THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Horror changes people and there’s no film in the genre quite effective like The Evil Dead. PLOT
The film follows a group of five MSU students vacationing at an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee. The group includes: Scott, his girlfriend Shelly, Ashley Williams, his girlfriend Linda and his sister Cheryl. Shortly after settling in, Cheryl becomes briefly possessed and forcibly draws a book with a demonic face as a cover. During dinner, the trapdoor opens on its own, resulting in Scott and Ash to investigate the basement. Downstairs, they find the same book and a tape recorder in which they choose to bring upstairs. When Scott plays the recorder, the tape plays an incantation that resurrects a demon entity. When Cheryl begs to turn it off, a tree branch breaks into one of the windows. As everyone later tends to sleep, she chooses to investigates the woods when hearing more strange noises from earlier. The result ends with her being raped by the demonically possessed tree. When she returns to the cabin and tells the group she was attacked, she insists on leaving. When Ash tries to take her into town, the only bridge is destroyed, meaning that they are now stuck in the woods. When he returns to the cabin with Cheryl, he listens to more of the tape in hopes to figure out how to defeat the supernatural forces surrounding them. The only answer he gets from it is to dismember possessed hosts. Cheryl is then succumbed to the entity and plans to kill everyone. She makes her move by stabbing Linda’s ankle, only to be imprisoned in the basement by Scott & Ash. Having been distraught of what’s happening, Shelly tries to lay down only to be possessed as well. She tries to attack Scott, but he defends himself by stabbing her with a dagger he also found in the basement. He then dismembers her with an axe when she reanimates. He would then try to leave on his own out of desperation, only to return to the cabin mortally wounded by the trees, realizing that it's impossible to escape alive. After he dies warning Ash, Linda possessed as well. All on his own, Ash stabs her with the daggar and beheads her with a shovel when trying to bury her. When he retreats to the cabin, Cheryl breaks free but he still maintains the upper hand by shooting her in the jaw with a shotgun and barricading her outside. Scott is the last to reanimate and when he does, even he tries to kill Ash. The sole survivor continues fighting for his life by pulling a branch out of his friend's stomach, causing him to bleed out. When Cheryl breaks in, Ash ends the conflict by throwing the book into the fireplace, causing every possessed person to decompose rapidly. By dawn, Ash tries to leave but the film ends in a shocking cliffhanger when an unseen force attacks him.
THOUGHTS
During high school, I was boosting my love for horror and after each one I'd watch, I would take assumption that I would handle anything. By the time I got to this movie though, I hated myself for being overconfident. Nevertheless, I was still blown away of the end result. Writer/Director Sam Raimi debuts strongly by putting audiences through pure terror. From each passing second, you’re going through such manic energy where you’re never sure how bad things are gonna go. The first moment things get violent, all you can do is try prepare for the worst and you get that in such a visceral manner. And whenever take notice of Tim Philo’s cinematography, it can feel so claustrophobic where you might mistake yourself as part of the hellfest. I think the main reason this movie has been capable of grabbing attention for so long would be because whether or not you take this serious, the fear is inescapable. It feels such because you get this reminder that no matter how complex the situation gets, you must always stand up for yourself. You clearly catch on to this in the dual perspective between the victims and the tormentors. At first, the ladies of this film that are Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker and Theresa Tilly portray their characters (Cheryl, Linda & Shelly) as the most innocent due to how they, like the boys, didn’t expect shit to hit the fan like it does. So it definitely becomes saddening to see the 180 they go through when getting possessed by the sadistic demons that are later credited as ‘Deadites’. These creatures are the pinnacle of nightmare fuel as the goal is bring out the very worst. Hal Derich definitely made it clear that Scott shouldn’t be liked because he was a guy that was always in it for himself. So seeing him get possessed shows a deadly consequence when one were to selfishly abandon loved ones. Obliviously, the only character in this film is the sole survivor himself, that is Ash. Bruce Campbell makes an icon out of him because he shows viewers that it’s okay to be scared, as long as it doesn’t change who you are. Seeing a grown man like him scream for dear life proves how scary it gets. Throughout the horror he goes through and later on, he still had the will to fend for herself which arguably makes him inspiring. The hesitance he has when killing his possessed friends proves how much of a heart he has because a part of him doesn’t want to kill the people he cares about. The respect only amplifies from there because again, it proves how strong he is from within. If this guy can overcome actual demons, then we can overcome anything. Even though this film is extraordinary for what it does, I can still admit it had its moments where I’m scratching my head. Like first off, how did the blender work during the dinner scene? This movie came out in the 80s and those blenders needed plugs, so how did they find a plug for a blender in a cabin with no electricity? My mind explodes when thinking about it. Also, how did the past victims not leave instructions to not use the book or play the tapes. That may the only Macguffin duo that gets things rolling, but these should’ve left a note behind if they weren’t able to destroy them. Again, things escalate when Cheryl gets in trouble but why didn’t she tell anyone she heard something? After the tree branch came in through the window, I’m sure Ash would’ve followed her if she asked. And why exactly were the keys outside after the group settled in? It benefits the tension, but I don’t see the point why would anyone do this when we’re even planning to leave yet. And lastly, am I the only one thrown off of Scott’s reaction to Cheryl’s possessed rant? I gotta bring this up because he doesn’t seem surprised or worried until he notices her on the ground. You can’t say he was distracted when chopping wood because it wasn’t like he had a Walkman on him. In conclusion, The Evil Dead is a horror masterpiece for knowing how to test your limits and put you on the edge of your seat simultaneously. If you think you can handle any form of terror, good luck with this one.
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