MOTW #36 THE EVIL DEAD

[Kikabi]

The Movie of the Week:

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa185/Kikabi/TheEvilDead.jpg

The Evil Dead - 1981

Can They Be Stopped?

Written and Directed by Sam Raimi

Original Music: Joe LoDuca
Cinematography: Tim Philo
Special Effects Makeup: Tom Sullivan

Bruce Campbell: Ashley "Ash" J. Williams
Ellen Sandweiss: Cheryl
Richard DeManincor (as Hal Delrich): Scott
Betsy Baker: Linda
Theresa Tilly (as Sarah York): Shelly
. . . and a whole lot of fake shemps
_________________________________

Upcoming Schedule:

April 20th - MOTW #37: A Woman in a Lizard's Skin
April 27th - MOTW #38: Halloween III: The Season of the Witch
Movie of the Week #39?? Please go to The Schmoe Horror Movie of the Week (http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2722269#post2722269)thread to VOTE for which movie you'd like to see for Week #39

[Kikabi]

The Evil Dead 9/10

This film marks the debut of one of America's great cinematic icons: the yellow 1973 Delta 88 Oldsmobile! Oh yeah, and Bruce Campbell's Ash! :p

It holds up remarkably well in spite of its age and super-low budget "chewing gum and bailing wire" approach to its special effects. The scares still work and they rock. The premise is solid and ideas like having the woods become malevolently alive works to frightening effect. I also like that the group on the whole act and react as most normal people would, and don't do the typically dumb things - except for Shelley, who's clearly an idiot for leaving the cabin and going out into the woods at night.

That Sam Raimi would go on to become a masterful director in the future could almost been foretold in this, his first feature film. There are a lot of terrific framing in scenes and camera set-ups. I especially love the low angle tracking shot of Ash dragging Cheryl's body out the second time. Also, the banging of the porch swing when the gang arrive. With the framing Raimi used of that first shot, I couldn't tell what the hell that banging wooden thing was, which just adds to the creepiness, at least for me.

There are five The Evil Dead DVD editions (how much money do they want to squeeze out of us? :eek:):

The Evil Dead: Starz/Anchor Bay(1999)
The Evil Dead: Special Edition - Elite Entertainment (1999)
The Evil Dead: Starz/Anchor Bay (2002) [pictured above]
The Evil Dead: Book of the Dead Limited Edition - Starz/Anchor Bay (2002)
The Evil Dead: The Ultimate Edition - Anchor Bay (2007)

If you own one of these, which one do you own? I have the Evil Dead: Special Edition - 1999. Which one do you think is the best of the best editions?

All Hail fake shemps!

[Henry Lee Lucas]

Yea this movie is pretty much a disgrace to the horror genre.

Me and my close friend frequently argue, he says the first is the best, blasphemy! I used to dislike the second but now thats my favorite. Regardless those arguments often ended with "its not that evil dead 1 is bad, its one of the best horror movies ever, its just evil dead 2 is a masterpiece, a landmark achievement in horror" And I really think thats how it is, this is one of the best, and important movies in the horror genre (and its pretty freaking significant to independent cinema, its no clerks but cmon) The movie practically starts intense, from its opening scene its full of tension and silly but lovable dialogue. You love watching these characters (and bruces early unibrow) and once the tree rape happens! jesus christ! The card playing scene is just so freaking intense as is every scene that follows. The directing is so freaking innovative and cool, its easy, real freaking easy, to see where raimis later efforts came from (and its really easy to see his influence in peter jackson).

favorite scenes
>whats wrong with her eyes?
>ash locking up, camera does some pretty cool shit
>the whole blood in the cellar sequence

Would like to note that Larry Coen did the editing in this movie for the action scenes, the coens brothers were friends with raimi during college. Putting a camera on a 2x4 and ramming it through things? Coen brothers use that, even call it the 'raimi-cam'.

balls out horror movie, not as visually arresting as 2 though.

10/10

[Kikabi]

Would like to note that Larry Coen did the editing in this movie for the action scenes
Minor correction: It was Joel who did the editing for the action scenes. (oh, the fun of silly bits of trivia :)!)

[EVILxxx]

I had watched this film knowing about the character of Ash beforehand so I was a little surprised that he was a bit of a bitch for the first half of the movie. Not to mention that I had seen the cover with him holding the shotgun and axe looking all badass. Part 2 is when Campbell really defined the character. With that being said, watching this film you could tell that Rami had incredible talent. Still one of the creepiest films made "Jack of clubs, 9 of diamonds.."
10/10

[Henry Lee Lucas]

Minor correction: It was Joel who did the editing for the action scenes. (oh, the fun of silly bits of trivia :)!)

yea there is no larry i dont even know what i was thinking.

