"The Evil Dead"

Let me begin by saying that I cannot write an impartial or objective review of this film.  I, as many others of my generation, love "The Evil Dead".

I think that it is important to note for our younger readers that this is not the new film which is soon to be out in theaters, but is the original, which is now over 30 years old.

I first saw "The Evil Dead" in October of '99.  I'd been a fan of "Army of Darkness" (the third movie in the "Evil Dead" trilogy . . . yes, it is a trilogy) since the first time I'd seen it on the SciFi channel, and I'd seen it at least a dozen times prior to seeing "The Evil Dead" or "Evil Dead 2", and for that matter, had no idea that it was a sequel.  Then, in the lat nineties  as a result of the movie "Scream", I was having a bit of a horror movie renaissance; not in the sense of the new horror movies that Hollywood was churning out like cars off an assembly line, but at the horror section of my local video store.  I plowed through as many horror movies of the 70's and 80's as I could, and, being a slacker in college, having the time to do so.  And then a friend mentioned "The Evil Dead" and put it in the context of "Army of Darkness" for me.  So I promptly borrowed their copies of "The Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead 2".  At the time, we had a decent sized TV in our dorm room, and I had (what I considered to be) a decent stereo, so, sometimes, when I would watch movies, I would turn out all the lights and watch theater-style.  So, I watched it.

I was stunned.  I was shocked.  

I was disturbed.

I had been frightened by movies before; not many, but a few.  When I was four years old, my mom took me to see E.T. in the theaters, and the scene with the NASA guys in the reflective helmets gave me nightmares.  Then again, I was four.

"The Evil Dead" is the first time I was disturbed by a movie.  It was the first time that, when watching a movie, I could hear myself thinking, "This is some disturbing, fucked up shit right here", and did not want to look away.  I can count on one hand the number of films which I have found out rightly disturbing since, but "The Evil Dead" was the first, and has since stood as my own personal bellwether of disturbing in movies.

"The Evil Dead" has also stood as my own personal bellwether of independent film effort.  The film was made for what was then an extremely small budget of $90,000 dollars in the woods in Tennessee.  It was made without the assistance of a studio at the end of the 1970's by a small handful of Michigan college students and their friends and family.  Those college students were (most notably) Sam, Ivan and Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Robert Tapert.  

Since "The Evil Dead", these men have continued to work together, and have since gone on to lead successful careers.  They also became friends with the Coen brothers, with whom Sam co-wrote "The Hudsucker Proxy". (which is fantastic . . . but I'll get to that one later)

 In the nineties, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert would go on to produce numerous TV series, the most successful of which would be “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Xena: Warrior Princess”, on which, Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi would play staple characters.  Bruce Campbell would also star in the short-lived anachronistic steam-punk western “The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.” (which was a better remake of “The Wild Wild West” than the Will Smith movie of the same name).  Bruce can now be seen as “Sam Axe” on the USA series “Burn Notice”. 

Sam also flexed his directing muscles in the nineties on the original superhero creation “Darkman”, on the western “The Quick and the Dead”, the suspense thriller “A Simple Plan” (in my opinion, his best work), and the Kevin Costner baseball vehicle “For Love of the Game”, and the supernatural murder-mystery “The Gift” (which is a close second to “A Simple Plan”).  Then, in the 2000s, Sam would go on to direct the three “Spider-Man” movies, once again fitting Bruce and Ted into cameo roles.  Many of these movies also featured, to some degree or another, the fiercely original shooting style which is already evident in “The Evil Dead”.

His latest effort, “Oz the Great and Powerful” will be in theaters this summer (which I am looking forward to).

However, this success is understandable when you consider that they were not only the driving force behind getting “The Evil Dead” made, but they did so without the benefit of a studio; they financed the film by seeking local businesses to invest in their own home town themselves, in their twenties.

Imagine being a twenty year old college kid going into a local, family owned business, a grocer or pharmacy, and asking them for $90,000 dollars to make a zombie movie.  What the hell do you say?

Even without this knowledge, “The Evil Dead” is still an impressive effort.  While the low budget is obvious, the acting is, in numerous places, amateurish, and the editing in the opening scene is somewhat awkward, the story is thoroughly original, Bruce Campbell’s acting throughout is solid, and even powerful in the third act, and he does all his own stunts, and, in fact, the entire third act (the last twenty minutes of the movie) are impressive, disturbing, and unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere, ever, before or since.

Steven King also wrote a rare review of “The Evil Dead”, calling it “the most ferociously original movie of 1982”.

Not that Steven King is the be-all-end-all of horror (oh . . . wait), but I wouldn’t even qualify it with the year.