Evil Dead (1981) Written and Directed by:Sam Raimi

   

     Ah, The Evil Dead! Such an outstanding, and weird piece of film glory! This film, I will say, is definitely not for everyone. It is, however, a true cult classic and one of the first really successful low budget films of modern times.

     Sam Rami and Bruce Campbell, with a budget of around $350,000 made this goofy horror film, and turned a profit of $2,400,000 in just two years. It has made so much more since and much of it's success, I believe, came from it's NC-17 rating. It caused a stir and made young people clammer to see it. It was the strongest rating for a non-pornographic film to date. Evil Dead is still banned in several countries around the world.

     This film introduced the world to the quirky Sam Rami, and "the Chin" himself, Bruce Campbell. This power couple, along with Sam's brother Ted, became sort of a B-Movie power house; producing films like "The Man with the Screaming Brain", "Evil Dead 2", and "Army of Darkness". And while Bruce did achieve some minor success with television programs like "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." and "Burn Notice", it wasn't until the 2002 Spider-Man trilogy that Sam Rami became a household name. Even in this huge budgeted franchise, Rami remained loyal casting Bruce in small, but significant role in each of the three films.

     Evil Dead laughed a trilogy of goof-horror that is beloved by many. It has even recently been transferred into a television series, "Ash vs. the Evil Dead", where Ash (Campbell) continues his crusade against the deadites who were first spawned in the original film.

     This is seriously a great film. Sam Rami shows the promise of a budding directorial genius, and Bruce Campbell delivers on a quirky, somewhat dimwitted hero. I would recommend this for everyone, except there is that scene where the evil spirit posses a tree and rapes a woman with its vines. Because of that alone, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone under 14. I know it's got a rough rating (NC-17) but I feel that it isn't really deserving of that. It would get an "R" if it came out today.