Evil Dead (1981) Movie Review
Having previously seen Army of Darkness, the third movie in this trilogy, I was not looking forward to watching anymore of this series. However, between the online reviews and the critics reviews, I decided to give it a chance.
The plot is centered around a group of teenagers who travel to a cabin and inside the cabins cellar they find a book with symbols and drawings and a tape recorder that mentions demons and recites incantations. When the tape is played out loud reciting an incantation the kids start becoming possessed by the demon that they have unknowingly unleashed.
Even though this movie is clearly low budget, it`s unpredictability and scary tense scenes make up for it. Luckily most of the cheesy stop motion effects didn't come until later in the movie when I was already hooked and loving it. Some of the scenes feature an abnormal amount of blood and gore compared to other movies that were made around this time and some of the stop motion effects don`t hold up very well these days. The music as well as the atmosphere were both used incredibly well in this movie and actually made me want to hide under the blanket that I was holding. Also the fact that we don`t know what the demon really looks like in his own body is creepy.
The only scene that didn't fit in with the movie and could have been cut was at the beginning of the movie where we see one of the girls run outside. The branches and the trees grow around her, holding her down, tearing her clothes and raping her. Very bizarre and not needed. Even the director and producer Sam Raimi himself has made comments that he regrets putting that scene into the film. I also think that we could have had less scenes that involved one of the possessed girls laughing and one of them screaming. The high pitch that they used in those scenes were so loud that by the end of the movie I thought my ears were going to start bleeding.
This is one of the rare times when my expectations of a movie were exceeded. It scared me much more than any other movie filmed in the 80s ever has and I completely understand why it has such a cult following. Also the movie poster accurately describes the movie which is always nice to see. My review of this movie, nor anyone else's review of this movie will do it justice. Next time you want to be scared out of your pants, turn out the lights and turn on this movie. But just be warned, it may take you awhile before you want to turn out the lights again.
Grade: A-
Check back tomorrow for a horror movie review from a 2013 title!
No comments:
Post a Comment