woefully overrated

Rating: 3/10 (21 March 2001)

Definition of a cult classic: a movie that never quite appealed to mainstream taste, but for some reason really appeals to a certain kind of person. With that in mind: Evil Dead is only going to be a cult classic for you if you're the certain kind of person that enjoys constant, gratuitous, vomit-inducing gore.
Basic plotline: some teenagers go to stay in a creepy cabin in the woods. They discover an ancient Sumerian book -- the Necronomicon -- and unwittingly raise some evil spirits. And then everybody gets possessed and dies, with the sole exception of the hero. Wait, did I say "dies"? I should have said "gets torn limb from limb, gushes every conceivable kind of bodily fluid (and some inconceivable kinds), and just generally manages to perish in the most protracted and horrible way anyone could imagine".
Now, I have no basic objection to gore. In a good horror movie, the gore just highlights the terror, and adds a visually shocking element to it. But in this movie, there's really no suspense to go along with it; apart from a few false scares at the start, and some startling zombie attacks, it's really just constant, on-camera violence. I finished this movie feeling more ill than terrified.
And humour? Well, unless you find something intrinsically hilarious about zombies chewing their own arms off, inflicting gaping wounds with pencils, and vomiting blood from neck-stumps, don't count on it. Even Bruce Campbell isn't any fun in this movie; he's basically here only to be terrorized, look put-upon, and get drenched with blood. This isn't the hilarious, manic Ash that makes the later movies worthwhile.