Hello, and welcome to 10 Nights, 10 Frights! For the next two weeks, I’ll be taking you on a trip into old nightmares, as I revisit some on my favorite horror movies. The art of the jump scare, the psychological terror, and the value in buckets of blood. So sit back, relax, and don’t bother locking the door. It won’t make a difference.
The Evil Dead is without a shadow of a doubt one of the greatest horror movies I have ever seen. With bone-chilling suspense, spectacular visuals, and an evil that cannot lose, it makes me very glad to have grown up in a city. The premise of the movie is simple enough: A group of teenagers go into the woods for a relaxing weekend, where they find a cassette-tape player that recites an ancient incantation. This awakens devilish spirits from the nearby woods, and seals their fate.
The magic of The Evil Dead lies in how earnest the entire project is. Filmed on a tight budget by a group of friends, the movie shows how a clear vision can lead towards a great end product. Director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell filmed a loose version of the film in order to get approved for the $90,000.00 budget they would need. They then proceeded to slum it, filming the movie with a cast of just five actors and a crew of thirteen. In today’s day and age this is unheard of, yet it’s because of this that I believe the film thrived. People were only there if they were passionate about the film, and it shows. It is far beyond many of it’s contemporaries and since it is so low-budget, everything feels much more real, because it had to be.
For me, the horror comes from how unflinching the movie can be. People are injured and eventually killed in grueling ways. This is clear from the get-go, when Cheryl, one of the teens, is raped by the trees in the demonically possessed woods. This leads to her being possessed, and spreading it to the others. Gouging out eyes, stabbing Achilles tendons, and hacking people to death is all just part of the experience. Things get particularly brutal when the effects budget comes into play, as brilliant claymation simulates rapid deterioration and eventual death.
Of course, The Evil Dead is not without fault. The characters lack any form of depth, which is common in horror movies, but awfully apparent here. The only thing that you can remember to distinguish the characters is who is dating who, and even that doesn’t help much. Lead character Ash (Bruce Campbell) is strong because he has to be, but we never understand anything about him, his relationship with his girlfriend, or his relationship with his poor sister. Beyond that, the women are little more than props at times, simply there to progress the men. This only stands out because most horror movies do the opposite, showing the strong female characters who can rise above their attachments.
Ultimately, The Evil Dead is unique among horror movies. Where most films create idols out of despicable men like Freddy Krueger, Chucky, or Michael Myers, The Evil Dead focuses on a hero rising to the occasion. Ash is a film icon in his own unique way, and this has helped him remain in pop culture through comics, something no other horror star was ever able to quite achieve. By the end of the film, after you come down from the sweat that has engulfed you, you want more. That, to me, makes it truly unique among horror movies.
