Release Date Available Now Running Time 85 minutes Genre Cult

Not only that, but it spawned two sequels—a remake-slash-sequel (which is it? No one is sure), Evil Dead II, and the full-on ridiculous (and fun) Army of Darkness.

The Movie

The Evil Dead is the story of five friends who drive up to an isolated cabin in the Tennessee woods for the weekend and discover that the house's previous occupant had left behind a book of spells bound in human skin, and an audio tape of himself reciting its incantations. Before long, the woods are attacking, people are turning into zombies, and Raimi and Co. are getting the very most blood and gore for their buck.

So what if the acting is bad? I’ve seen worse. So what if the special effects are less than awesome? This was a pretty low-budget movie, and it shows in a lot of places. But the sheer originality of a lot of the scare shots-- the lightbulb filling up with blood leaps to mind-- overcame that to make a horror classic. You’ve got to love a film that forces a guy to dismember his own girlfriend with an ax. It’s that kind of demented, sick humor that takes this film to a new level, and it’s the reason we still talk about it 17 years later.
7 out of 10

The Video

The video transfer of The Evil Dead was pretty good for the most part, but had a couple of glaring flaws that need to be mentioned. In one scene, where the first female victim is being chased through the woods by the woods, there is a two- or three-frame video glitch where about 30 or so yellow spots appeared all over the frame. Not good.

And then, about three-quarters of the way through the film a tiny dot appeared slightly off-center of the screen and stayed there for the rest of the movie. How noticeable it was depended on the scene, but it was always there. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
6 out of 10

The Audio

The audio track is remastered to Dolby 5.1, and as such is limited only by the source material—a very low-budget movie made in 1982. As a result everything here can best be described as adequate. Not bad, not great, just enough to do the job. But that’s not really a bad thing, at least not with a film like this, which seems to sort of thrive on its cheapness.

What the audio lacks in depth and production, it makes up for with its timing and intensity, particularly with the orchestral score.
8 out of 10

The Extras

There have been several versions of this movie released on DVD-- the last was by Anchor Bay Entertainment, and was a no-frills version of the film. This DVD, by Elite Entertainment, features a few other goodies, like two full-length commentary tracks: one by star Bruce Campbell and one by director Sam Raimi and producer Robert Tapert. Of these two commentary tracks, Campbell’s is by far the more interesting. Both tracks are “narration-style,” rather than “edited interview-style,” and as a result Raimi and Tapert’s track is punctuated with long silences.

This edition also features the original trailer, 20 minutes of alternate takes and "behind-the-scenes" footage, and a still photo gallery with 150 images.
7 out of 10

You "Dead" heads out there know who you are. If you've been waiting for the right release of The Evil Dead, this is the one.

-- reviewed by Alex Castle