The Evil Dead!

                              The Evil Dead

(2013, Fede Alvarez)

Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore

★★★★★

(Ratings out of 5)

For the 2013 reboot, see Evil Dead (2013 film).
The Evil Dead

Original theatrical release poster

Directed by Sam Raimi
Produced by Robert Tapert
Written by Sam Raimi
Starring Bruce Campbell
Ellen Sandweiss
Hal Delrich
Betsy Baker
Sarah York
Music by Joseph LoDuca
Cinematography Tim Philo
Editing by Edna Ruth Paul
Studio Renaissance Pictures
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release date(s)
October 15, 1981 (Premiere)
Running time 85 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $350,000–400,000
Box office $2,400,000 (est.)
The Evil Dead is a 1981 American horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi. The film stars Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, and Betsy Baker. The Evil Dead focuses on five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area. When they find an audiotape that releases demons, the demons possess each member of the group one by one, leading to increasingly gory mayhem. Raimi and the cast produced the short film Within the Woods as a "prototype" to build the interest of potential investors, which secured Raimi $90,000 to produce The Evil Dead. The film was shot on location in a remote cabin located in Morristown, Tennessee, in a difficult filming process that proved very uncomfortable for the majority of the crew.
The low-budget horror film attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which helped convince New Line Cinema to serve as its distributor. While a meager commercial success in the United States, the film made its budget back through worldwide distribution. During its theatrical run, the film grossed $2.4 million. Original critical reception was positive, and in the years since its release, The Evil Dead has developed a reputation as one of the largest cult films. It has been cited among the greatest horror films of all time. The Evil Dead launched the careers of Campbell and Raimi, who would collaborate on several films together throughout the years, including Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
The film has spawned a media franchise, beginning with two sequels directed by Raimi; Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), as well as video games and comic books. The film's protagonist Ash Williams (Campbell) is regarded as a cult icon. A remake titled Evil Dead was released in 2013, with Raimi co-writing the script and producing the film alongside Campbell and The Evil Dead producer Robert Tapert


Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods. The evil presence possesses them until only one is left to fight for survival.


This girl had one of the best scared faces ever.

The Book of the Dead. 

I Would never open that damn book!Never open this kind of books guys!
!Scary shit!

This is an image from The Evil Dead ‘remake’ happening in 2013.

I think it does look pretty evil and scary, and I didn’t expect them to use the same kinds of practical make up as the original. THOUGH my nitpick is I wish they changed the eyes! They were so frightening in the original!

Cast

• Jane Levy - Mia
• Shiloh Fernandez - David
• Lou Taylor Pucci - Eric
• Jessica Lucas - Olivia
• Liz Blackmore - Natalie
• Phoenix Connolly - Teenager
• Jim McLarty - Harold
• Sian Davis - Old Woman
• Stephen Butterworth - Toothless Redneck
• Karl Willetts - Long Haired Redneck
• Randal Wilson - Abomination Mia
• Rupert Degas - Demon Voice
• Bob Dorian - Voice of Professor Knowby from the original Evil Dead
• Ellen Sandweiss - Voice of Cheryl from the original Evil Dead
• Inca - Grandpa the Dog

Review
 I went to see Evil Dead with an open mind and man was i blown away. I would have never in my wildest dreams guessed that first time director Fede Alvarez turns this reimagination of Sam Raimi's film into a pure horror masterpiece. Where Raimi's film relied much more to an effects, Alvarez and his co-writer has turned Evil Dead into a psychological horror-film with some truly gory sequences in it. For a someone who is making his debut feature in films this is quite a achievement. Not only Alvatrez has surpassed Raimi's original but he has also made one of the greatest debut films ever in the history of cinema.

This is a damn confident filmmaking on every level and Alvarez seem to have style completely of his own. With foggy and eerie use of forests and the nightmarish images of decaying cabin, this film feels and looks more like an mixture of horror with some serious echoes of art-house sensibility in it. It kinda reminded me of David Slade's equally terrifying and handsome 30 Days of Night, which succeeded in creating something visually unique, terrifying and original as an horror film.

The setting here might not be nothing new with the bunch of young people going for a sort of an holiday in the cabin at woods. But what makes this holiday certainly different than any other cabin-vacations is that this is not supposed be any alcohol-filled weekend. Instead one of the five young people here is drug addict and is trying to get clean from that habit. This is by far one of the most interesting and effective plot changes when it comes to original story by Raimi. This plot which includes rehab makes everyhting much more dreamlike and even throws in some ambitious questions about what might be real or what might be just pure feverish hallucinations in a person's mind. Film toys with this idea but in the second half it makes clear which the final interpretation is. 

One of the major changes between Raimi's 1981 film and this new adaptation is their tone, look and mood. Raimi's film may still have some innovative and groundbreaking camerawork in it but it has lost most of it's shock-value because the effects are so badly dated. Raimi has always claimed that Evil Dead was made into a serious horror-film and not a horror-comedy, which it unfortunately too often feels. Fede Alvarez makes it clear from the very beginning that there are nothing funny in this situation in which these people are thrown into. There is no corny dialogue or lousy one-liners. There is no clumsy use of CGI or anything that would even remotely look or feel like an comedic relief. This is pure, nasty and gory horror at it's very finest and i have not been this thrilled in cinemas that many times in my life. 

Young actors are all great and believable here, especially Jane Levy is perfect choice for the tormented main character Mia. Shiloh Fernandez also is solid as her protective big brother. Rest of the cast give supporting roles that feel truly authentic. They all also get their mometns when to show more of their skills as an actors, so they are not treated like a cattle like too often cast does in a films like these today. There are no stereotypes to be found in here when it comes to characters. And unlike Drew Goddard's and Joss Whedon's interesting but flawed The Cabin in the Woods, Evil Dead never turns into self-parody. What these people go through is far from pleasant a experience and Alvarez wants you to feel their physical and emotional pain. Up, close and personal. There is no reason tor Alvarez to throw his hands in air and suddenly turn it all into a comedy. This is a dark and bloody story and there is hardly anything funny about it.

What else can i say. Every now and then there comes a horror-film that redefines the genre. Evil Dead is that film and it sets the bar so high for other horror-entries that it will take quite a while for anyone to come even a close when it comes to a pure horror. This is an instant classic and goes up there as a one of my personal favourites. Evil Dead is one of the greatest films i have experienced in my whole life. If you love horror-films then you will love Evil Dead.