THE EVIL DEAD
MOVIE REVIEW

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E.C. McMullen Jr.
RUMOR

RUMOR: People are dying to know the truth

PERPETUAL
BULLET

"'Some People' ... may be the standout story in the book."
- John Grant, Infinityplus

E.C. McMullen Jr.
WILLOW BLUE

"'Willow Blue' will burrow under your skin and stay there long after you've put the book down."
- Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of
FINAL DESTINATION

IN OTHER BOOKS
E.C. McMullen Jr.'s
short story
CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE
in the anthology
FEAR THE REAPER

"This Ray Bradbury-esque is one of the most memorable and one of the more original stories I've read in a long time."
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HORROR 201:
The Silver Scream

Filmmaker's Guidebook
featuring
RAY BRADBURY,
JOHN CARPENTER,
WES CRAVEN,
TOM HOLLAND,
E.C. McMULLEN Jr.,
GEORGE A. ROMERO,
and many more.

Extensively quoted in

PHANTASM
EXHUMED
The Unauthorized Companion

And In
CINEMA
E.C. McMullen Jr.
Head Production Designer

MINE GAMES
(Starring:
JOSEPH CROSS,
BRIANA EVIGAN,
ALEX MERAZ,
ETHAN PECK)

Dept. head
Special Effects Make-Up
(SFX MUA)

A SIERRA NEVADA
GUNFIGHT
(MICHAEL MADSEN & JOHN SAVAGE).

Production Designer

UNIVERSAL DEAD
(DOUG JONES,
D.B. SWEENEY,
GARY GRAHAM)

Art Director

THE CRUSADER
(COLIN CUNNINGHAM,
GARY GRAHAM)

Review by
E.C. McMullen Jr.

THE EVIL DEAD
REVIEWS

THE EVIL DEAD

- 1982
USA Release: April 15, 1983
Renaissance Pictures / Distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment, Inc.
Rated: Australia: R / Finland: BANNED / France: 12 / Germany: 18 (HEAVILY CENSORED) / UK: 18 / USA: R

The first time I saw THE EVIL DEAD was in San Diego back in the eighties. What made me and my friends choose it over the hundreds of other things available that night, was the fact that Stephen King had a blurb on the movie poster. He called it

". . . The Most Ferociously Original
Horror Film Of The Year. . ."

Considering the fact that it was yet another of the "Goofy young adults go into the woods and get slaughtered" flicks that were popular at the time, it was and is hard to figure out just what is so damn original about it. Then again, the movie was so low budget that I seriously doubt King was paid for his endorsement, so who knows?

King works in mysterious ways.

The film has rose above the dross of the many other movies of the same tack. You don't see FRIDAY THE 13th promoted like this one.

For example, when I went to buy my copy of this flick, there were five different ways to go. The cheap video with the original movie poster for a box cover; the digitally remixed sound and picture version with Bruce Campbell on the cover, raising a chainsaw over his head, and being held by a screaming woman who isn't even IN the movie (trivia questions anyone?), yet a third, fourth and fifth cover in case you didn't like the first two, and a special edition that comes in a very special plastic shell box and has loads of collector goodies to go with it. Me, I just got the one with the good sound and picture.

What helps this film succeed are the odd angles and the lighting which give the film an almost verite (You Are There) look. The house in which the victims gather is photographed with a claustrophobic eye to detail. It's this cinematography that really carries the movie through because the shots are interesting to look at and interesting equals fascination: it holds our interest.

The story itself is full of the same stupid vehicles that you would come to expect from such movies.

Victims like Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), who goes out into the Woods(!) Alone(!) at Night(!) because she is certain that she is on the trail of the Thing(!) in the Basement(!) that Scared her(!) She gets raped by some trees but makes it back to the house in time to turn into a Thing In The Basement, herself.

The madness builds slowly but surely until the final showdown where gruesome body parts are flying, exploding, decaying, and I'm having a whale of a good time. The acting is awful and so is the script, but the "stars" of the flick are sincere in their efforts and it shows. Despite the clichés, they make you believe in their characters enough to suspend disbelief, make you care, and pull off the fright. Bruce Campbell (EVIL DEAD 2, ARMY OF DARKNESS, DARK MAN, SPIDER-MAN), as Ash, is sympathetic enough to make you root for his survival. This movie is still camp all the same and has more than a few unintentional laughs.

With EVIL DEAD 2, Director/Writer Sam Raimi recognized the embarrassing parts of his earlier work and didn't simply make a sequel so much as film an EVIL DEAD parody, loaded with humor. ARMY OF DARKNESS was the third sequel in this series and made a few changes to the original again. All three movies are perfect to watch with some friends in a marathon and I recommend it! Just make sure, when you tell your horror loving fiends that you are having a "Dead" marathon, that you specify THE EVIL DEAD and not NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

For all of its camp and corniness, THE EVIL DEAD contains some genuine frights. Who would have thought, to watch this movie, that Sam Raimi would go on to direct one of the most sensitive and original "Super Hero" movies with DARKMAN and SPIDER-MAN? Not to mention the critical darling, A SIMPLE PLAN?

I give this movie 4 Negative Shriek Girls.

THE EVIL DEAD is bad in a really great way!