'The Evil Dead' is a film that really showed me that I could make my own movie despite the conditions or locations I find myself in. Like Troma or Kevin Smith, director Sam Raimi took what little he had, grabbed his friends, went deep into the woods with some money and film equipment, and went through absolute hell shooting a movie. And hell is putting it mildly, the cast and crew have literal scars from making this film but in the end it was all worth it and we got a really great crew of filmmakers and actors that still work today.
The story is simple but sometimes the best ones are: a group of friends go out into the woods to spend the weekend. Now thinking realistically, I'm not sure how this old dirty cabin in Tennessee is exactly romantic but let's play along shall we? Anyway, the kids find something in the cabin and in typical horror fashion they mess with things they don't understand and unleash a bevy of demonic entities which proceed to possess and kill each of the teens until one remains...It's cliche even for the time but the familiar feeling along with some really impressive camera work, gross out special effects, and crude guerilla style gives 'The Evil Dead' charm and its those traits that make it so memorable.
The film's many errors, bad effects, and over the top gore are so unforgettable and reminds me of my own home movies as a kid. However even as a tyke I never found the film particularly scary and reading the history of controversy and censorship it's had to endure since release baffles me. This movie is too goofy to take seriously in my opinion, especially when you read such nonsense as Sam Raimi almost being jailed for making the thing! Yes, the film is gory and tasteless but it's a horror movie! It gives exactly what it promises on the tin and doesn't apologize nor attempt to trick you in any way so where the controversy came from I will never know.
'The Evil Dead' is a crudely put together film by a group of ambitious young filmmakers and it's far from perfect. However it's that ambition and inspiring backstory that I feel keeps it going today. It helped many people like myself realize that we can make our own movies even with little resources even today. Yes, ours may not reach the same status but it helps to drive us and inspiring creativity or hard work in any way can't be all bad right?
( A + )
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