Tuesday 20 March 2018

The Evil Dead (1981)

Tagline: “The ultimate experience in gruelling terror’”
Duration: 85 minutes

Film Quality: 3.5/5
Gore Content: 4/5
Entertainment Value: 4.5/5
Originality: 4/5


Introduction


When two teenage lads decided to venture into the woods, full of hope and dreams, they surely didn’t expect that kind of reaction. No, not Dale and Tucker, I’m talking about Raimi and Campbell. Having begged, borrowed and probably attained by other means, enough money to make a feature length version of their short ‘Within the Woods’, a small crew of some 13 (they really didn’t help themselves did they!!!) began pre-production on a low budget film about demonic possession that within a couple of years had secured distribution with New Line cinema and a ringing endorsement from Stephen King. Campbell and Raimi had arrived…in style!


In a nutshell


Five teens venture into the woods where they unearth a tape recorder in an old log cabin. Foolishly they play the tape and unleash a demonic force that possesses them one by one. Can they unravel the mystery of the Book of the Dead and defeat the evil?


So what’s good about it?


This a true success story and a sheer triumph of creativity that goes to show that money and marketing are not the driving forces of creativity and entertainment. Raimi and Campbell were friends from school and it was through stubbornness and an absolute desire to get this film done that the horror community was given a genuinely original and fun film. They had just $100,000 and, though you could argue that they were lucky to have a friend with connections at Cannes to give them a wider audience, it was no fluke that Stephen King publicly endorsed the film. It really is a ferociously original film!

Let’s start with Raimi’s wonderful camerawork. The shape and form of the demonic force is never shown but its presence is everywhere, largely through Raimi’s expert handling of the lens. Just watch the scene where Cheryl comes out of the cabin and she looks to her left and right. The camera never lets you see past her field of view, she is on display and we are the ones watching her along with the evil presence. It’s unnerving and there are many other scenes like that in the woods, in the cabin, long tracking shots and the now infamous camera through the woods shot at the end. There is a sequence about an hour in where almost everything is shot at an angle of 45 degrees that is astonishing and shows a talent and capacity for editing way beyond what you normally expect from a low budget gore fest.

Raimi clearly knows his horror as the film works on two levels. The first half is surprisingly frightening, working more as a haunted house movie with strange noises, something in the cellar, temporary possession and an omnipotent force keeping the quintet at the cabin. There is some very creepy sound work going on here, particularly in the moments leading up to the infamous ‘tree rape’ scene and Shelly’s gruesome and very noisy demise. Those looking for a gorefest may be disappointed by the opening 40 minutes but as soon as Cheryl ‘turns’ there is more than enough splatter and gooey gore thrown at the screen. We’re treated to eye gougings, flesh eating, decapitation by axe, head loppings and a very painful moment involving an ankle and pencil (which is mightier than the sword?).

But who’d have thought that the breakout star would by Bruce Campbell’s ‘Ash’ who, certainly for the first half of the film does nothing special. In fact for most of the second half he struggles underneath book shelves or standing around not knowing what to do and Raimi seems to delight in throwing blood at him in various parts of the movie. In truth it’s the film’s superior, albeit more goofy, sequel where Raimi goes ‘Full Campbell’ and really cuts his childhood friend loose in his now trademark madcap style. However it’s this film that gave the pair their big break in a partnership that’s still giving us horror fans so much pleasure today, both in and outside the ‘Evil Dead’ universe.


What about the bad?


One of the reasons Sam Raimi made ‘Evil Dead 2’ so jovial was because of the reaction he got from some quarters to what was a fairly brutal original. Despite a thick undercurrent of black humour running throughout the film, the ‘tree rape’ scene never sat well with some critics and it does appear a little out of place with some of the other demonic attacks. I’m sure it wasn’t Raimi’s intention to trivialise rape or make it appear a little hokey but, despite it not being particularly graphic, it is pretty tasteless. With the rest of the film being such good, occasionally over the top fun I don’t think the film would have been any the worse without it.

Raimi would go on to write and direct bigger and better films and there are some elements of ‘The Evil Dead’ that don’t stand up too well to modern audiences. It has been surpassed by its own superior sequel and, despite some nifty camerawork and useful effects, it is rough around the edges and shows all the hallmarks of a low budget, amateur, independent film, albeit done VERY well and hugely enjoyable!


Any themes?


I always found it interesting that it was the women in the film who become possessed first. Could this be a heavily disguised feminist film? Okay, perhaps that’s a stretch too far but it does raise the question about whether our female characters are in fact the victims here. Traditionally it’s been the female characters who are terrorised, become the focus for our fear and the ones we identify with but not here. By making the ladies succumb to the demonic possession first, it is the males who are terrorised and the women who become the tormentors, albeit with a forced hand. This is certainly more pronounced in the second half of the film with Ash in particular bearing the brunt of the beatings.

