It still shows that today's multi-million movies can sink where others can swim when compared to the original 1986 scare-fest 'The Evil Dead'.
It cost only $350,000 to produce at the time and the box office receipts were around $2.6 millon, the remake of the original movie cost over $17 million and even with inflation amounts to nowhere near that cost, and having said all that it's not so-called nostalgia that pushes me to rate this horror movie highly, not even the way it set of a whole new way of how the public devoured horror and creator's started to follow Sam Raimi's lead, it was the way the movie made you felt with no quick fix stupid jump scares however, a lost feeling of nowhere to run or hide from the impending evil force accompanied by clever camera work and the sort of music you wouldn't like at your mother's funeral.
Take the simple scene where some of the forsaken holiday from hell punters attempted to escape the evil entity, by taking the only dirt track out of the grim forest only to be met by an upturned bridge so blocking their attempt to reach civilization, the only safe place they knew of to return to was the battered hut they was calling home for the weekend, how much more could you feel open to attack than just a few old nailed planks between you and doom? And I think this was Raimi's whole intention and many didn't understand what makes the whole movie work, it's just the simple feeling everyone gets wherein they just feel exposed, unprotected, have no idea of their attacker or where their coming from, especially then if you notch it up a gear with a centuries old evil malevolence intent on screwing your whole body inside out.
This is why over thirty years later new formats by the way of Evil Dead steel book bluray, to sort after original VHS copies and hand painted models sell in their millions still, how many other movies can testify to that? There is vast interest all over the globe in this horror flick there is no denying that, so it shows you don't need vast amounts of money to make a great movie, you just need vast amounts of imagination to create an exceptional movie.
Boring as hell, but quite impressive given the budget and resources they had. The camerawork and editing have a very distinguishable taste, but everything has been remade with more money and a more comedic approach in the sequel.
Bruce Campbell is perfection. Enough said.
Hands down: one of the scariest movies I've ever seen! After watching it alone at night and with the curtains shut, you know what I'm talking about...
An absolutely unhinged fever dream of a movie that dances back and forth over the lines of torture porn, satire and comedy like it's had a few too many to drink. A descent into madness with some of the most over-the-top prosthetics and B-movie effects you'll ever see. I can see why it's a cult classic, but for a new viewer like me, this was just absolutely too chaotic and silly to be truly enjoyable. Wild, too wild.
I understand that the "Evil Dead" is considered a horror classic but it's not a scary film or a particularly good one. I can give high marks to some of the special effects namely the stop-motion stuff. The camera positioning and moving shots were impressive at times. The tape of the professor explaining the "Book of the Dead" was interesting and setup the potential horror to come. But once the first possession of one of the girls occurred any additional scares that could have been conjured up within the story were overwhelmed by campy "grueling" gore which is pretty much repeated for the last half of the movie. Yes I like Bruce Campbell's Ash and his character will become a horror legend in the next entry in the Evil Dead trilogy.
I have recently got back into watching horror movies, I remember being terrified when watching this movie almost 20 years ago for the first time as a kid. It was the first ‘demonic’ kind of flick I’d seen, I watched pretty much all the cult horror films but the Evil Dead was the one that kept me up at night.
I have started to re-watch all the cult classics and The Evil Dead, is right at the top for me.. Sam Raimi’s imagination is something else.
Tom Sullivan flexing for an hour and a half.
[8.0/10] This one, as the kids say, still slaps. Still so impressive what Raimi and company were able to accomplish with a shoestring budget, some down home pluck, and buckets of blood.
Well, maybe it's just me, kicking the hornet's nest and all, but it doesn't appeal that much for me. I do understand the cult status it got, though. I myself have seen it as a child and a lot of images got stuck on my head and that's my main point for checking it out again. The final 20 min or so concentrates a lot of decent camerawork, before the last moments they're more scattered through the scenes.
Being a low-budget flick and having in mind the gore it intended, I get its flare.
After this rewatching thing, gonna do it right and head to the latter movies, for everything I remember more vividly about Evil Dead, from my childhood, came from the other two.
The Evil Dead is what most, if not all horror movies should be, very real and powerful.
Being a low budget movie with limited resources is no excuse to make it a cult movie. The movie is just bad. Bad acting, bad fx, bad audio, it's just stupid. I've watched low budget movies much better made that this crap. I really can't understand why this movie is so loved. I get that it brings good memories from old times, but even that doesn't make movie a cult movie.
10/10
THIS 1981 MASTERPIECE IS TIMELESS AND STILL ONE OF THE BEST LEADING HORROR MOVIES FOR THE GENRE OF ALL TIME, AT THE SIDE OF PHANTASM.
THE EVIL DEAD
FULL UNCUT UNRATED
VERSION IS PHENOMENAL.
