The Evil Dead!

I well remember going to the video store and looking for something interesting to watch. I rarely rented tapes, preferring frankly to spend a few more dollars and buy a cheap copy when I could. Then I had the movie for all time and could enjoy it at my leisure. But still there are movies you just want to see once and that will suffice. So the video store, a relic now of a bygone age, was a frequent stop in my travels.

One video I saw tucked away in the horror section was Evil Dead 2, the box featuring a skull staring at you sideways. It stuck in my memory, but it seemed to be just one more slasher movie, and those bloody things just bore me to tears. So I let it alone. This went on for a long long time. Finally for some reason, I became aware that this movie might be interesting, I forget how and I at long last rented it.


It was a revelation. I'd already by this time seen Sam Raimi's Darkman in the theater and loved it. So when I realized this was more of Raimi's vibrant moviemaking, I was very anxious to see it and a bit miffed at myself that I'd overlooked all those years. It proved to be a real hoot, a horror movie that offered up a few shocks, but mostly offered up an engaging story that never let up and was extremely funny. It's a wonderfully paced effort, with great visual gags and a really different kind of story. The ending I never saw coming the first time, though later I realized it was decently foreshadowed.


That began the search for more. Soon Army of Darkness was in the theaters and I enjoyed this one too though it's not really a horror movie at all, but a fantasy of a broader type. I became a Raimi fan. Bruce Campbell also was in my sights, having starred in The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., I found he was also in Darkman in a cameo. The smart nature of the vehicles these guys found themselves involved in really made me hanker to see the original Evil Dead.


When at last I did get hold of a copy, I was surprised. It's not like the others really at all. Of course this is a movie from a different era, filled with plenty of gore and horror cliches, but much more rugged and straightforward than its ironic sequels. I didn't quite know what to make of it. Clearly Evil Dead 2 was both a remake and a sequel at the same time while Army of Darkness was purely a sequel to that movie.

The original Evil Dead seemed not of the same brand. It's taken repeated viewings over the years but I've grown to really like this movie. It's crude for sure, but it's got a thematic sting that the later movies for all their craft lack. This one is horror, it's for real. Ash is buffoon for sure, but he's still a guy. Later Campbell takes him into a more surreal place and we care about him less while enjoying his hijinks nonetheless.


Recently I found Within the Woods, the short film by Raimi and Campbell that they used to get funding for Evil Dead. It's the same movie almost on an even smaller shoestring budget, but one which follows essentially the same plot, this time with Campbell as the monster and not the hero. It's rugged, the only print a bootleg, but if you want to see it follow this link.

I'd have to say that the original is now my favorite of the three, and that's not something I thought I'd ever say.

I read they might be making a remake of this original cult classic. I can see why they'd want to for financial reasons, but like most of these "remakes", it isn't really necessary. Just watch the original, it holds up quite nicely.

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