[WhatsInaName]

I first saw The Evil Dead on VHS in the early 90's. And it came as close as any film could get to really scaring me, i.e. I LOVED IT. Fast forward 8-9 years, and I see it second time on DVD expecting it to rock even more due to the improved picture and sound. I was disappointed! Not by the picture and sound, but by the movie itself. It was imho, cheesy and silly. Not scary at all. If I am to give it a rating, I'd say 5/10 at best.

Sorry guys. But it's just my opinion ;)

[hrdude]

The Evil Dead holds a special place in my heart as it was the first horror movie I saw back in the mid 80's. Yes, now the effects are considered prehistoric but when you're 11 years old with a bunch of mates watching this film at midnight it had the desired effect. It scared the crap out of me. Nowadays the effects in horror films are usually brilliant, but no horror film today has the impact on me that The Evil Dead did and I give Sam Raimi major props for that.

10/10

[God of War]

JOIN US! :D

[Ratlehed]

I have the Book of the Dead version.

I still think this movie holds up today. It looks dated and such buts that part of the charm. I like the dull coloring and all the shadowing that they used. The rubber F/Xand the dark red bood syrup look really good. I prefer that over the CGI they try too use now. I thought the scene were they show the dismebered pieces of the girl twitching on the floor looked really good. Also the pencil to the ankle was cool. The over use of fog worked well. Giving the woods an eriee look.

Alot of false scares and idiotic moments. Like Cheryl going 100 yards into the woods in a robe with no flashlight and Ash being "trapped" under a broken shelf. But the movie as a whole works and the charectars are belivable and likeable. Except for Scott.

I liked the scenes where the moon is just pasted into the picture. It gives it a real B-movie feel.

I suggest watching it with the commentaries. One is Bruce and the other one has Raimi and Rob Tapert I think. They are hilarious though.

Evil Dead gets 3/4 stars for me. I like it as much as part 2 but they are completly different movies.

[Kikabi]

I suggest watching it with the commentaries. One is Bruce and the other one has Raimi and Rob Tapert I think. They are hilarious though.

Yep, it's Tapert. The cross ribbing between these three old friends spread over the two commentaries makes pretty fun listening.

Still curious which DVD version is the best as far as quality and extras, or are they pretty much the same. The Book of the Dead version is the most expensive (that doesn't mean it's the best, but it does have a cool cover)

[Kikabi]

yea there is no larry i dont even know what i was thinking.
Just a minor goof - everyone here knows how often I'm guily of having brain malfunctions! ;)

Sorry about two postings - I haven't figured out how to multi-quote.

[Brendan M.]

Evil Dead is my favorite horror movie of all time. The first time I saw this, I was alone in my basement and it was during the day time. By the time it was over, it was dark out and I was feeling pretty creeped out. Never had this feeling from watching a horror movie since. I was also in the 10th grade and this was the first time I was introduced to the idea of independent cinema. Sam Raimi being only 19 at the time and raising the money on his own has inspired me to want to make low budget movies.

I got the Ultimate Edition for Christmas. The documentary is great, the convention footage/interviews as well as the mini-documentary on the video nasty craze is great, but the real gem of this DVD has got to be the outtakes. If you want to see how miserable the actors really were on the set of this movie, you've got to see this.

[rilocay]

I first saw this flick in 2003. Yep. I was still damn young then (in year 10) and had started to properly get into movies. Mind you, in Australia this film was either not out on dvd, or just had the one release which was hard as hell to find (can't remember which). So how did i check this out? A very old, very used and run-down VHS probably from before i was even born. Hired it out and put it in. The actual vhs made me feel dirty, and the craptacular sound and depleted visuals from the near-dead video only added to this. It added to the movies eerieness and scares and i loved it! For some reason it made me feel like the movie was somewhat more real and felt like a kid watching something they knew they shoudlnt. It was a great experience and it was really something!

As for the film, great sfx, great directing technique, great sound use...and yeah it does have it's dodgy bits, but it's definatly part of it's charm. I think once your emersed in it, your too busy being in the film to worry about how clumsy Ash is etc.

I own the second aussie release of the movie, awesome stuff.

[JJFlamingo]

A True Milestone in the history of Low-budget Independent Filmmaking that STILL makes most contemporary horror films with ten times the budget pale in comparison. A damm shame they didn't have Independent Spirit Awards back then, Raimi would be a lock...

10/10

[jaw2929]

I can sum up The Evil Dead in 4 words:

Fucking Brilliant Horror Masterpiece.

[Cronos]

One of the best low budget horror flicks out there, so much fun, great gore, very funny, all topped off with Bruce Campbell awesomeness. 10/10