DVD Review: The Evil Dead: The Book of the Dead - Limited Edition

Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Sam Raimi
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor (aka Hal Delrich), Betsy Baker, Teresa Seyferth (aka Sarah York)

Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1983) is part of a select guild of breakout American independent horror that reached from the grave and grabbed horror fans by the shorthairs, and an important link in a chain of American independent horror from Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978) to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990) and The Blair Witch Project (1999). The Evil Dead recycles many of the horror chestnuts that gave these unforgettable films their visceral punch: rural isolation; relentless assault by a supernatural force or deranged killer (or sometimes a vicious swirl of both); inventively low-tech gore and special effects; and cinéma vérité realism that could only be achieved in a hungry, low-budget atmosphere. Films like The Evil Dead are precious treasures because they only happen once. The corporate studio establishment relently lurks one step behind these shooting stars, ready to drain ideas and creative talent through its dollar-thirsty fangs quicker than you can say "gratuitous sequel." Evil Dead II (1987) just wasn't the same, and today Rob Tapert is a fat-cat television mogul married to his retired Amazonian starlet, Bruce Campbell is writing books and sipping coffee in the Pacific Northwest, and Sam Raimi filmed a baseball movie with Kevin Costner and is about to release a big-budget summer comic book movie. Work a 16-hour day writhing around in pain on a Karo syrup-soaked floor in freezing temperatures while wondering where your next dollar is coming from? HA!

Anchor Bay Entertainment (ABE) has unleashed a remastered version of The Evil Dead called The Book of the Dead - Limited Edition with many extras and special packaging designed by The Evil Dead special effects man Tom Sullivan. Two previous DVD releases of The Evil Dead have been on the market since 1999: a previous movie-only edition by ABE, and a special edition by Elite Entertainment, whose special content includes two audio commentaries by Robert Tapert/Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and an 18m 5s reel of behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes. ABE's 2002 remaster reproduces the special content from Elite's special edition, and said edition will be discontinued, as will ABE's 1999 movie-only release. While both 1999 releases present The Evil Dead in non-anamorphic Academy ratio (it was filmed in 16mm), the ABE 2002 remaster presents the film in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen (and it's definitely 1.85:1, not 1.78:1 — I measured) at the instruction of (with the consent of?) Sam Raimi. The 2002 release also scraps the film's mono soundtrack for updated DTS 6.1 ES and DD 5.1 Surround EX soundtracks, although a downmixed DD 2.0 Surround track is also included. Beyond the recycled Elite content, The Book of the Dead contains Fanalysis, Bruce Campbell's 26m 2s documentary about fandom, Discovering Evil Dead, a 13m 2s featurette from Blue Underground about The Evil Dead's UK theatrical and video campaigns, and two easily-found and pleasantly entertaining Easter eggs, whose content I won't spoil for you.

ABE's 2002 remaster — although not perfect — simply blows the previous 1999 Elite and ABE transfers out of the water. The Evil Dead has never looked better on video, period. I performed A-B-C comparisons of all three discs in real-time for this review (and it's a pleasure to finally be able to say in good conscience that owning three DVD players is indeed not excessive!) and grabbed video frames from all three discs so you can compare them with your own eyes. Before we proceed, please remember that The Evil Dead is a low-budget 16mm film; the source material is definitely grainy and noisy at times, but this is inherent in the film's original elements and to be expected. (Note: You can click on any of the following frame grabs in this review to view the original unaltered full-size frame grabs.)

Elite SE 1999

Anchor Bay 1999

Anchor Bay SE 2002

While comparing frames of The Evil Dead's title card, you can see that the red on the ABE SE is more vibrant than either the Elite or ABE 1999 frames. The red on the Elite frame is the same tone as the ABE SE, but much darker. Looking at the full-size frames of the Elite and ABE 1999 releases, you can see faint digital noise around the letters — look right above the "The," for example. There is no such noise in the ABE SE full-size frame.

Elite SE 1999

Anchor Bay 1999

Anchor Bay SE 2002

This scene with Ash and Cheryl in front of the Olds headlights is a very telling comparison. Notice how the blue orb around the left headlight really bleeds into the fog in the Elite or ABE 1999 frames, while the blue orb in the ABE SE frame has a nice, tight elliptical shape. The fog in the ABE SE frame looks much more smooth and realistic, and doesn't have the digital "blockiness" present in the Elite or ABE 1999 frames.

