The Evil Dead (1981) Review

The Evil Dead isn’t really a horror classic but more of a horror legend, I’ve heard a lot about this film and have seen my fair share of clips before going in; it’s probably one of the biggest horror cult classics out there. It’s directed by Sam Raimi and stars the GOD Bruce Campbell, like all great splatter flicks this film was shot on a incredibly low budget of between $350,000 and $400,000 but even with a fairly low international box office of $2.6 million, which was enough to earn a profit and get it a sequel (which we will look at tomorrow!)

So what did I think of this film? I thought it was great, a little underwhelming after the intense rollercoaster of The Silence of the Lambs (review here) but never the less a great and fun horror film. It was effective in creating a spooky atmosphere that just grew throughout into a great climax.

It did have nagging issues with it that I know is a little stupid to bring up for a horror film of this standard but it did bother me and it’s my job to tell you, the acting and characters were very poor, you only really cared for Ash and that’s only because he’s Bruce Campbell. You did get some pretty emotional scenes near the end that made you feel a little bit for the characters but not much, everyone was pretty wooden for the first half and it was only when they became zombies (or whatever they are in this movie) that they actually became cool and fun people to watch perform.

Some parts were actually quite tense, not nail biting but it had you leaning forward a bit which was nice to see (if you can tell by my reviews I love suspense!). For the most part though this was more of a horror comedy, it had me laughing at some parts and I’m not sure if it was on purpose or accidental. This is really just a film to have fun with, the gore, while slightly outdated, was still fun to see splatter all over the place and it would be very fun with friends and some sort of drinking game.

In the end I don’t have much to really say about this film, it’s your average 80’s splatter flick but it did stand out a bit with unique camerawork and visuals. The music was awesome, it matched with the film so well. It’s atmosphere and sets were creepy and overall I would recommend this film if you haven’t already seen it.

7/10