The Evil Dead

Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: This movie is the best of the horror classics. The camera work and artistic quality of this film bring out the primal instinct of fear in everyone. This is one of those movies you can watch over and over and over and find something new each time. WATCH THIS!

Rating:
Summary: A fairly adequate horror movie!
Review: Evil Dead - Collector's Edition VHS ~ Bruce Campbell can be said to be an all right horror movie: The fight scenes are brutal and over the top. The first half of the movie is in fact very scary. However, the latter part delves into an orgy of blood and guts. It seems as if the subtle hints in the beginning were not enough and had to be materialized in order for the viewer to understand the gruesome nature of the killings. There are two memorable scenes; one is when Ash's girlfriend is attacked by the tree. The other memorable scene is when the monster finally decays.

Rating:
Summary: Great gory horror
Review: The Evil Dead is one of the best low budget horror films of the early eighties, and was notorious, being included on the video nasties list. It's the tale of a group of young folks who go into the countryside and find a book of the dead, and unleash its supernatural powers. The special effects are good, and it is kinda funny too. The DVD is great. The picture is very good, nice and clear, and the sound is remastered into Dolby digital surround; the best sound sequences are when the unseen force is moving quickly, accompanied by the eerie noise. Both commentries are excellent and funny, and there is 150 photos and some unseen footage. All in all, a great film and DVD.

Rating:
Summary: The movie that defines the genre of tongue-in-cheek humor
Review: What else can anybody say but....WOW! Being shamelessly over the top does pay off in a movie of this caliber. What a ride. Sam Raimi would later go on to direct the two great sequels and the brilliant Simple Plan, but this is his masterwork. A low-budget, comic-horror excursion unlike any other. A movie so proud of its gore and hideousness that it promotes it on the front cover. "The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Horror." The movie's plot is typical, college kids going to have lots of sex and partying in an abandoned cabin....find an old book.....unleash evil. That is where the real pay-off comes in while watching your squeamish friends cringe at the disgusting visuals that Raimi proudly spills across the screen. Bruce Campbell, who has made his mark on cult-movie history with these installments of the Dead trilogy, is perfect as the niave yet vengeful hero. He would later be built up in the sequels, but I think this movie portrays him at his most primitive, enjoyable area of the role known as Ash. The ending's atmospheric tone makes you relate to Ash as he struggles all alone to survive the night. There is a particular scene where his eyes are closed tight, his back is to the wall, and he is mumbling to himself about how he doesn't want to go like this. This scene is the most definitive scene in the Dead trilogy, and the genre's history. A movie that does not hold back or let up, it is a MUST for all horror fans. I can only think of a few movies that come close to the quality of the first Evil Dead. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Evil Dead 2 both come close, but the throne still belongs to the first and best. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves movies.

Rating:
Summary: evil dead rocks
Review: i like the whole series

i think the evil dead series

is a great horror movie

Rating:
Summary: scaaaarrry!
Review: This was one of the first "real" horror movie i saw. The result of that was a bunch of nightmares and stuff. Now i'm cured. Hmmmm Anyway. This film is one of my favorite and Carpenter is the greatest director ever. Thats a fact.

Rating:
Summary: The Film That Started It All
Review: The Evil Dead (1979) was made on a shoestring budget in Morristown, Tennessee. When released at the Cannes' Film Festival of '82, it impressed horror novelist Stephen King, who called it "The most ferociously original horror film of the year." The Evil Dead launched the careers of director Sam Raimi (A Simple Plan,The Gift), producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell (The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Jack of All Trades).

The plot is pretty weak, but here it is in all its simplicity: A group of vacationing college students from Michigan State (this is only an assumption since they are in their 20s and one of them wears a Michigan State sweatshirt) drive down to a remote cabin in the Tennessee woods for some R & R. There they discover a bizarre text whose cover is in the form of a monstrous face with sharp teeth and with pages that contain hieroglyphics and drawings of skeletons. Alongside it is a tape recorder. Naturally, they play it and hear the voice of an archaeologist who explains that he and his wife came to the cabin to study the book undisturbed. The professor explains that the book was discovered while excavating the ruins of the castle of Kandar (could it be the castle in Army of Darkness?) and is a volume of ancient Sumerian burial practices and funerary incantations. As the professor translates the passages, a supernatural force is released (This doesn't make sense because it would have already been released when the professor spoke the translations into his tape recorder. Perhaps playing it again releases more dark spirits). A horrific battle for survival begins with the supernatural forces gaining the upper hand. One-by-one the students are possessed by these dark spirits whose desire to torment is insatiable. As the night wanes, only one student remains to stop the forces of darkness.

