Movie Review – The Evil Dead (1981)
In honor of the nationwide release of the horror film Evil Dead (2013), today we’re taking a big step back to 1981 and the cult horror classic film, The Evil Dead.
Set in 1981 and taking place at a remote cabin in the mountains of Tennessee, The Evil Dead is a low-budget horror film that takes the supernatural element of demonic forces and makes them quite horrific and gory. There are possessions here along with violence and plenty of blood and guts. When it was first released, The Evil Dead was considered one of the most gory films of all time.
Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell in the lead role of Ashley “Ash” Williams, The Evil Dead is the film that launched both of their Hollywood careers, one as a hit director and the other as a cult film actor. Those two aren’t the only famous people who had a hand on The Evil Dead. Joel Coen (of the now famous Coen brothers) was one of the editors of this film.
The Evil Dead begins with five Michigan State college students heading to Tennessee to spend spring break at a remote cabin. Their journey takes them along back roads and deeper into the Appalachian Mountains. The group has a scare when their car suddenly veers into the oncoming traffic of a big truck, but they regain control and miss the head-on collision. They then have a second close encounter when part of a rickety old bridge suddenly gives way. A car tire pokes through the bridge but they manage to cross the river to the opposite side.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
After the harrowing journey, Scotty (Hal Delrich), “Ash” (Bruce Campbell), Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Linda (Betsy Baker) and Shelly (Sarah York) finally arrive at the old cabin. Ash and Linda are a couple, Scotty and Shelly are another couple, and Cheryl is Ash’s sister. The cabin has a rustic charm to it though the college students now seem a bit hesitated with staying there.
The gang settles into the cabin and odd things begin to occur. Cheryl is sitting in her room making sketches when suddenly the clock’s pendulum stops moving. Her hand then becomes possessed and she draws a picture of a strange book. After that she has a vision of the cellar door on the kitchen floor.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
That night while having dinner the cellar door suddenly pops open, scaring the group. The girls are quick to make excuses why the door opened on its own, but Scotty takes a flashlight and goes down to investigate the cellar. When he doesn’t respond after a few minutes, Ash takes a lantern and also goes downstairs. He makes his way to a back room where Scotty pops out and scares him. Scotty shows Ash the weird stuff he found, and they take the old book, ceremonial dagger and tape recorder back upstairs.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Upstairs in the cabin, Ash takes a look at the eerie book and then plays an audio clip from the tape recorder. We learn that an archaeologist stayed at the cabin while doing further research on a book he found called “Naturon Demonto” (the Necronomicon), also known as the Book of the Dead. The book itself was discovered in some ruins linked to ancient Sumerian burial arrangements and funeral practices. Bound in human flesh and inked in human blood, the book deals with demons and demon resurrections. We learn that said “. . . creatures may be lying dormant but are never truly dead.”
The professor goes on saying how the demons could be brought back to live by reading the excerpts from the book and go on to possess the living. Cheryl shuts off the recorder but Scotty fasts forwards and plays the rest of it. We hear the professor reciting a passage from the book and outside the cabin something evil wakes from its underground slumber. Cheryl screams for somebody to shut off the recorder and then a tree branch crashes through one of the cabin’s windows.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
The two couples retire to their rooms in the cabin, leaving Cheryl alone in her room. She senses something watching her and hears a noise from outside. Leaving the safety of the cabin, Cheryl heads outside at night to investigate whatever may be out there. She walks into the woods and is suddenly attacked by the trees themselves. Vines and branches reach out and hold the woman while a much thicker branch “has its way” with Cheryl.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
The woman finally escapes and makes it back to the cabin to tell the others about her attack. Of course, none of them believe her. They try to calm Cheryl but she doesn’t want anything to do with these woods or the cabin. Ash agrees to drive Cheryl into a nearby town so that she can stay in a hotel. But when they arrive at the rickety old bridge, they’re both surprised that the bridge across the river is destroyed. The bridge’s supports have been bent into the shape of a hand.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Disheartened, Ash and Cheryl return to the cabin. Ash plays more of the recorded tape and learns that the professor’s wife had become possessed by the demons. He reports that the only way to stop the possession is by dismembering, beheading the victim. Meanwhile, Linda and Shelly are playing with cards when Cheryl becomes possessed by the demons. She levitates in the air and warns them that they will all be taken by the demons, one by one.
Cheryl collapses and fakes being incapacitated. When they get close enough, the possessed Cheryl lashes out and brutally stabs Linda in the ankle with a pencil. She then attacks the group and tries to kill Ash, but Scotty knocks her down with an axe and kicks her into the cellar. He then uses the chains and imprisons the possessed woman.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
It’s Shelly’s turn next as the demons return to the cabin and break through a window to attack the woman. She becomes possessed and attacks Scotty. Her face gets burned in the fireplace and Scotty pulls her out only for the possessed Shelly to attack him again. The possessed Cheryl cheers her on from the cellar as her attack continues. Shelly tries to stab Scotty with the ceremonial dagger, but Scotty cuts off her hand. To his and Ash’s horror, Shelly bites off the rest of her hand.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Scotty then grabs the dagger and stabs Shelly in her back. She’s not dead though until Scotty takes the axe and brutally dismembers her body. Scotty and Ash then take Shelly’s remains and bury them by the cabin.