THE EVIL DEAD ROCKS AND SET THE BAR
SO VERY VERY HIGH WOW..JUST...WOW
THEY JUST DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THIS ANYMORE AND THAT'S A CRYING DAMN SHAME.
GORE,BLOOD,CUSTARD,
RICE PUDDING, MILK,
COCKROACHES, PLASTICINE
STOP MOTION,
PEOPLE GETTING WALLOPED WITH FIST
AND 2 BY 4s,
DECAPITATION AND FULL BODY DISMEMBERMENT,
AND OH YEAH RAPED OFF A WOODS...
X FINAL THOUGHT:
THIS MASTERPIECE IS THE APEX OF HORROR AND IT DEFINITELY CHANGED THE GAME FOREVER AND THIS MOVIE WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP NOT JUST IN MY MOVIE ARCHIVES BUT IN THE WORLDS ARCHIVES IMMORTALISED AS
ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR
MOVIES OF ALL TIME,
AND QUITE RIGHT TOO.
"PERFECTION".
I JUST WISHED WE WOULD HAVE GOT
ASH VS FREDDY VS JASON
LIKE WHAT NEW LINE WANTED TO DO BUT RAIMI SAID NO BECAUSE HE WANTED TO DO
THE EVIL DEAD 4 INSTEAD AND THOUGHT THAT IF HE LET NEW LINE GO AHEAD WITH THERE
IDEA IT WOULD SHIT ALL OVER THE FRANCHISE, I GUESS WILL NEVER KNOW.
OH I HAVE BEEN WAITING 30+ YEARS FOR
THE EVIL DEAD 4
What happened their Sammy.....
probably same thing what happened to Spider-Man 4
(Just saying).
At least I have
Jason vs Freddy
And The Evil Dead full unrated version so I can live without things that never came to pass.
That damned book inked in human blood and bound in human flesh is just one bad motherfucker right?
Anyway this one is the horror part of the Evil Dead trilogy as the others move on to a more Horror/Comedy style. The low budget feel, the innovate camera movements, the birth of Ash, the gore, the atmosphere, those damn possessed trees, the amounts of blood being spilled and that awesome looking stop-motion near the end.
Sam Raimi started his career off good here. I love those early independent horror films. They have some kind of charm and Evil Dead is one of the best. If you haven't seen this trilogy yet, what are you waiting for! Hoop-tober is the perfect time for it.
I think this movie would be better if it were comedy like Army Of Darkness, at least I would laugh a little. But, i don't like horror movies, not because it's scary, I just don't like the pace of the movie, it's like "wait and you'll get scared" but in the mean time I get sleepy, I slept during the first Exorcist movie (the original old version) and since then i don't watch a lot of horror movies, and for me to be watching a Cult horror movie it's obvious that I would rate with a lower rate than someone who does.
This was my first time watching The Evil Dead. I watched the remake a few months back, it didn't impressed me and I already watched Evil Dead II, which I absolutely loved!
Sam Raimi did a fantastic work all over again! The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II have all of the requirements for a perfect horror film. Everything about them is horrible to watch, the atmosphere is so creepy so intimidating and you really can get scared! Both are amazing but I have to admit that I liked Evil Dead II a little bit more than this one. Let's see what I'll think about Army of Darkness.
Oh...and I forgot one thing, Bruce Campbell you are awesome!
"Why have you disturbed our sleep; awakened us from our ancient slumber?"
This was my first late night horror film I randomly stumbled upon when sneaking out to the living room to watch tv. I was truly horrified as a kid but loved it, and still do with every rewatch. I know Evil Dead 2 is most likely the better one, but this is my favorite one.
Sort of Friday the 13th with demons. Totally bizarre.
Sam Raimi’s cult horror film The Evil Dead is gruesome and terrifying. When a group of friends vacation to a remote cabin in the woods they end up awakening a demon. Bruce Campbell leads the cast as Ash in his career defining role. However, the acting is pretty awful and the directing is amateurish. Yet the gratuitous gore and violence end up working to create a frightening and atmospheric film. While it has its weaknesses, The Evil Dead is a classic that ushered in a new brand of horror.
Theme- 7.5/10
Rewatchibility- 7.5/10
Acting- 6.5/10
Kinematography- 9.5/10
Time- 9/10
Total - 40/5 = 8
"Look at her eyes. Look at her eyes! For God's sake, what happened to her eyes?" Looking at a friend that went from scratched up to grotesque in seconds and you're focused on the eyes? Well, that encapsulates the acting in Sam Raimi's first big film. Something charming and effective that comes with a low-budget atmosphere. Like I said the acting is a bit rigid but not too far off from most horror movies and the character choices are often cliche at best. But what may help you look over that is the great cinematography and great, albeit rudimentary, practical effects. It's what kept me tuned in and it's all packed in under 90 minutes. It's a good start let's see where it goes from here.
