The Evil Dead (1981)
They got up on the wrong side of the grave.
I had more fun doing the remake thing than i thought i would when i revisited the Clash of the Titan movies. They say one good thing deserves another, so I thought I'd do it again with another movie set that I'm surprised to see I haven't done yet after checking my log sheet - and of course, it's more October oriented because the month we are in. Put the kettle on and stay out of the woods, tonight we watch The Evil Dead.
So check it out, when most people think of this series, I'd be willing to bet that what they really remember the most is probably Evil Dead 2, or perhaps even Army of Darkness (which is Evil Dead 3). This doesn't seem like it's a huge distinguishing factor to some, I'm sure - but the rub is something like this - the first is much more focused on being a horror movie than it's followers. It's a minor detail, but at the core of the premise the very thought of the ED franchise is that of witty bantering Bruce Campbell messing things up and being a hero that we get regardless of what we deserve. However, one needs to step back from this thought - as that's not where it started, even though ED2 does re-do and overwrite all the events of the first to make it's new story play out how it wants to - whic his also perhaps another reason why that is more likely to be the one most remembered.
The other big thing to remember over the course of this is it's very much a B movie. It's a passion project kind of movie with a bunch of friends on no budget deciding to make a horror movie - something the horror genre is actually pretty great at allowing. In turn, things might feel kind of cheap or basic - especially given todays standards for movies. This doesn't prevent the movie from being enjoyable, and we should always remember the disconnect between Critic and User reviews - one is looking at how it is as a movie, the other is looking at it for enjoyment. Think of it like seeing it mechanically vs seeing it as art.
What all of that is leading up to is me trying to sound nice when I state the story is pretty basic watercolors. Group of friends go to a cabin in the woods for a little vacation time, end up accidently summoning demons and getting picked off one by one in a descent to madness and the holdout for dawn. It's really just that - there's no real hidden tidbits, there's no great scheme, it's just an A to be B messed up telling of what happens when you snoop about and end up listening to things you shouldn't in places you were unlucky enough to be. Now, if that sounds harsh don't read too far into it - it facilitates the story as it should, so it's enough there that it doesn't confuse you or over-saturate your mind for the run time.
The danger of recorders.
Now, with a story that simple, surely you would expect the actors to do all the leg work with it - but remember, we are talking budget here. These aren't super pro actors, these are friends who (some of) went on to acting or elsewhere. Now, this is two sides to a coin - since they are already friends, chemistry is great between the characters. On the flip side, some of the acting can be a bit... overdramatic we'll call it. To people like me who tend to like cheese and can sit through some real terrible acting and still have fun with it, this is all just cash money, but for people who are expecting shakespeare-grade actors to be belting out deep lines with utmost urgency, clarity, and gravitas they should be tempering their expectations to "actual human" before watching the movie. That said, a stiff line here and there never killed anyone, and if you already embrace the budget feel you'll just be further pleased as punch.
Effects are something else someone would probably question here. "You said it's pretty budget," you are thinking, "so does that mean its bad?" Well, yes and no. Some of the effects are not great, but would argueablly be much more appreciated at the time it was made then now. Some of the effects are actually pretty darn good, and mostly all of them contribute to whatever design the movie has. Some of the scenes in which effects pop up are pretty wince-worthy, and the infamous woods scene should make plenty of folks uncomfortable. So you need to take the good with the bad to appreciate the work here fully. Some of the effects are actually layered things - and someone with a sharp eye and little knowhow of effects work might actually catch them as such, where others probably not so much.
If there was one place where I'd generally frown, it's the audio. It has some nice touches- some fun sounds and plenty of filler audio to make things feel more fleshed out or atmospheric - but my complaint here is more towards the quality of it. As mentioned before though, it's not some super-triple A film when it got made, so a lower audio quality is kind of expected to some extent. You can (mostly) hear what actors are saying, and the atmosphere is really well done, and I also appreciate that the use of background tracks like music is pretty limited, giving it a far more spooky and somewhat immersive feeling to it. On the other hands, balancing isn't always the best, and sometimes you will find yourself either turn it up to hear people talking or turning it down from the audio effects.
Whose that puppy in the window?
There's a reason this movie has a cult following. It's pretty entertaining as a budget horror movie, and does quite a bit on whatever budget they had - including some stop motion and other practical effects. It even mixes things up with some neat camera usage at time, including using it as a sort of POV demon-vision. Yes, the ones to come become far more enjoyable to a broader spectrum and do more to set it apart from any other horror flick, but everything starts somewhere and this is fine for the kind of person who would already be okay watching a budget horror flick. It's a bit violent, there's a bit of bare chests in it, and a whole lot of a final boy who doesn't seem nearly as heroic as his future would lead him to be.