Several films inspired various scenes of the movie. They are "The Day of the Triffids", "Night of the Living Dead", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Suspiria", and yes, even the 3 Stooges' short "A Plumbing-We Will Go". The flaws of this film are undeniable. The script is poorly written and even devoted horror film fanatics will be disgusted by the gore. WARNING: The Evil Dead is one of the most revolting films ever made. However, The Evil Dead Trilogy is probably the only film saga in history in which the sequels improved. So if unrelenting gore bothers you, then you are better off if you skip this one and see Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992).

The Evil Dead is violent, shocking, and disgusting, but it is also amusing, imaginative, and thrilling. The film's major saving grace is the stylish camerawork. The movie opens with a hovering point-of-view shot that floats over a foggy lake, traveling over branches and a wrecked car. The closing shot is a masterpiece and is one of the most memorable in horror film history. The haunting music is also an important asset for an otherwise bad movie. It enriches the photography to give the film an omnious tone. BE FOREWARNED: The Evil Dead is not a comedy, unlike its sequels. Ash (Bruce Campbell) does not speak a bunch of hilarious one-liners.

Had the acting and script been better, The Evil Dead would've been a very, very scary film, as frightening as Halloween, Poltergeist, and The Shining. Instead, it is only shocking. There are moments when the camerawork and the eerie music give a nightmarish mood, but whenever it gets close to establishing itself as a horrific work of art, the spell is broken by bad acting and over-the-top violence. Rarely in a film series is the first the worst, but it is true here. Rated NC-17 (X) for gore, language, and brief nudity.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Edition to Any Horror Fan's Collection...
Review: "Evil Dead" is without a doubt, one of the scariest horror films of all time. I watched it in the middle of the day and I was still completely creeped out! The basic story is about five college friends who rent an old cabin for the weekend. With a tape recorder and "the book of the dead" they accidentally unleash evil demons and all hell breaks loose. The setting is so incredibly creepy with the old cabin in the middle of the woods and the dark cellar and (you get the point)...I must warn you though, this film is not for anyone that has even a little bit of a weak stomach. I have seen so many splatter films in my life and this one is, without a doubt, one of the top five goriest movies of all time. It even received an NC-17 rating for the violence and gore. But, if you can handle it, go and buy this movie! This is a MUST-HAVE for any horror fan's collection...

Rating:
Summary: A truely frightening film
Review: This is a truely frightening film about Ash (Bruce Campbell) and four friends who decide to escape their busy lives for a weekend away in a cabin deep in the woods. What they don't expect is the hellish nightmare they are about to embark on. What they don't know is that there is something lurking in the woods around them. Something evil. They find a tape recorder that belonged to a man that occupied the cabin before. He reads passages from "The Book of the Dead" which bring the demons to life. This is one of those fims that stays with you for awhile after you watch it. The shocking gore and gruesome terror leaves your heart pumping after the film is over. You have to stop yourself from covering your eyes several times. A cult favorite that is worth checking out. Great suspense and very gruesome. This is one of the only films that I can't watch alone. That's how scary it is. Check it out and you won't be disappointed! -Scott

Rating:
Summary: Gore... And plenty of it!
Review: Five friends travel to a cabin for their vacation, unknowing the Evil presence that lurks in the woods around them. While on a trip to the cellar, our hero Ash and a companion discover a tape recorder and a book. Playing the tape turned out to be a big mistake, because this same tape contains incantations from the book... The book of the dead! Incantations that were meant to release... The Evil Dead!

For gore hounds, this movie is for you! Plenty of gore to be found here. The make-up for the zombies is just excellent! The grainy film quality, as well as the camera movements and camera angles, might be responsible the chilling atmosphere. Not as good as the sequel (Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn) in my opinion, but a lot of die-hard horror fans might disagree with me.