Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, I decided to watch a movie that’s been itching at the back of my mind for years. It’s a classic of the genre, and kicked off the career of one Sam Raimi. It’s dark, mysterious, wickedly funny, and overall, an amazing film. I am SO happy I got the chance to watch it today. Get ready to face the Necronomicon with me, as we venture into The Evil Dead. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…

The Evil Dead (1981)

Our movie begins with a bang, literally putting us right in the action. 15 seconds in, all our studio credits are over, and we are full steam ahead. We start by viewing a POV shot above a lake, us moving over it. The POV shots in this film are incredibly famous, and are a Raimi trademark. Whenever this happens, I will be referring to it as “The Unseen Demon”. Driving Sam Raimi’s famous yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88 are our five teens. They consist of Scott (Scotty), his girlfriend Shelly, Cheryl, and her sister Linda. Linda is the girlfriend of the one, the only, Ash Williams. Ash and his friends are heading to a cabin in the woods for vacation. It’s secluded, and they got it for super cheap. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee. The group reaches the cabin, and they already have a bad feeling about it. A swing on the porch is seemingly moving on its own, banging against the cabin with ferocity. Scott opens the door, and the swing stops moving. And, within the first 10 minutes, haunting things already begin. At night, we pick up Cheryl in her room. She’s drawing a clock on the wall, when all of a sudden, the Grandfather Clock comes to a SCREECHING halt. Her hand is then taken over, violently sketching a book with a face into her notebook, while a voice tells her to “join us”. She’s obviously shaken, but tries to go on with the night’s activities.

While the group is having dinner, a trapdoor in the next room over comes FLYING open, startling everyone. Scott goes to investigate, and when he doesn’t come back (remember rule #3), Ash goes to investigate. The cellar is expansive, and the atmosphere is tense and creepy. Scott jumpscares Ash, and was pranking him the entire time. Down there, however, they find something that is not a prank. They find something terrifyingly real. The Book of the Dead. The Necronomicon. They also find a tape recorder, and the guys bring these items upstairs. While the group listens to it, the maker of the tape says very creepy things about the dead. He also recites an incantation, and outside, we see the ground lifting up. Cheryl panics, and screams to shut it off. She runs out of the room, as a tree comes flying through the window. Ash argues with Scott, and he leaves the room. Eventually, he sits with Linda in peace. He gives her a necklace he got for her, and the two kiss. However, one of my favorite scenes in the movie happens right after. We get another POV shot of the Unseen Demon, as it peers into the windows of all the cabin residents. It eventually looks at Cheryl, as she looks at the picture of the Necronomicon. It asks for her to join us, and Cheryl looks out the window, unable to see the demon. She walks outside, and it goes downhill fast. Cheryl walks through the woods in some gorgeous nighttime shots, as she gets more and more unnerved. Eventually, the trees around her come alive in the infamous “Tree Scene”. Cheryl is bound by the limbs of the trees, and pulled to the ground. She is basically assaulted by the trees in a horrific, unsettling manner that even Raimi said went too far. It’s horrific to see, as she struggles against the “assault”. Skip this scene if you are faint of heart. After the tree limbs essentially sexually assault her, she is able to break enough limbs to free herself.

She books it, and the even more well known segment of this scene comes into play. She RUNS through the forest, as the Unseen Demon follows her in yet another trademark POV shot. She makes it back to the Cabin, unhinged and panicked, and begs Ash to drive her to town. Ash even agrees, even though he and the rest of the group don’t believe her. Ash floors it, only to realize the bridge that got them to the house has collapsed. Whatever this thing is, it doesn’t want them to leave. Cheryl knows this, and has a meltdown on the floor. When the two get back to the cabin, the silence could be pierced by a pin. It’s deathly still, and the atmosphere is suffocating. While the two girls play a game of guessing cards on the floor, Cheryl sits on the windowsill. In a horrific moment, Cheryl starts guessing every card correctly, her voice distorting. She turns around, and her face is disgusting. Her eyes are white, and she is now a Deadite. Now, my friends, based on my pre-existing Evil Dead knowledge, this is a Deadite. A Deadite is not your typical zombie, although it may be confused with one. It is a person that is possessed by the Necronomicon, and basically acts like a zombie. They are VERY strong, often say demonic things, and act as a soldier of the Necronomicon, tied to it. The Deadite Cheryl roars, and begins levitating, the evil forces speaking through her. Linda is stabbed in the ankle with a pencil, and Ash is thrown into his first of many shelves. Scott is finally able to defeat the Deadite, by knocking her into the cellar, and locking it with chains.

Later in the night, while Ash is checking on Linda, we see through the POV of the Deadite. Shelly is panicked, as the deadite maniacally laughs. Shelly sits on the floor, as the Unseen Demon comes towards the house once more. We see in another POV shot as the Unseen Demon breaks a window, and enters into Shelly’s room. She bolts out, now as a deadite, and attacks Scott. After a long fight, Ash is thrown into another shelf, and doesn’t intervene. He is too petrified Scott is able to get the advantage, stabbing the deadite in a GRUESOME scene. It roars and screams horrifically, as white and red blood come out from everywhere. It’s disgusting. The Deadite Shelly finally falls, but before all is well, it comes back to life. Ash is too petrified still, and Scott takes the axe from him. He lays into Linda, cutting her to bits. According to the voice recordings, this should stop the deadite possession. After this, Ash and Scott go out into the forest, and bury her remains. Scott is done. He tells Ash that he’s getting out. He doesn’t even care what happens to Linda, he just says that he’s getting out. He’ll find another way.

