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THE EVIL DEAD "The most ferociously original horror film of 1982" |
Originally released in theatres, The Evil Dead, did not become a box office hit. When released on video, however, it soon became a success. Today it is still a cult classic, leaving a large impact on music, video games, other movies, comic books, the internet, and even on saturday morning cartoons.
The Evil Dead is about 5 friends who are simply trying to get away from college life and have a relaxing vacation in a desolate cabin in the woods. Among these friends is young Ash. The time with his girlfriend, Linda, is special for Ash. He thinks only of being alone with her so he can tell her how much he loves her.
However, this cabin in the woods has been tainted with evil. A book called the "Morturom Demonto" had been translated in this very cabin by a professor who is now missing. The translations have awaked an ancient evil force, that has the ability to possess the living and will stop at nothing til it has destroyed all human life.
Here's what Stephen King says about it:
When I met Sam Raimi at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1982, my first thought was that this fellow was one of three things: a busboy, a runaway American highschool student, or a genius. He wasn't a busboy, and Raimi finished high school some time ago, although he has the sort of ageless sophomore looks that are going to keep bartenders asking to see his liscense or state liquor card untill he's at least thirty-five. That he is a genius is yet unproven; that he has made the most ferociously original horror film of 1982 seems to me beyond doubt.
Raimi, a Michigan native now quartered near Detroit, was twenty when he directed and wrote Evil Dead. (He was also one of the cameramen, assisted in the first half by Tim Philo.) His producer, Rob Tapert, was twenty-six. The gruesome special effects were achieved in tandem by Tom Sullivan, twenty-four, and Bart Pierce, who is all of thirty. The five stars were college kids. The film was shot in sixteen millimeter and blown up to thirty-five for theatrical release. The resulting effect is grainy but oddly adapt; the film has a weirdly convincing documentary look that no one has seen since George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, a film Raimi admits was a strong influence.
The Evil Dead has the simple, stupid power of a good campfire story - but its simplicity is not a side effect. It is something carefully crafted by Raimi, who is anything but stupid. Five college students on a holiday, two boys and three girls, find a deserted cabin and an ancient book - a Lovecraftian Book of the Dead - that turns them into unkillable zombies, one by one, until only the film's star. Bruce Campbell, is left. The only way to get rid of these zombies - the evil dead - is by dismemberment. Luckily a chainsaw is handy, and...
And it doesn't sound like much.
Well, neither does Hans and Gretel or Bluebeard in the hands of an untalented teller. What Raimi achieves in Evil Dead is a black rainbow of terror.-Stephen King
Get more info on The Evil Dead at the Internet Movie DataBase.