somewhere in Michigan. During their stay they stumble upon the centuries old Necronomicon, the book of the dead. (Not to be confused with the book of the dead from The Mummy) After stupidly reading from the book, the ancient evil the book possessed comes to life and begins attacking the 5 kids (including one scene where a woman is raped by a tree, yes you read that right) until they are either killed or posssessed. One by one they are dispatched by the one remaining survivor named Ash (Bruce Campbell) and by daylight the evil is gone....or so we thought.
This movie took the possession concept from The Exorcist to a brand new level. This was supposed to be a b-movie orchestrated by college kids yet the special effects are AWESOME for 1981 and non-Hollywood standards. If you see this movie and not the next 2 in the series, its quite amusing to see Ash play the role of the wussy as upposed to the hero he'd become. If you look at the movie from the perspective of it was a low budget flick run by unknown actors, actresses, directors, etc you can truly appreciate its lasting effects on the world and the sequels spawned from it.
The highlight of the movie is the end when Ash throws the Necronomicon into the fire and the remaining deadites (names for the possessed) melt, that's tremendous special effect work if I may say so. Definitely watchable 6 out of 10