Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead is somewhat of a horror cult classic and has been emulated but never duplicated in several horror films since. This 1981 film was incredibly controversial for its amount of horror and gore. This led to the original version of the film being banned in several countries around the world, including Finland, Germany, and Iceland. In Germany, the film was a hit on the black market, as original copies were seized by government authorities and pirated copies became all the rage. The uncut, original version of the film did not hit German markets until 2001, nine years after a heavily edited version was released.
The Evil Dead was turned down by several American film distributors because of the violence and content. Eventually, it was picked up by a European company and distributed in October of 1981. Raimi made the film with a budget of just $375,000. After securing the budget, he and his crew headed for an abandoned cabin in the woods in Tennessee and shot the film over a period of four days. During the four day shoot, many members of the cast or crew left the production, causing Raimi to use stand-ins for a number of scenes. Two of the actors (Richard DeManincor and Theresa Tilly) used different stage names (Hal Delrich and Sarah York) because they were members of the Screen Actors Guild and didn’t want to be penalized for participating in a non-union production.
The most loyal actor to Raimi’s production was, of course, the legendary Bruce Campbell. Campbell and Raimi had been friends since high school, where they made a series of super-8 films together, also sometimes collaborating with Raimi’s brother Ted. As a result of this friendship, Campbell helped Raimi create many of the shots for the film. In the opening scene in which the “evil” is moving across the water, the tracking shot is set up by Campbell pushing Raimi in a dingy. The simplistic production of the film often adds to the sheer terror of many of the moments, making The Evil Dead one of the most enjoyable horror films I have ever seen.
Bruce Campbell stars as Ash, one of five Michigan State college students on their way to a creepy cabin in the woods. While there, the five students find the Book of the Dead and a tape recording of some incantations from the book. This unleashes a terrifying turn of events as evil spirits are released from the forest. The evil spirits possess some of the students and it’s up to Ash to try to get out of there alive and in one piece. The subsequent scenes are gory, bloody, funny, and frightening as some of the most effective chills and thrills are unleashed on screen in a bloody masterwork.
Bruce Campbell is the everyman here, as he tackles the role with such reckless enthusiasm that it’s hard not to feel for the guy. Not only was he helping Raimi in setting up various shots, such as the various demon POVs in which the camera was mounted to a 2X4 and pushed along by Raimi and Campbell, but Bruce also had to endure the working conditions of such a violent film. According to the DVD commentary, Campbell would often return home from shooting in the back of a pickup truck because he was so covered in fake blood (corn syrup). He also twisted his ankle on a root running down a hill, which produced the obvious limp that he has in many scenes.
The film’s official rating now, according to the MPAA, is NC-17, but there are some R-rated cuts available on DVD as well. The NC-17 rating was given to the film in 1994 because of excessive gory and brutal violence. Obviously the infamous “tree rape” scene had a part to play, although that scene is missing from some DVD prints of the film. In my view, the NC-17 rating is a little much. While the film is certainly violent, it is violent in such an obviously over-the-top fashion that most of the gore and destruction is humorous. With zombie guts being composed of creamed corn dyed green and blood made of corn syrup and other concoctions, The Evil Dead takes the homespun approach to horror and the results are great. Without endless CGI or computerized assistance, Raimi’s film is a breath of fresh air.
The best part about The Evil Dead is in its ability to play between being hilarious and horrific. Moments rise and suddenly subside, only to be brought up again with a sudden jolt of gore, blood, and shrieking. Raimi manipulates the film so well that many of the scares are legitimate frights and aren’t forced in the least. This is made all the more effective by Raimi’s camerawork, which alternates between the predator and the prey with seamless precision. This makes the film increasingly savage, as Raimi toys with his audience with the poise of a master genre player. The Evil Dead makes films like Eli Roth’s Hostel look like schlocky exploitation dramas.
The framework behind The Evil Dead is set so gracefully that subsequent horror films couldn’t help but shamelessly rip it off. Much like the tattered poster of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes that appears in the film, one-ups and homage films to The Evil Dead weren’t far behind. What sets Raimi’s film apart from most other horror films is the director’s resourcefulness and Campbell’s gutsy dedication to the material. The Evil Dead is the backyard wrestling of the horror genre: often dangerous and stupid, but there’s no mistaking the reckless passion for the sake of “art.”
9/10
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