The classic cabin-in-the-woods horror

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2017)

When five students; Ash, his girlfriend Linda, his sister Cheryl, his friend Scotty and Scotty's girlfriend Shelly, go for a weekend away in a remote cabin in the Tennessee woods they anticipate having a good time it soon becomes apparent that they will be getting something very different. Things get slightly creepy before they even get into the cabin and this quickly escalates when they explore the cellar and find an old book and a tape recording made by a previous resident; an archaeologist. It tells how he found the 'Book of the Dead' on a dig in the Middle East and how reading a certain incantation summoned evil spirits; the recording includes the incantation and soon evil forces are making their presence felt. Cheryl hears something and goes into the woods to investigate; here she is grabbed by the trees and raped! She manages to get away but it later becomes apparent that she is possessed by an evil spirit; a spirit that is determined to possess each of the others. Before the night is out they will experience a number of grizzly terrors as they are attacked and more of them become possessed.
This low budget horror has become a cult classic; helped by the fact that it was banned here in the UK for many years as one of the so called 'video nasties'. No doubt this also added to its scariness as I was constantly expecting something horrible to happen! There were plenty of good scary moments as well as some fairly gruesome scenes and the infamous 'tree rape' scene is genuinely disturbing even if nothing really offensive is shown. The story is simple, which isn't a bad thing in a short horror film. The effects are distinctly low budget but still effective; frequently the creepiness is provided just by unusual camera angles, lighting and a few strange sounds which keep the viewer on edge. Director Sam Raimi did a great job creating such an atmosphere. The cast does a decent enough job, most notable Bruce Campbell in the role of Ashley. They are perhaps a bit old to be playing 'college kids' but that hardly matters as their age doesn't affect the story. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to horror fans at is a classic of the genre.