The Evil Dead (1981)
Trash-o-rama
Written and Directed by: Sam Raimi.
Plot: A group of youngsters head out to a spooky cabin in the woods for a weekend of beer and premarital sex. Then they uncover an ancient, evil looking book and read from it. Hilarity ensues.
Review: There’s not a whole lot new to be said about this movie (it doesn’t help that I already reviewed it, although that’s not a great excuse. Reviewing something again is a great way to capitalize on the jokes you missed the first time).
So I’ll just go on and talk about why I thought it was better than the other two movies. I’m guessing there are a number of people out there who would be insulted that not only did I put this movie ahead of Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, but also completely omitted them from the list. “You included Alien 4 but not Evil Dead 2? What is your malfunction?”
First off, I thought that Alien: Resurrection was enough of a deviation from the other films in the series to be considered in its own right (same goes for, say, Dawn of the Dead). Yes, it doesn’t function without the other three movies, and it does homage them a lot, but it isn’t a clone of the first movie which sets it apart.
Evil Dead 2, though slightly different from the first movie, is still fundamentally the same. First of all, they redo all the events of this movie in the first twenty minutes of the sequel which, when you’re watching them back to back (as I did), is really annoying and somewhat unnecessary. I don't like flashback-recaps.
The rest of the movie is new, and yet not really that different. It’s just stuff that didn’t happen in the first one rather than stuff that did happen later… if that makes any sense.
Also, it’s way more slapstick and less horror. Though I do occasionally like some slapstick in my horror… I don’t know where I was going with that. I hate slapstick in my horror. I don’t like slapstick to begin with. I like sarcasm, dry wit and sometimes absurdism if it’s handled well. I’ve only watched one or two bits by the Three Stooges and I didn’t really like them.
Um, yeah, so I liked that this movie stuck more on the horror side of the spectrum, rather than going all out gore and such. Although the chainsaw for a hand thing was cool… but that’s the thing. Both Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness were more cool than anything. The only reason anyone seems to do anything is because it’s cool.
As for Army of Darkness, I don’t think I even need to really explain myself there. Yes, it is a fun action movie, but… it’s… well, you know. It’s really more fun to quote with your nerdy friends at parties than actually watch. It’s got some of the greatest lines in it, but it’s almost embarrassingly stupid.
And most of all, I liked Ash’s character in this movie more than in the other two. He’s less of a gung-ho asshole. He’s just a nice guy. A really nice guy. And Bruce Campbell is totally cute. I love him in this.
On a separate note, I listened to the soundtrack of the musical of this... I've heard that the stage show is pretty impressive but just based on the music.... avoid. I do not generally like musicals, particularly ones based on movies that were perfectly acceptable as movies and that is no exception.
Well anyway. I would be bracing myself for flamers who want to tell me how wrong I am regarding my assessment of the other two movies but not that many people read my blog.
Favourite Part: I like the part when the girl gets stabbed in the ankle. I dunno why, but that made me happy. It just looked like it really fuckin hurt.
Other versions: Sadly, there is a remake in the works as of now. But, according to IMDb, Sam Raimi directs so it might not be total crap... on the other hand, why in the name of fuck would you want to remake your own damn movie when you could be spending energy on making other stuff? Honestly.
Sequels: Yup.
Click here to read my original review.
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