The Evil Dead

Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Sam Raimi
Released: 1981
Labels: 1980's|Gore|Supernatural

Five friends on vacation head to a remote cabin in the woods where in the basement they find a strange book and tape recordings of incantations that they play and unwittingly release sleeping demons. The woods that surround them become possessed; the demon spirits attack the cabin and one by one the friends become evil incarnate turning on each other with a thirst for blood. Only one remains untainted by the demons touch and must fight the woods and his friends in order to survive the night.

It's difficult to know where to start with The Evil Dead because over the past three decades it has transcended being just a horror movie; it's one of the most referenced and the most revered films of its era.  The Evil Dead combined a rarely seen level of SFX, gore and bloody mayhem with a tongue in cheek humor and maverick camera techniques, but what gave it such notoriety was the fact that it polarized its viewers. It was as despicable for some as it was enthralling for others, in fact in the 1980's in the UK it became a 'poster-boy' for the whole video-nasty furor and got itself banned.

What director Sam Raimi (Darkman, Spider-Man, Drag me to Hell) achieved (aged 21) for little over $375,000 is truly remarkable considering that would not even cover five blood-filled minutes of a Hollywood torture-porn set piece nowadays. The make-up effects by Tom Sullivan and the use of prosthetic body parts are convincing and clearly the actors relished every second of poking, chewing, stabbing and dismembering. Speaking of the acting, it must be noted that The Evil Dead sees the birth of a cult movie icon, Bruce Campbell (Bubba Ho-Tep, My Name is Bruce). Longtime friend of Sam Raimi and his brother Ted, Campbell was executive producer of the movie, was involved in many aspects of the cinematography and was chosen as the "actor" of the group because he would be the one that "girls wanted to look at." Campbell reprises his role for the continuation of The Evil Dead story in two further movies "The Evil Dead 2 : Dead by Dawn" (1987) and "Army of Darkness" (1992), increasingly witty one-liners and the coolest shotgun/chainsaw melee weaponry galvanized Campbell's cult status.

The trivia and interesting facts about this movie are seemingly endless but you can check out the best of them here.

If you like a movie with plenty of scares, laughs and splatter then this is most definitely for you.

The Evil Dead Theatrical Trailer

The Evil Dead at iMDB

The Evil Dead at Wikipedia

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Other than film spin-offs The Evil Dead has spawned comic books, cellphone apps and there's even been a stage musical made based on the movie!

Horror Movie Friday has also heard that The Evil Dead remake is in development with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell as producers, Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez has been commissioned to direct after Raimi saw his short film  Ataque de Pánico!  and apparently academy award winning screen writer Diablo Cody is revising the script!