Director Sam Raimi and good friend Bruce Campbell set out to make a real scary movie...although filmed on 16mm, THE EVIL DEAD is good enough to be your next nightmare and a hell of a lot better than your run of the mill slice and dice. Campbell plays Ash Williams, one of five college friends set out to have a wild weekend in the woods. Two guys...three girls journey to a remote cabin, of course in the middle of the woods. And the woods whisper "Join Us". The group stumbles upon a book and a tape recorder belonging to the previous inhabitants, warning of evil spirits lurking in the woods. When the dead come out to play, the newest victims turn into horrid ghouls. Ash, who at heart is a cowardly pansy, turns out to be the macho, macho man to the rescue. It takes courage, a shotgun and a chainsaw.

When the flesh-eating demons start their attack, the blood doesn't just ooze; it splatters, gushes and flows by the bucketful. And there is the scene where one of the girls is beckoned into the woods only to be attacked and raped by a...tree?! Cheap special effects galore decorate this vacation to a little north of Hell. The comedy was unintentional. It is a product of bad acting by actors with little or no experience. But still, Raimi as writer and director has stumbled upon something here. THE EVIL DEAD more than deserves its youth restricted rating. As if it really matters, other cast members are: Betsy Baker, Hal Delrich, Ellen Sandweiss and Theresa Tilly.

"The Evil Dead" is not at all the sort of film I normally watch. However, it's a historically important one, as it gave director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell their big break...and is a great example of a super-cheap film that earned back a fortune for the filmmakers. In many ways, this early feature by Raimi reminds me of George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" (the 1968 version) and Peter Jackson's "Bad Taste" as they, too, were early films of these directors and earned a fortune...catapulting these men to A-level films.

The plot here isn't exactly deep. Five young people go off to a cabin in the woods. They find a tape recorder and play it...only to have a professor on the tape blurt out an incantation from a book he found...and the incantation brought out the evil dead who soon began invading the bodies of these folks. For some odd reason, Ash (Campbell) is spared and the final portion of the film is a total bloodbath as he is forced to violently dismember his friends in order to avoid being killed by these not demonic beings.

While the gore level is off the charts in this film, it's so ridiculously over the top and fake looking that it is worth seeing. Had they had a better budget, no doubt the gore could have looked much more realistic...and the film would have turned me off completely! As it is, it's somewhat comical because it's so ridiculous. Not a great film but for its budget, an amazing picture...one all budding filmmakers should see.

If you look at the budget Sam Raimi had to make this, it is incredible what the end result it. Of course having a good friend with the name of Bruce Campbell always helps. That's some value right there for almost no money at all. But Sam puts Bruce in every one of his movies, so I'm pretty sure he made up for the thin salary on this one. On the other hand, Sam likes to put Bruce through some ordeals and this movie is not different in that approach.

The movie though is straight horror. The sequels became much lighter in tone (especially the third one). It's also one of the movies that hasn't been released completely uncut in Germany! I won't spoil anything, when I say the two key scenes that are missing involve a pencil and a tree! If you've seen the movie, you know those scenes are pretty horrific and make the movie what it is too. Make up is great and the camera on the water device Sam came up with is just one of his technical ingenuities!