Series Review: Evil Dead

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with the movies that director Sam Raimi produces.  Some of his recent stuff (Spider-Man 3 comes to mind quickly) has been less than stellar.  But there was a time with the name of Raimi was associated primarily with one of the most popular and rewatchable cult film trilogies in the world.  I am speaking, of course, of the infamous Evil Dead movies.

Whatever your view of any individual film in this series, there is most likely one of them (probably Army of Darkness) that strikes your fancy.  The series migrated from gore-splattering horror to the campy, fun-loving undead battle movie that was the third.  Each had its place in the trilogy in some strange way and the success of the franchise was in no small part due to the lovable Bruce Campbell, who played the arrogant and ass-kicking Ash in all three flicks.

After a brief break-down of each film, I will attempt to give an examination why these films became so popular and why they even today, despite the relative crappiness of their special effects, acting and other elements, continue to attract more loyal viewers.  For purposes of staying true to the original trilogy, I will not be addressing the Evil Dead remake that’s coming soon.  That and I haven’t seen it since it doesn't release til a week from now.

Evil Dead (1981) 

Made on a shoe-string budget, the original Evil Dead was a great foray into the world of campy, bloody horror.  It follows the tale of Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his friends as they make their way to a cabin in the woods.  There they find an evil book and a tape recording featuring a mystic chant.  Upon playing the recording, bad things in the forest awaken and begin to possess the unwitting group one at a time.  Eventually, only Ash remains and he must figure out a way to stop the evil before it takes him out too.

This is where the franchise started.  Despite being made with relatively no money, Sam Raimi managed to create a movie that people loved.  The special effects remain gruesome (if a bit cheesy) to this very day and more than a few of the monsters end up melting into puddle of gore by movie’s end.  The build-up of the movie is properly tense considering the genre and none of the characters are given any mercy.  This is the way horror should have been and the world is much better for Raimi’s efforts.  There’s a reason that it holds a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes even today (no easy task on that site).

Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987) 

Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn is a continuation of the first film, picking up where poor Ash left off - with bodies everywhere and demons on the loose.  This film leaves behind any pretense of horror (aside from, perhaps, some splatter-shock) and goes straight to the camp.  While Ash tries to survive, four more people show up as fodder for Raimi’s need to kill off more characters.

Among some of the more memorable scenes we get to see Ash’s dead and headless girlfriend dancing about, Ash being hunted and attacked by his own dismembered hand and, perhaps most epic of all for Evil Dead fans, the construction of Ash’s famous chainsaw hand.  By the end of the film, Ash has been transported to the land that will feature in the next and final film in the trilogy.

Though many prefer Dead By Dawn to the original, I personally find it to be the weakest of the trilogy.  The entire thing feels a bit like a remake of the first film, though with more crazy antics involving Ash and a bunch of slapstick-inspired demons.  It’s an enjoyable film, though it falls somewhere in the middle of horror and camp, the first of which was done better in the original Evil Dead and the latter of which was perfected in Army of Darkness.  Still, a must-watch if you’re going to see the whole development of our hero.

Army of Darkness (1992) 

Army of Darkness is the true peak of Raimi’s skills as a filmmaker.  In this tale, Ash is now in the past somewhere, though he’s managed to bring along with him his car and his chainsaw hand.  Unfortunately, he gets captured by some medieval-types that don’t really like him.  They throw him in a pit and try to feed him to a “Deadite” (that’s what the demon-possessed are now called), but Ash is a bad-ass and kills it.

Through this display of manliness, Ash becomes revered by the medieval folks and they decide that he’s to head out and retrieve the Necronomicon, a book that can help them defeat the evil of the Deadites.  Of course, Ash is not the brightest guy in the world, so he ends up awakening an Army of Darkness (get it?), who then descend upon the hapless human beings.  Goofy battles ensue.

What really makes this film great is that Campbell takes the character of Ash to a new level.  Forget what you’ve learned about him in the first two films, now he’s an arrogant dick-head with almost no redeeming values.  He makes mistake after mistake and only luck keeps him alive.  But he’s also a bad-ass… sort of.  He looks cool with a chainsaw hand, at least.

This movie is perhaps one of the most quotable films in history and after watching it for the first time you will surely recognize more than one popular saying.  Seriously, it even rivals Monty Python flicks in that regard.  No matter what you think of the previous two movies, you should always give Army of Darkness a watch.  It’s so unlike the others in the trilogy that it appeals to much broader audience.  It’s fun, entertaining, filled with bad special effects and horribly corny dialogue.  One of the best movies ever.

While that marks the end of the Evil Dead review, there is a remake of the first flick coming out very soon (or perhaps just came out, depending on when you read this).  There are also some pretty awesome rumors (slightly more truthy than usual) that Campbell and Raimi are coming back to make Army of Darkness 2.  If that happens, we can only hope that Raimi returns to original form and produces an excellent follow-up to his third film.  And hopefully Campbell will lose a few pounds before trying to squeeze back into Ash’s pants.

Evil Dead Cast photo courtesy of badhaven.com

Army of Darkness poster courtesy of wrongsideoftheart