Mysteriously evil, good but hurried and predictable.

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2003)

The filmmakers succeeded in every aspect of this film. It gives off that nice evil tingle and leaves the mysterious, eerily evil woods a deadly substance. It does, however, seem rushed as a whole and fairly predictable in general. What is not too "general" or common is exactly what and how the things happen that do happen. The Evil Dead clearly has an undeniable imagination behind it.
A small group of feeble-minded college kids go to a cabin they "got for cheap" in the deep forests of the hills out in the middle of nowhere. Upon exploration, a couple of them eventually find a book, "The Book of the Dead", in the cellar. It is made of dried human flesh to bind it and its pages, which contain codes and dark yet skillful sketches, all strictly written in the blood of its flesh. The man who last repeated the codes found in the book made a tape recording of his discoveries. This tape is also found in the cellar. The young men show everyone else in the group and make the mistake of playing back the tape, just out of curiosity. Unfortunately, the man recorded his readings of the codes found in "The Book of the Dead", so when these kids play them back out loud it is like a call to the evil within the forest, unleashing it. This evil then turns brilliantly acted, by Bruce Campbell, Ash's friends, 1 by 1, into demons. The way these incidents occur are shockingly heartless, gross, nasty, and simultaneously convincing. Ash is the focus as he is challenged by his "proper", heartfully caring sense of personality. He struggles with his loyalty to his friends and inner strength is forced upon him as things become do or die.
Why a 7/10? The ignorance of potential. The filmmakers had the ability to make it even more, and to make that "even more" shocking, as they have proven. The sequels put this film in a comic book, which is not where this film should be. The Evil Dead was a 9 for where the filmmakers were at when it was created. Then the same creativeness applied to a slight "don't make things be overwith so quickly", for the sake of affective substance, would easily knock it to a 10. Easily place it at the top of all horror films, period. That is amazing, considering the fact that the entire movie practically happened in the area of a cabin and its wooded yard, combined with its group of 2 actors, 3 actresses as well. How do you make a classic with that? Upon answering you will realize the brilliance it took for The Evil Dead to accomplish what it did, has, and still is.