Yes, this is the original video nasty. Yes, this is the one that was banned over here for many years, and then when released for our viewing it has bits of it cut! Yes, this is the one that was made on a budget thinner than Victoria Beckham! However in this day and age the movie has been restored to its former glory. The pencil in the ankle scene is back, and all the over the top impalings and blood letting is all apparent in The Evil Dead!
A simple premise if I ever saw one, five young, horny teenagers are going into the woods to stay in a cabin they rented. No neighbours, nothing, just themselves. When messing around one gloomy night, they come across a tape player. Stupidly they play it, and it somehow (SHOCK! HORROR!) resurrects the dead! The only way they can get rid of the zombies and foul beasts is to chop off all their limbs, and basically kick their ass until they're a bloody mess. Let the good times roll gore hounds!
The gore in this film by today's standards is still pretty gruesome. I mean it takes a while for the killing to get started, but that's what makes it so great - it builds up tension with great camera play (check out the innovative 'evil dead' camera all in first person perspective!), and then shocks you when hell is unleashed. When the killings do start they are very in your face and pretty brutal. Beating people to death with axes, ankle twisting, shooting faces off and worst of all the 'rape' scene - this has the lot. Don�t worry though folks, Sam Raimi has delivered the film with good style and visual flair, which means it looks fresh and interesting. Today some of the scenes do look a little dated, but that�s not a big problem.
Acting is average at best, but for a cheap film it is understandable. Ash. played by Bruce Campbell, isn�t the wise cracking comedy man as he is in Evil Dead 2, but is still good as the sympathetic hero. The others give out some spooky performances, Ellen Sandweiss is good as the possessed girl in the first few minutes, all of which should be taken tongue in cheek.
Direction is where this film comes alive. With great camera angles, like the evil dead camera, the diagonal shots down corridors and good use of sound, where silence is used well, for shock value, this film was clearly done by a rising talent. Also, Raimi doesn�t resort to dramatic shots, or over the top music, he stays with the low beat, gritty yet funny violence that makes this film work so well.
So a true horror classic then. Cool gore, snazzy direction, cheesy acting and a plot that has no twists in to mix us up - this is horror, pure and simple. |
