Released in the years before cable TV and before video cassettes made low budget schlock available to the average viewer, Evil Dead found its audience with the midnight movie horror festival crowd. No way did it get a nationwide release. Privately owned cinemas bought prints and slowly the film spread from coast to coast and even made its way to Britain. But by this time videos were gaining popularity and it was released on cassette at the same time as a very limited theatrical release.
Critics and censors dismissed it as trash and not long afterwards it was relegated to the video nasty bin and banned. As silly as this may seem, that was the logic of the BBFC. The fact that it is inventive and well directed was lost on them. And until recently only cult audiences appreciated its value. With Anchor Bay's new DVD we can all finally enjoy the uncut, definitive and best-looking presentation possible.
Originally released in 1981 as The Book Of The Dead, this was a feature length re-make of Sam Raimi's short film, Within The Woods . The plot (excuse) and story (violence) involves a quintet of friends, enjoying a few days of quiet at a remote cabin in the Tennessee woods. These are not Friday the 13 th goofballs who want nothing but sex and skinny-dipping. They are realistic. And it all goes nicely until Scotty (Hal Delrich) finds an ugly-looking book (with a face) and an old reel-to-reel tape recorder in the basement. The tape is of an archaeologist explaining how he resurrected demons that took over his wife in the very same cabin. The professor is nowhere to be found, but the haunting burial rites and incantations written in Sumerian text in the ugly book, The Necronomicon Ex Mortis – Book Of The Dead, are on the tape also.
Sheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) freaks out. She hears a demonic voice out in the woods. "Join us!" Foolishly going out to investigate, she is raped by a tree. Although this particular scene isn't so hard to watch, the film still has the power to disturb and make you squirm.
Once Sheryl returns, all hell breaks loose and Raimi has a helluva time firing torrents of blood of varying colours throughout the cabin. Limbs are hacked off with carefree abandon and poor old Ash (Bruce Campbell) has to take them all on at once.
The supernatural hijinks were repeated to a much lesser effect in the sequel, but here Raimi creates an atmosphere of dread and whatever that force is out in the woods – it's scary. It does have some humour, but first time around the filmmakers obviously wanted horror first. You'll wince a few times, no doubt. The raw tone goes hand-in-hand with the low budget and Raimi's bizarre, hardcore cartoonish style is much in evidence.
More time is spent building character. Ash loves his girlfriend and a simple little scene between them makes us totally root for him. He is still to become the hapless buffoon, as he will repeat in Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness .
At the very least, Evil Dead is so popular that it can no longer be regarded as a cult movie. It's not a classic. Not yet. But it is highly regarded and definitely worth several viewings.
Filmed in full Academy Ratio of 1.37:1 on 16mm film, the DVD has been reframed by Sam Raimi to 1.85:1 anamorphic. The top and bottom of the screen have been cropped. In most scenes this is fine, but sometimes a few shots appear "not right" and a little tight. The picture quality is about the best you're ever going to get. The focus is not deep and anything not in the immediate foreground appears slightly blurred. Grain is heavy, blacks are not deep enough and it is constantly a touch to soft. This is obviously due to the technical limitations of the film. None of these problems are likely to bother you, or lessen your enjoyment of the movie.
The original mono track has been given a full Dolby Digital and DTS remastering. Anchor Bay have gone all the way and created 6.1 tracks for Evil Dead. Both are quite forceful, but sometimes can be a bit strident and tinny. Obviously the mono soundtrack cannot be remixed to sound like Black Hawk Down .
The first commentary by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert is much like their commentary on Evil Dead 2. They let us in on the tricks of the trade and how the film was put together on a minuscule budget. Stuff you'd never realise, like the basement scenes, were filmed two years after the rest of the movie in Raimi's garage. Worth a listen.
The second commentary by Bruce Campbell is much better. I love this guy's voice and he does nothing but make fun of Raimi and Tapert. He even has his own introduction to the movie, in which he states that they are both senile and have no accurate memory of the production. Listen to this one first.
Campbell has also produced and directed his own fascinating documentary on adulation and obsession of fans and fandom. He still gets tons of letters and regularly makes appearances at horror conventions and is very easy going with his fans. There are even brief interviews with some of them, including a woman of about 60, who had legally changed her name to Xena: Warrior Princess. She is dressed in the outfit of that very same superheroine. What if she were a fan of Ghostbusters ? Would she change her name to Peter Venkman and go around wearing a proton pack?
Talent bios are included, with some TV spots and trailers. There are also two Easter eggs on this DVD. The first is hidden in the extras menu – press the left arrow to highlight the sketch on the left, select this to view a special effects test.
The second is on the second page of the extras menu. Push 'left' until the skull is highlighted, and select to view a panel discussion of a Halloween night screening of the film.
The DVD comes packaged in the ACTUAL book of the dead. Although I am certain the authentic Necronomicon does not have liner notes by Tom Sullivan, who designed the book. The disc itself is stored at the back in a plasticy slip along with a book on the history of the Evil Dead and web addresses of Evil Dead sites. The whole package smells a bit like a B&Q store, also.
This is DEFINITELY the best presentation that will ever be. Buy it for keeps, despite how many incarnations of this movie you have owned.
Copyright © Gator MacReady 2002-2005
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