Elite SE 1999

Anchor Bay 1999

Anchor Bay SE 2002

This shot of Ash reaching for Linda's necklace is probably the best illustration of the differences between the transfers. While the Elite and ABE 1999 frames look severely sharpened, the ABE SE frame is smooth and film-like, almost like a photograph. There is no noise whatsoever in the ABE SE frame. Look at the details of the straw, the dirt, and the hand in the ABE SE frame — they're all clean, smooth, and natural looking. Compare Ash's hand with the hand in the Elite and ABE 1999 frames — both are crawling with noise.

Elite SE 1999

Anchor Bay 1999

Anchor Bay SE 2002

Finally, compare the fire poker at the top of each frame, and the floorboards in the background to the right. The poker's metal in the ABE 1999 frame is blotchy and noise-ridden, and while the Elite frame looks a little better, the noise is still there. The ABE SE is completely free of noise and again looks much more smooth and film-like. However, this last set of frames shows the one weakness of the ABE SE transfer — the overly reddish flesh tones, which you may have also noticed in the previous frame comparisons of Ash's hand. Ash's flesh definitely looks pretty red, but trust me that it doesn't look quite so extreme when watching the ABE SE on its own. Still, discerning viewers might want to tweak the color tint on their sets and balance the flesh tones from a freeze frame with lots of skin somewhere in the film before firing up the DVD for a full viewing.

The Book of the Dead's 1.85:1 framing isn't overly intrusive, but it does feel tight at times. A few examples are the fire poker shot shown above; near the start of the film when Scott fishes for the keys on top of the door to open the cabin; and a bit later in the film when Ash is looking around the corner down a hallway to surprise Linda with a necklace. In the latter scene, Ash looks down at a box holding the necklace in his hand, takes the lid off, and then puts the lid back on. The matte partially obscures the necklace box and makes it pretty difficult to see onscreen what he's doing. If you're sensitive to matting issues and can live with a lower quality video transfer, your best bet is to stick with the Elite or ABE 1999 versions. Not having DTS capability, I was only able to listen to the ABE SE's DD remix — it sounds fine with occasional distinctly separated rear and front soundstages with transitions rendered smooth enough for my ears.

Campbell's Fanalysis is a lot more entertaining than I anticipated — he's put together a nice little documentary, and the scenes with the over-the-top "Xena: Warrior Princess" fan are worth the viewing alone. I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of Fanalysis was filmed in Austin — that's our old Robert Mueller Airport at the beginning, whose airplane hangers are now home to a film production facility called Austin Studios — and Tim League of Austin's Alamo Drafthouse gets a fair amount of face time, as does another familiar red-headed Austinite named Harry. The Discovering Evil Dead featurette is well done, although a bit brief. Palace Pictures guru Stephen Woolley is a hoot to listen to, and it's nice to see Bill Warren, author of "The Evil Dead Companion," get a little face time too. Still, the piece is overly UK-centric, and I couldn't help but wish Dave Gregory and the Blue Underground crew had gone the full mile and shared the US/New Line side of the distribution story to round it out. The old Elite audio commentaries are definitely keepers and it's great they're included in this special edition. All things considered, The Book of the Dead has decent extras, but the last-minute yanking of the Within the Woods short still really stings — with it, The Book of the Dead would have been near perfect.

The Book of the Dead's packaging is nothing short of fantastic — a true, one-of-a-kind collectible. The Tom Sullivan-designed cover is composed of a molded piece of thin, durable rubber that's been airbrushed with a brown base and accented by hand with green and black highlights. Sullivan's design work is exceptional, and the specialized manufacturing and painting process guarantees that no two covers will look exactly the same. The smell that hits your nostrils after opening the shrink-wrap is paint solvent — just let it air-dry for a few days and the smell will go away. The cover is sturdily-attached to a hard cardboard backing, and extra-thick yellow pages containing an introduction by Sullivan and several pages of his hand-drawn artwork and near-cryptic text written in "Bullskrit" are bound to the cover like a book. I've translated the Bullskrit text in its entirely and have attached it to this post for those who can't decipher it. Tom Sullivan has done amazing, high-quality work here, and it's easily the best — and most unique — packaging I've ever seen with a DVD release. Although ABE is not numbering the DVDs, note that The Book of the Dead is a limited release that won't be manufactured beyond 2002. (But also keep in mind that 200,000 copies will be available on its release date of March 5, so there won't be a shortage of copies for a good long while!)