Scotty leaves the cabin to go find another path in the woods, something that can take them to safety. While he’s gone, Ash checks on Linda. He watches in horror as her ankle wound becomes infected with a demonic spirit and rapidly spreads through her body. Linda suddenly “wakes up” possessed, but she doesn’t attack Ash.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Ash retreats in the cabin when he’s surprised by a shaken and badly injured Scotty. The demonic trees had attacked him as he tried to find an escape route. Before passing out, Scotty tells Ash that he found a trail through the woods. Possessed Linda and Cheryl just sit back and laugh as Ash tries to comprehend the situation.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Ash returns with a shotgun to his possessed girlfriend, but he cannot pull the trigger and kill her. Instead, Linda seems to snap out and recover from her possession. She gives Ash a hug and she seems to be okay. Over in the cellar, Cheryl also appears to have recovered from the possession. She calls for Ash to come over and unlock her from her prison.
It’s just a trick by the demons.
As Ash starts to unlock the cellar, Cheryl reaches up and grabs him. He pulls free and sees that his girlfriend is still possessed by the demons as well. Ash drags Linda outside and locks the door so he can check on Scotty. He tries to give him a drink but Scotty is pretty much dead at this point. He hears laughter and goes to the window to check on Linda, but the woman is gone.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Linda instead pops up inside the house and stabs Ash in the arm with the ceremonial dagger. She then tries to attack him again with the dagger, but Ash breaks free. They tangle another time and he twists the large knife behind her back. Linda then falls backwards and impales herself with the dagger, accidentally killing herself.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Remembering about needing to dismember the possessed to truly kill them, Ash carries Linda’s body to the shed next to the cabin. He straps her to a table and fires up a chainsaw, but he cannot behead his girlfriend. Instead, he takes her outside and places Linda’s body in a small grave. Just as she’s buried, Linda suddenly pops out of the ground and attacks Ash. He beats her with a large piece of wood and then uses a shovel to behead the possessed woman, finally killing her.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Ash returns to the cabin and discovers that Cheryl has escaped from the cellar. He finds the possessed Cheryl outside and shoots her with the shotgun, but it doesn’t stop her. He manages to lock her outside and then enters the cellar to find more shotgun shells. Down in the cellar he discovers that the pipes, walls and other outlets are now dripping blood, and blood is forming puddles on the floor. He finds his ammunition and returns upstairs to the cabin.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Upstairs, Ash starts to go crazy as the items in the cabin seem to have a mind of their own. He’s then attacked by a possessed Scotty, and Ash breaks free by gouging out Scotty’s eyes. Cheryl breaks into the house and Ash fights them both while trying to get to the fireplace and grab the Book of the Dead. Cheryl begins beating Ash with a poker as he finally grabs the book. The book had partially caught fire and Ash notices that Scotty and Cheryl are both smoking, as if the fiery book is affecting the both of them. Ash tosses the “Naturon Demonto” into the burning fireplace and the demons leave Scotty and Cheryl’s bodies. It’s a bloody mess as Scotty and Cheryl’s bodies rapidly decompose and the demons violently leave their temporary homes.
The Evil Dead (1981) – (c) New Line Cinema
Outside, the sun is finally rising as Ash exits the cabin. All seems well until a demon makes a final run for Ash. It crashes through the house and The Evil Dead ends with the demon supposedly attacking Ash.
So is The Evil Dead any good?
Despite being severely underfunded (and fairly tame by today’s standards), The Evil Dead still tells a fantastic supernatural horror story. Perhaps because of the film’s incredibly small budget, some of the make-up and other effects turn the second half of The Evil Dead into more of a comedy than a horror film.
One of the key things to remember is that this film was released in 1981, which back then the most shocking horror films were Halloween (1978), The Amityville Horror (1979) and Friday the 13th (1980). While those are all fantastic horror and slasher flicks, they’re fairly tame compared to the amount of blood and guts and grisly scenes accompanied with today’s horror films. The Evil Dead is a similar case although back then it was one of the bloodiest films to be released. The blood really starts flowing towards the end of the movie, and the scene where the demons leave Scott’s and Cheryl’s bodies is basically a splatterfest with blood and gore.
I love the concept of discovering an old book from an ancient civilization, and then using the passages from that book to unleash demons who apparently live all around us. It’s a combination of creepy but fascinating and then just plain awesome. Speaking of demons, what makes the demons in this film even more fascinating is that we never actually see them in the movie. A camera running through the woods shows us their perspective, but it’s up to the actors and our imaginations to “see” just how horrifying (later it’s quite comedic in Evil Dead II) those creatures are.
The only downfall for The Evil Dead is when it comes to the make-up and special effects. Most of the “possessed” people look rather comical (not sure if it’s intentional in this movie), and some of the gore effects were painfully obvious that they were merely special effects versus real violence supposedly happening to people, such as when Linda is stabbed in the ankle or when Ash gouges out Scotty’s eyes.
The Evil Dead (1981) – movie trailer
When viewing The Evil Dead for the first time, you’ll have to lower your expectations before settling down to enjoy the story. Once you do that you’ll hopefully enjoy the movie a lot more. I didn’t really care for this film during my first viewing, but after going back and seeing it a second time I really enjoyed the film. It’s easy to see how this became a cult classic that inspired two sequels and the 2013 remake.
[Cheryl has become possessed and levitates in the air]
Cheryl – “Why have you disturbed our sleep; awakened us from our ancient slumber?”
[shouts]
Cheryl – “You will die! Like the others before you, one by one, we will take you!”