Just boring, evil dead is way more engaging
The more times I watch it, the more I appreciate the filmmaking. Something that maybe you don't pay attention to that much when you are young and all you've seen are slick modern horror movies.
Some people dismiss the special effects but they are way more charming than CGI (even blood is computer generated today!). And the acting is not much worse than most B movies of the day. It doesn't bother me at all.
There is just one thing I hate about this film and it's the music used in the final third. The music in the rest of the film is amazing and subtle - I understand that the music couldn't stay the same as the script was no longer building up anything but honestly a lot of the final third is so chaotic and loud that zero music at all would've worked better ... but instead there's this orchestral string shit that a lot of American cinema seems to love for some reason, and it never seems to fucking stop.
Leaving that one aspect aside though - it's an iconic, beautifully overboard, cinema-loving display of real gory terror, and is one of the most inspiring directorial debuts ever.
More than Epic.
Just watch.
Unpolished with some rough edges, but that’s part of the appeal. It’s an early director stretching his legs, pushing the boundaries of what he can do. Shots like the front of the car and Ash’s POV are great, and the effects are gnarly and gruesome in all the right ways. The Deadites genuinely hit precisely because of how wildly over the top and cruel they are, the worst of human nature amplified. Shelly’s ‘pleas’ as Scotty finishes her is chilling. And then you have unnecessary trying too hard stuff like the tree rape scene from a storyteller who doesn’t know better and now the exact tone and mix of camp and horror he wants yet. From what I hear, he’ll get there.
"Join us."
A cabin in the woods, a thunder storm, heavy fog, incantations, awakening the dead from their slumber... what could go wrong?
The Evil Dead is a satirical campy comedy horror with more camp than I could ever expect, it's pretty much B-movie material. Obviously done on a miniature budget but you can tell it's done with love and filled with fun moments. Gross but not scary, atmospheric as hell, the characters stand out, over-the-top gore, gallons of blood, love the stop-motion it's always impressive and filled with practical effects. The best thing has to be the camera movements, they're a character of their own. The lighting in the forest was awful though it took me out of it a few times and some of the makeup looked questionnable. Weird third act that didn't quite work for me and it took a while to get going in the beginning. So wild, the evil laughter has to be the most memorable thing about this.
Evil Dead (1981) is a must-see for horror fans. It's campy. It's low-budget. It's cult classic.
I've been planning to catch up with the complete "Evil Dead" series for a while, and now it was finally time. And I certainly had a lot of fun. In Sam Raimi's feature film debut, the director's handwriting is already more than recognizable. He also proved to be a master at working around the limitations of an ultra-low budget. Furthermore, the splatter effects in particular are top-notch. However, in many places, the overall shortcomings are obvious. The plot is thin, and the actors are below average. I would explicitly include Bruce Campbell in this statement, at least in this film. For me, "The Evil Dead" is not exactly a great film, but the potential of the series was definitely already visible. Due to its many creative ideas, this flick from the early 1980s is still very watchable today.
what a bad movie is this? no patience for bad actuation, legs that stopping to work for no reason, stupid decisions. whats the point do lock the doors if the windows are all broken and open!
Eh it’s ok, kinda boring
The OG cabin in the woods
Very good! One of Sam Raimi's best works
Despite being a horror movie, it didn't scare me too much, I think because of the special effects that aged badly, but the soundtrack and the way the scenes are filmed generate the whole climax of the movie.
So many good things about this movie especially considering the budget they were working with. So many unique camera techniques really made this film memorable. This was the dawn of one of my favorite film series of all time.
The practical effects in this are amazing! It's not a movie I'll watch again, probably, but it interested me enough that I'm gonna watch the sequel, and possibly the remake and the Starz show. And it was cool to see the sort of origin for things like the entire plot of Cabin in the Woods. Bruce Campbell is great; I felt like the rest of the acting was a little hit or miss, but he was so intense and over-the-top for a lot of it.
It got good when Ash was the only one who was left.
Ok first time i watched this movie so funny the tree rape scene wtf :D
But was just ok some horror effects where preety cool and some more distgusting then in stuff like ash vs evil dead :D
I understand that the "Evil Dead" is considered a horror classic, but it's not a scary film or a particularly good one. I can give high marks to some of the special effects, namely the stop-motion stuff. The camera positioning and moving shots were impressive at times. The tape of the professor explaining the "Book of the Dead" was interesting and setup the potential horror to come. But once the first possession of one of the girls occurred, any additional scares that could have been conjured up within the story were overwhelmed by campy, "grueling" gore which is pretty much repeated for the last half of the movie. Yes, I like Bruce Campbell's Ash and his character will become a horror legend in the next entry in the Evil Dead trilogy.
Now THAT is a lot of blood.