Ash heads back into the cabin, and we get a scene that’s so quick it literally made my heart pound in my chest. It’s really not even that scary, it’s just so, so quick. Ash checks on the sleeping Linda, and looks at her wound. As he stares at it, it grows, and within two seconds, it spreads, viscerally taking over her entire skin. Linda smiles, opening up her blank eyes. Ash books it, and Scott returns, mortally wounded. The trees got him. Linda sits on the ground, laughing maniacally as she stares and smiles. Scott says the same thing Cheryl said. It doesn’t want them to leave. After the deadite keeps laughing, she turns back to normal. She hugs Ash, but I was not buying it for one second. Cheryl in the cellar starts to sound like herself as well, begging to be let out. Ash goes to release her, until her hands burst through the floor, grabbing him. Linda changes back as well, as Ash drags her out into the woods. He goes back inside, to find that heartbreakingly, Scott is dead. Linda breaks back in, and horrifically slices Ash on the arm with a Sumerian dagger from the cellar. She licks the blood off of it, and attacks. Ash is able to get the upper hand, and goes to kill her the same way Shelly died. As Cheryl tells Ash to join us, he puts the dagger behind Linda, and she falls back onto it and onto Scott. She is covered in blood.

Ash goes to the shed in order to dismember her with a chainsaw that will become VERY important in this franchise (no spoilers!), but can’t bring himself to do it. He sees the necklace he gave her, and can’t do it. Instead, he digs a grave, and goes to bury her. However, as he is digging, her white eyes open. Ash notices, but it’s too late. She attacks, and Ash is SEVERELY wounded in the leg. It’s bad. Really bad. Ash is able to decapitate the Deadite with a shovel, but she remains alive. Her head goes flying, but it’s still alive. Her body lands on Ash, and it gushes blood onto his face, something that will happen to our poor Ash a lot. The deadite attempts to Assault Ash, but he gets away. He starts slowly walking back to the Cabin. Yeah. That just happened.

Ash gets back to the cabin, and somehow, things get even worse. Cheryl escaped the basement. It’s time for Ash to face his fears. Ash walks through the cabin with his shotgun, and lands a good shot on the Deadite. He runs to all the doors, closing them with some amazing cinematography. He walks into the cellar, and my favorite part of the movie begins. Down there, a pipe is being held together with cloth. It’s bloody, and as Ash goes to investigate, it breaks. Blood comes POURING out onto him, just like the elevator from The Shining. Everything in the house begins to bleed. Outlets pour out blood, the brickwork of the cabin bleeds, and a lightbulb begins filling up with blood. A record player opens on its own, and plays a classic song. A projector starts on its own and begins to bleed. In my favorite shot in the film, the projector starts off white, and then turns red with blood pouring down on it, as Ash tries to protect his eyes.

Ash reaches the backup ammo for the gun, and he begins to go a bit crazy. He hears voices of everyone who turned to a deadite, and walks out of the cellar as the projector explodes. The record player stops. Ash gets back upstairs, as the clock starts spinning like crazy. He’s on high alert. The windows outside begin banging against the cabin, and Ash almost reverts back to his cowardly self. In another beautiful shot, he reaches into a mirror, and it’s liquid. Ash screams, and shoots at nothing. Cheryl reaches his hands through the door of the cabin, and attacks Ash. He lands another good shot, and she goes down. Suddenly, the Deadite Scott reanimates, and begins his attack, as Cheryl bangs on the door. The Necronomicon is thrown across the room in the struggle, and sits next to the fire. Ash disgustingly gouges the Deadite Scott’s eyes out, and pulls a tree branch from his leg, causing a flood of blood to bring the Deadite down. Cheryl breaks back in, and attacks. Oh, and also, she’s Ash’s sister. I forgot to mention that! Ash is sent to the ground, and it gets bad. He tries to crawl to the Necronomicon, but is stopped by Scott. Cheryl picks up a fire poker, and repeatedly hits Ash with it. He screams and screams, but tries to use Linda’s necklace to reach the Necronomicon. He finally grabs it, and he uses it. He chucks it into the flames, and the Deadites stop in their tracks. The book screams, as the Deadites decompose. This scene is absolutely horrific, and very hard to describe. After they fall to the ground, large hands appear from within both of them, absolutely coating Ash in blood once again. The sun finally comes up, and Ash goes outside. He’s free. Triumphant music plays. He won. He’s safe.

Or is he? Suddenly, we are in the POV of the Unseen Demon once again. It rushes from behind the cabin, and goes through it. It speeds through the cabin, and we see it open the front door. Ash turns around as it reaches him, and he screams…

There we have it everyone, the Week Two Special (I can’t believe we’re almost halfway!!!), and the end of The Evil Dead! Thank you all so so much for reading. I’ve loved every second of Horror Fest 2024, and I can’t wait to keep going! We aren’t stopping now! Thank you all so much. And always remember… Wait….. Guys… Oh God… Join Us. Join Us. Join Us. Join Us. Join Us. Join Us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join Us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. JOIN US!!!