Product Description
The Evil Dead (1981)(#ad)
Rating: R
Running Time: 85 minutes
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast:
Betsy Baker
Bruce Campbell
Hal Delrich
Ellen Sandweiss
Sarah York
Stars: 4/5
Overview
If you want to watch movies online this is one of the best options for horror movies. The movie was directed by Sam Raimi, who was also the movie’s executive producer. The movie stars Bruce Campbell, Betsy Baker, and Ellen Sandweiss.
The film focuses on the life of 5 college students who are vacationing in a cabin located in a remote forested area. The group finds an audiotape releases several demons. The group of college students also becomes demon possessed, which results in gory events.
Plot Summary
The Evil Dead is one of the several Amazon movies you can enjoy during your free time. The story centers on 5 students from Michigan State University. They include the protagonist Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda. They’re also accompanied by Asha’s sister Cheryl, a friend named Scotty, and his girlfriend Shelly.
The group takes a spring break vacation to rural Tennessee and plan to stay in a cabin. They soon experience problems when Scotty almost hits a truck. Later a bridge going to the cabin begins to collapse.
There are other events that happen afterward including Cheryl hearing a demonic voice outside the window. She then has an experience that causes her to draw a picture that appears like a book with an evil face.
Then during dinnertime, a trapdoor leading to the cellar flies open. Ash/Scotty go downstairs to check things out. They find a Sumerian version of Egypt’s Book of the Dead.
They also find a tape recorder owned by the archeologist who owned the book. Scotty plays the tape recorder and the scientist’s voice says a group of incantations, which causes a demonic spirit to resurrect.
Cheryl then becomes crazy and stays in her room. She then heard a strange voice later and goes outside to check things out. Ash then gives Lind a silver necklace that she loves. Cheryl is attacked by trees that are demon possessed yet she is able to escape. She then asks Ash to take her to town. However, Ash finds out that the bridge was destroyed. Ash listens to more of the audio tape at the cabin. He learns how to destroy the entity.
Cheryl then becomes demon possessed and attacks other members in the group.
Later some of the members of the group became possessed. This results in some scary events happening. Ash tries to figure out what to do while Linda and Cheryl become demon possessed. Ash goes into the cabin and an evil spirit bothers him there. Scotty then becomes a demon and suddenly attacks Ash after he goes upstairs.
Ash later hears the voice of demons that tell him to “Join us.” Ash then grabs the necklace of Linda and is pleased. Ash then goes outside at sunrise. He is attacked before he can get to his vehicle. He shouts as the movie ends.
Director/Cast
The director Raimi produced a short film Within the Woods that helped to raise money for investors. This earned him $90,000 for him to produce The Evil Dead. This flick was filmed on location in a cabin located in Tennessee. The filming process was very difficult for most of the movie’s cast and crew.
The movie helped to launch the careers of Raimi and Campbell. They worked on many films afterward including the recent Spider-Man trilogy.
Background
Raimi and Campbell have been friends since they were young. They directed many low-budget movies on Super mm film. Many of the movies were comedies. Raimi was inspired to start a career in the horror genre when he filmed the movie It’s Murder! and started researched horror movies by going to drive-in theaters. His goal was to film a short film then use the money he received to shoot a full-length movie.
Rami and Campbell asked many people they knew to help support his new film. After producing his short film he needed about $100,000 to film his movie.
Irvin Shapiro became interested in producing the film. He helped the movie be screened at the famous Cannes Film Festival in 1982. Author Stephen King gave the film an excellent review, which helped the movie to find a distributor.
The movie has launched a big media franchise. That includes sequels Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), comic books, a TV series, and video games. The fourth film was a remake and reboot and was titled Evil Dead (2013). The TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead was produced by Raimi.
Release/Reception
The Evil Dead has quite a cult following and today is one of the most popular amazon prime video titles. However, when it was originally released the movie earned a small US box office. It performed better in worldwide theaters and ended up earning 2.4 million.
The movie’s performance was greatly due to a big promotional campaign. It ended up earning almost 8x the production budget. However, the film didn’t perform well in domestic theaters. It grossed $108,000 during the opening weekend at 15 theaters. However, the movie got good word-of-mouth marketing and eventually earned $600,000 in the US and $2 million abroad.
The movie has received mostly positive reviews after its release and in recent times. It’s also become one of the biggest cult films and is often listed among the all-time best horror movies.
The release of the film included some controversy. That’s because the movie was made with many gruesome scenes. It first received an X rating and at that time was considered one of the most violent films made. In fact, the movie is still banned in theaters/video in some nations.
The Evil Dead released on VHS in 1983 and was later repackaged by HBO. A special edition was released in 1998. The movie got a DVD release in 1999 and Blu-ray release in 2010. The film was released over 35 years ago yet still has a cult following and is considered one of the all-time best horror movies produced.
