'Join us...'

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2013)

Again, a film of which I'm certain I've seen it before - probably a long time ago - but manages to blow me away as if it were the first time. Sam Raimi's much acclaimed feature debut is a gory, filmicly orgasmic shocker that is built around a simple, but effective given. There was only one little part of the gore that was too obviously fake, which was a zombie face (I think it was Cheryl's) that too clearly a mask. Effects-wise, of course, you'll have to accept this film as being a product of the eighties, but for me that is no problem; this is a rare one that even scared the bejesus out of me at times. Of course, horror icon Bruce Campbell shows why he deserves to have become just that, but also the rest of the cast is utterly convincing. And then, the direction: Sam Raimi proved to be nothing less than a grandmaster at a young age (though I'm not that curious about 'Oz the Great and Powerful' or the Spider-man trilogy), using fantastic angles, music, zooms and such for maximum horror pleasure. I can't leave you without mentioning, nay praising the 'tree' scene, wherein a beautiful young female is being... just go see it, and see for yourself if you disagree (I just read, shockingly, that there are indeed people who didn't like this...!); then, and only then, you could try the remake - I haven't made up my mind about it, yet...
A big 9 out of 10 for this justified classic. By the way, this is my 200th review for IMDb. Thank you for reading, I hope I can be of some small service; best wishes for 2014!