By switching the roles and focus of the terror, it’s worth pointing out that this film was made during the height of the slasher boom. The way the film is structured is almost like an anti-slasher. You have the correct setting, a cabin in the woods becomes the terrible place, you have the female character who can ‘see’, many of the gruesome scenes involve sharp, penetrative weapons, guns are useless and there is an unseen, omnipresent force stalking the group of teens. However it is all subverted. The final girl is a boy, it is the men who are stalked and slashed, it’s the women who keep getting up after seemingly being killed and there is no unmasking, no resolution, no real escape.


Release History


Despite ‘The Evil Dead’ becoming intrinsically linked to the video nasties moral panic, it’s worth pointing out that Raimi’s film was never on the official list, or at least not the prosecuted 39 that made the DPP’s list. The original cinema version in the UK was cut by around 45 seconds and it was this version that was released by Palace on VHS and later banned in 1983, being dropped from the list in 1985. Palace picked it up again for distribution in 1990 but the BBFC failed to see the funny side, slicing a further minute from the running time. Anchor Bay brought out the full uncut VHS and DVD in 2001 and all subsequent releases have been completely uncensored.

There is a ‘Book of the Dead’ edition released in the UK which is cropped to fit a widescreen ratio rather than its natural fullscreen display. Some fans dislike this particular version as it is also slightly altered, albeit at Raimi’s request, including the removal of a lightening flash and a zoom into Cheryl’s face as she turns around having been possessed.

It’s worth pointing out that some of the newspapers that campaigned for this film to be banned (yes, I’m talking to you ‘The Sun’) were quite happy to give it away free on DVD in its uncut form as a promotion in the early 2000s to sell copies…hypocritical doesn’t quite cover it!


Cultural Impact


Massive and matches ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and ‘Night of the Living Dead’ as one of the most culturally significant horror debuts in cinema history. It’s spawned two sequels that progressively upped the humour and slapstick whilst reducing the horror and gore, a very good remake and a TV series that continued a number of years after his own third movie ended.

It gave the world a unique directorial talent in Sam Raimi who became one of the hottest properties in Hollywood when he took a stab at the ‘Spider-man’ movies, doing a superb job on the first two, It’s refreshing to see a director who cut his teeth on the horror circuit not abandoning his own directorial traits and you could argue that his witty style and eye for the unusual camera shot was perfectly suited to bringing comic book characters to life.

And no dissection of the cultural impact of ‘The Evil Dead’ would be complete without talking about the living legend that is Bruce Campbell. There’s something reassuring about an actor like Campbell fully embracing his B-movie pedigree and breakout character persona. He’s given wonderful turns in ‘My Name is Bruce’ and ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ with gleeful endeavour and didn’t hesitate, in fact seemingly actively pursued a return to the character of Ash for ‘Ash Vs Evil Dead’, a superb continuation of Raimi’s universe. Long may it continue!


Final thoughts


Original, entertaining, gleefully gory and revelling in its own bad taste, it’s very difficult not to enjoy ‘The Evil Dead’. It’s title suggests a zombie movie but it plays out more like a haunted house movie with a touch of the slasher and large dollop of demonic possession. Highly original, it was quite a hit on its release, raking in well over $2.5m and was the year’s biggest selling video in the UK before the BBFC put paid to that! It’s a film to go back to and enjoy over and over again, just enjoy it!


Memorable quotes


Linda: “We’re gonna get you, we’re gonna get you, not another peep, time to go to sleep.”

Evil Dead: “Join us…”

Shelly: “I don’t know what I would have done had I remained on those hot coals, burning my pretty flesh.”

Cheryl: “You will die…like the others before you, one by one we will take you.”

Ash: “You bastards, why are you torturing me like this…why?”


You’ll like this if you enjoyed…


‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’, ‘The Video Dead’, ‘Bad Taste’, ‘Cabin in the Woods’.


Related Posts


‘Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn’ – Click here
‘Bad Taste’ – Click here
‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ – Click here
‘The Video Dead’ – Click here
‘An American Werewolf in London’ – Click here
'Braindead' - Click here

2 comments:

  1. my all time favourite film as a teenager but scared the life out of me , after watching it when I was older .... well more interesting... and funny than scary . very unique ....

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    1. Likewise...the first half is surprisingly effective as a haunted house movie. Most of the humour was lost on me as a teen, now we get to enjoy it on more than one level!

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