THE EVIL DEAD (1981)

DIRECTED & WRITTEN by Sam Raimi.

STARRING  - Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams,  Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl Williams,  Richard DeManincor (as Hal Delrich) as Scott,  Betsy Baker as Linda,  Theresa Tilly (as Sarah York) as Shelly,  Sam Raimi as The Voice of the Evil Dead,  Bob Dorian as Prof. Raymond Knowby (Voice).

PLOT - Five young friends - Ash Williams, his girlfriend Linda, his sister Cheryl, his friend Scott and Scott's girlfriend Shelly - are taking a weekend break in a log cabin located deep in the woods.

Upon arrival, they find that the cellar door swings open seemingly of its own accord. Unnerved by this, Ash and Scott go to investigate.

In the cellar they find an ancient book that appears to be bound in human skin, a bone dagger and a tape player. Upon listening to the tape, it is revealed that a few days previously, a Professor Knowby rented the cabin and whilst there translated passages from the ancient book - the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the book of the dead. It appears that Knowby's meddling in forbidden knowledge has unleashed a dark and evil force in the woods.

Very soon, the friends fall victim to the force of evil. One by one they are possessed by Kandarian demons and become horrific, brutal and grotesque creatures. The only way they can be stopped is by being totally and utterly dismembered.

Eventually only Ash remains. Battered, beaten and attacked on all sides. His sanity fraying more and more by the minute. Can he survive until dawn and escape the cabin ?

DIALOUGE  - Prof. Knowby  - " I know now that my wife has become host to a Kandarian demon. I fear that the only way to stop those possessed by the spirits of the book is through the act of...bodily dismemberment."

PERFORMANCES  - As the Evil Dead was a low budget movie made by a bunch of friends, the actors where at this point all relatively inexperienced and that includes leading man and future horror legend Bruce Campbell.

This movie marks the first time that Campbell played the character that was to become his signature role. A role that he started playing in his early twenties and was still playing when he hit his sixties - the chainsaw weilding, wise cracking, sometimes incompetent, othertimes brilliant Deadite slayer Ash Williams.

Yet, none of the character traits that we know, love and have come to expect from Ash are on display here. This is the character in his nascent form. All the familiar tics and quirks have yet to be developed.

Ash here is just a frightened young man, a man who has been thrust into a situation beyond his understanding and has had to watch his girlfriend, sister and friends become demonically possessed. He's not the veteran warrior that he becomes in the later films and TV series, he's just an ordinary guy fighting for his life, in fact the first chance he gets to kill a Deadite he just freezes and his friend Scott has to do the deed.

Campbell still plays the role really well despite his inexperience. He's a bit rough around the edges in places and the odd bit of line delivery seems slightly off at times but just chalk that up to him being young. He still carries the entire film and he's at his best when showing how scared Ash is. There are points in the film when he looks genuinely terrified. Ash is a man whose sanity is crumbling as everything around him literally goes to hell and Campbell totally nails this.

The other characters whilst less well developed than Ash are all performed well enough and every actor gets thier moment to shine (usually after being possessed by the Kandarian demons).

Ellen Sandweiss plays Ash's prissy sister Cheryl. As a human she comes off as being slightly prudish yet innocent enough. After stumbling into the woods and being raped by a tree branch (the film's most infamous scene) she becomes the first person to be possessed. She makes a great demon, laughing maniacally and berating her former friends and brother. If anything Deadite Cheryl is the poster girl for the evil forces, the image of her peering from the depths of the cellar has become one of THE iconic moments in horror cinema.

Betsy Baker as Ash's girlfriend Linda also makes a great Deadite. Her human character is severely underdeveloped but again she's really memorable and creepy in possessed mode. The way she giggles like a demented child and starts chanting "we're going to get you...we're going to get you" really gets under your skin and is truly chilling.

Richard DeManincor plays Scott. At first it looks like Scott is going to be the main character, he's clearly the ringleader of the group of friends and seems much more capable and confident than Ash, that is until he makes the dumb decision to leave the cabin and venture into the woods alone. Predictably the trees get him and poor old Scotty ends up dead.

Perhaps the least well developed character is Shelly (Theresa Tilly), she doesn't do or say much but once again gets a great moment when she's in Deadite mode. She's stabbed in the back by a dagger and unleashes a blood curdling scream that seems to go on forever - it's both uncomfortable and strangely amusing at the same time.

SFX - There's some great monster makeup for the possessed humans in this film.

You get the iconic Cheryl Deadite...

The very creepy Linda...

The blood smeared ragged looking Scotty (who seems to have gone prematurely grey as well as being demonically possessed)...

And the grotesque Shelly who gets her "pretty flesh" burnt when she's pushed onto a fire...

All the makeup work is awesome, leading to well designed and memorable monsters.

In the film's final scenes when the Deadite's have been (temporarily) defeated, we are treated to a lengthy stop motion animation sequence as the possessed humans slowly decompose and the Necronomicon burns...

Whilst this might look a bit dated by today's standards it still manages to be suitably gross and has a charm all of it's own. I'll take it over bland CG anyday.

SEX & VIOLENCE  - There's no sex in this movie unless you count the tree rape scene (and rape isn't sex...its RAPE, even if it is committed by a demonically animated tree). In the Ash vs Evil Dead TV series, Ash later refers to this incident as his sister being "branch banged" which is harsh but funny.

We get lots of violence and gore and I mean by the BUCKETLOAD !!!

First we get a horribly realistic scene where Linda gets stabbed in the ankle by a pencil. I don't know how they did it but it looks both authentic and painful...

We also get an axe killing where the body parts are still twitching after being chopped up...

Linda gets beheaded (which STILL doesn't shut her up)...

Scotty gets his eyes gouged out...

And poor old Bruce Campbell gets covered in so much fake blood that he ends up resembling a used tampon.

Add to this - shootings, beatings and people being thrown across the cabin left, right and centre, it's safe to say that The Evil Dead is one bloody little film.

RATING  - The Evil Dead is a true classic of low budget cinema. It's rough and ready around the edges and shows it's age in places but that just adds to it's rugged charm. At all points the sheer inventiveness of Sam Raimi shines through and it's no wonder that he went on to become a highly successful and accomplished filmmaker.

Bruce Campbell evolves into a star before your very eyes and a horror legend is born. The Evil Dead series continues to this day and still remains one of the most innovative and thrilling series of horror movies of all time... and this is the film that started it all.

5 blood spattered Bruce's out of 5. Awesome stuff.

POSTER/VHS/DVD ART  -