Halloween Horrors: THE EVIL DEAD

THE EVIL DEAD  (1981)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Bruce Campbell, Betsy Baker, Ellen Sandweiss, Theresa Tilly, Richard DeManincor
NC-17 for substantial graphic horror violence and gore.
SCAREmeter: 7/10
GOREmeter: 10/10
OVERALL: 3 out of 4 stars 

Sam Raimi is best known to the mainstream public for directing the original SPIDER-MAN trilogy, but his earlier, far less expensive and far more subversive film trilogy is arguably the one that define his career, and has been just as influential, if not more so, as his comic book adaptations have been.
Made on a shoestring budget of less than $400,000, THE EVIL DEAD, the first film in the trilogy, has become one of the major cult classics of all time, often cited among the best horror movies ever made and definitely one of the most influential, having spawned a whole subdivision of horror films that were paid homage to in 2012's CABIN IN THE WOODS.  Funnily enough, partially by intention and partially due to circumstance, THE EVIL DEAD has a distinctly amateur atmosphere for one of the "best horror films ever made," and then again, the effect has since aged into a pseudo-metaphysical one.
The simple-enough story involves a group of five college friends who rent a dilapidated old cabin in the Tennessee woods to spend their spring break (if it sounds like you've heard this one before, that's a mark of the film's influence on those that followed).  The friends include dim-witted lugs, Ash (Bruce Campbell) and Scotty (Richard DeManincor), Ash's sister, Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Ash's girlfriend, Linda (Betsy Baker), and Scotty's girlfriend (Theresa Tilly).  Inside the cabin, the friends find the work of a long-gone archeologist, including a book bound in human skin, identified as the Naturon Demonto, the Sumerian Book of the Dead.  They also find a recorded journal of the archeologist, regarding the book, from which is a read passage from the book, intended to awaken malicious demons, which, in later films are identified as "Deadites."  One by one, the friends fall victim to the demons, becoming possessed and attacking one another, with bodily dismemberment the only way of being stopped.
In THE EVIL DEAD, the name of the game is excess.  It is a horror-comedy, and the comedy is primarily served through the blatantly gratuitous splatter.  The main protagonist is Ash, and as he gradually becomes the sole remaining unpossessed inhabitant of the cabin, he continuously dousing in all manner of comically-disgusting bloody, gory goop.  In one instance, Ash decapitates one of his possessed friends and the body lands on him, gushing blackened blood from the open neck right into Ash's face and open mouth.  The film frequently straddle a line between what is amusing in the most horrible way possible and what is just a bit too sick, epitomized by the infamous rape scene carried out by demonically-possessed trees.
On its miniscule budget, the production makes excellent use of innovative techniques, such as the ominous opening sequence "flying through" the swamp, which was achieved by mounting a camera on a plank of wood, the end of which were then carried by a camera operator on each end.  Although his bigger budget allow for this to now be done more efficiently, this type of shot has since become a stylistic trademark for Raimi.

Most believe that THE EVIL DEAD is surpassed by its even more over-the-top sequel/remake, THE EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN, which is one of the most bizarre follow-up movies ever and will hopefully be explored on a later date, and the third film, ARMY OF DARKNESS, has become a cult classic in it's own right.  Last spring, a mainstream remake/reboot produced by Raimi and Campbell was released with a budget over 17 times that of the original, and was a box office success.  But the original THE EVIL DEAD remains one of the most enduring and extreme horror movies ever made, and that stands for something even if "The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror," as addressed in the film's ending credits, isn't necessarily accurate.  It's just another example of tongue-in-cheek excess that defines THE EVIL DEAD, one of the pillars of both the horror genre and of independent cinema.