The Evil Dead

Starring: Bruce Campbell
Director: Sam Raimi
Genre: Horror
Year: 1982
Rating: 1 / 5

In 1982, on a shoestring budget of $50,000, writer-director Sam Raimi produced his dream, the horror movie The Evil Dead. It instantly achieved cult status, and made its star, then-unknown Bruce Campbell, a cult hero. (One could quickly argue, of course, that Bruce Campbell is still unknown, but that it beside the point.) The Evil Dead, a film which spawned two sequels, is a tale of five friends who go to a log cabin for a vacation, only to inadvertently awaken a long-dead evil. The evil begins to pick off its helpless victims one by one, until only one is left to battle the awesome force for control of body and soul.

Ash (Bruce Campbell) and four of his friends, including his girlfriend, decide to take a nice little camping trip out into the woods. These five young people pile into a car and head for the wilderness, completely unaware of any impending danger. When they get there, they begin exploring their seemingly-abandoned cabin. In the basement of their temporary home, they find an ancient book, the Book of the Dead, and a tape recorder. As they play some of the recordings, evil spirits in the surrounding woods come to life and begin attacking the helpless residents of the cabin. Will the evil wipe out all of the campers? Or can they find a way to stop its reign of terror?

Two major problems with this movie: it is hardly scary, and it is never funny. Though I have been alive for both waves of the horror genre - when Halloween and Friday the 13th ruled theatres to the recent Scream revival - I have never seen much appeal in horror films. This is not to imply that I do not appreciate the concept, for I think there is significant potential there. I merely feel that precious few filmmakers have done it well. The Exorcist is the only true horror movie that has ever scared me, and, in the absence of that, I expect a more light-hearted approach, letting me know that the filmmakers do not take themselves too seriously. Unfortunately, though Sam Raimi may try such an approach at times in The Evil Dead, it fails miserably.

While I give director Sam Raimi some credit for throwing a couple of original twists into this film, it remains that sort of fodder that movies like Scream love to feast on. This film contains a truckload of stereotypical horror movie conventions: the car full of vacationing coeds, the secret wilderness retreat, gratuitous nudity, and some rather dumb victims. Bruce Campbell makes for a very entertaining and likeable hero by the time Army of Darkness rolls around, but he shows little of that potential here. And without a true stand-up-and-cheer hero or an identifiable vessel of evil, we are left without anyone to root for or against. Not much reason to watch, and that might be the best way to sum up The Evil Dead.

Cast:

Bruce Campbell..........

Ash

Certification: Rated R for violence.
Running Time: 85 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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