Horror at it's finest

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2013)

I first heard of the Evil Dad franchise when I was a kid (9, 10 years old). I dared not to come any closer to it because, let's face it, this is not a movie for children. Time passed, I grew older, and at one point, after Hollywood hadn't made a decent horror movie in a decade I saw something that scared the Hell out of me - The Evil Dead remake trailer. I said to myself, now is the time (I'm 21 now) to see what this franchise is made of. I rented the movie today with really high expectations due to the knowledge how it is a cult classic, a masterpiece in horror and a revolutionary vision in horror movies. Are all of these elements true?
1) The atmosphere. At first viewing I was disturbed by the gory images, the utmost violence and bloodshed this movie threw at me. Only after a few hours of contemplating had I realized that The Evil Dead made me more scarred and shocked than any other horror movie in a decade. The basic scare is not the CGI or insane killers, or sic traps, but the fact that there is no knowledge of what is happening, how to fight it, or how to escape it. Fear is elemental. The claustrophobic, colorless, dark atmosphere with no tension relief and panic that simply doesn't stop, awakes a feeling of terror like I have never felt while watching a movie. Even though the movie is relatively short, the final 20 minutes pass without a word spoken, with marvelous camera-work that held me on the edge of my seat. I just knew something was going to happen, and the expectation tore my nerves apart.
2) The acting. As basically every cult classic only one person stands out. Bruce Campbell is good. He is actually the only one that actually tried to do something with his character more than be a screaming freaked-out teen. He is the prototype of a horror movie hero.
3) The story. Actually, nothing to say here. There is nothing specific or memorable about it. One could define the story in a sentence but that's not the point. The point is that the lack of a story is what makes the movie so terrifying. As I said before, there is no knowledge of what is going on - ignorance it the basis of fear here. Questions are raised but not answered, questions that really need answers in order to give one a peace of mind, but this is Evil Dead. There is no peace of mind. But, a lack of a story could be seen as a big flaw. There are some segments of the film that could have been explored a bit further in order to gain a multi layered structure of the characters and the storyline.
4) The music. Perfect timing, perfect atonal horrific sounds, and a great main theme.
All in all, The Evil Dead redefined how horror movies were made. It redefined how people saw horror movies and it will definitely change views on horror movies for generations to come. This is not the Godfather of horror movies, and do not expect something like that, but it comes really close.