Why, oh why, do I love this movie, so? Why do I love you so much, Raimi? However, in this case, I can understand why someone wouldn't enjoy the film. The story can be a little poor at times, the pacing is occasionally slow, and the characters aren't the most developed. I think the movie gets more epic towards the finale, but that's not to say there aren't good points in the beginning and mentioned categories. I love the thematic connections that came back at the end of the movie to wrap a nice little bow to Ash and Ashley's arc. The necklace Ash gives Ashley from the beginning prevents him from chainsaw-ing her neck at the end, and his eye-open eye-close game Ash played on here, demon Ashley plays later on him when he's burying her. But aside from a couple beats like that, the story is very simple. A group of friends go to a cheap cabin in the forest, they find a demonic book, then all hell breaks loose... literally.
What I really love about this movie is it's presentation. The red and blue color palettes and framing of shots are just gorgeously wild, as excepted from Raimi. My absolute favorite parts are the hand-held moments from the POV of the demons. I've never seen a horror movie before tackle a motion like this, and it turned out beautifully. There's something a slight amateur-ish about it, but lovable. Actually, the whole movie is very obviously low-budget independent. The cabin is clearly on a sound stage with propped lighting and fog machines, but something about it's look is just intoxicating. It's the ideal cabin for a horror movie. Everything about it is mesmerizing.
I think what fans like to draw from this movie is the experience it provides. The mythology behind the book of the dead and the ride you take with Ash throughout this movie, and the subsequent sequels, is something I can see people getting rallied behind. It's amazing how Raimi was able to take, what seemed like just a simple horror movie, and provide a whole successful franchise around it. Now that I think about, I actually want my own copy of the book of the dead.
Highly recommend viewing for this October!
Lots of fun horror action and plenty of blood!
Since I began keeping a record of the films I’ve been watching, over 50 have included some form of sexual assault.
Evil Dead was the only time where the assailant was a tree.
One of my favorites. It's low-fi and may seem quaint to modern audiences, but there's no denying it's effectiveness. Especially with the limited resources.
All I knew about this movie going in was a tree rapes a girl and that did happen and it was just as awkward as I thought it would be. The special effects and make up are pretty good for a low budget horror movie.
A tad too heavy on the WTF to make this over-the-top kitsch fest much fun for me.
Um bom e certeiro titulo também poderia ser From Dusk Til Dawn... porque é mesmo isso que acontece.
Está envelhecido mas até lhe dá um ar extra fixe!
It's simple jump scares but well timed ones. It's gore and it's as nasty and as messy as possible. The camerawork makes even the most mundane movements and tasks interesting. The camerawork also does a good job creating paranoia and disorientation. The sound effects are fun and these are possibly the noisiest undead I've ever heard. Every death is inventive and really counts. I'm glad it doesn't attempt to be more than a stylish gore fest because it would have been disruptive. It's also plain silly and that make it even better. It compliments the gore effects. Not many names on the end credits at all, which is impressive. It simply entertains very well, unless you don't find the few elements that form this movie interesting.
I saw "Army of Darkness" first, then watched these two probably in the late 1980s, renting the VHS from our shady neighborhood bootleg video store 'round the corner. This sole reason is why I had absolutely no idea this film was rated NC-17 until I re-watched it on Friday night during the Starz marathon. Mind blown!
The motivations and personalities of the characters are laid out at face value. They are archetypes, nothing more. What makes it all so fun is seeing such usual characters in such unusual situations. I never knew that the words "tree" and "rape" could be logically used in the same sentence up until I saw this movie, so thanks, Sam Raimi, for your ingenuity.
The first ever "horror" movie i seen in my life, the acting is horrible, the special effects are horrible and the story is stupid, but somehow that makes an amazing movie. I may just be viewing this though nostalgia glasses, but i think there is a reason this is a cult classic.
Review by ShubesBlockedParent2022-05-20T00:29:40Z— updated 2024-05-13T18:46:51Z
I think this was the 4th time I've watched this, and every time I'm left wondering "Was this supposed to be horror, or satire, or just campy B-movie horror with over-the-top buckets of blood?" I've still yet to figure it out. It's gruesome enough to be considered "gorror" (gory horror) but insanely stupid enough - and satiric enough - to be almost comedic. Yes, there are some jump scares but the whole thing was just so incredibly asinine that it's impossible to see it as a real "horror" movie. I can imagine that, in 1983, it was probably "th' bomb" with teenagers who were starting to get into really gruesome stuff (with the advent of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies) but watching it today, it's just impossible to take it seriously. The first time I saw the "tree scene", it was pretty freaky; now it's just stupid. The one "shout out" I can give to this is the pencil through the ankle; that scene STILL makes me cringe like only the Achilles' tendon scene from Hostel can do. Hopefully this will be my final time to watch this; it's gruesome and probably as gory as they could get back then but - I don't care what any other review states - this one, by today's standards, is just ridiculous. Kudos to Sam Raimi for what he created back then, but that was then and this...well, today this is just laughably dumb.