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This is a film that sums up independent filmmaking in one long barrage of horrifying gore and blasting blood baths that never ceases once it commences. “Evil Dead” is simply put, one of the bloodiest and harrowing horror experiences ever captured on film. It’s not a cult classic for no reason. In fact, this is one of the most decent cliché-spawning horror films in the last three decades.
This isn’t to say that people simply make “Evil Dead” again and then call it something different. It’s mostly that they use certain parts, or ideas that this film gave them. The least elusive of which is basically that the characters are staying at a cabin in the woods. Now that they’re there, the old wooden bridge (which is the only way out) has collapsed, and these five hopeless twenty-something guys and gals are stuck with the evil dead at their doorstep.
But budget restrictions didn’t stop director Sam Raimi from making this one of the bloodiest, most disgusting splatter films of all time. It has some of the more creative gore effects of the period, and even though I stayed with it through the torturously gruesome second act, I just can’t forgive them for the awful clay-mation near the end of the film.
There’s a scene in which the camera begins outside and flies around the entire cabin. As we go around every corner, we look inside the windows at the young people inside. This is almost a symbolic moment because it eerily shows what is to come. Perhaps Raimi meant for this to be an omen.
“Evil Dead” is top-notch independent filmmaking. This is a horror film that is cleverly original and brutally gory. There are scenes that are so memorable because they burn themselves into your memory and that wound never heals. Raimi has a promising career ahead of him. *** ½