MOTM: The Evil Dead

For those of you not in the know, every month at The LAMB, we get to vote on which movie gets to be Movie of the Month. Then people get together on The LAMBcast and talk about the movie. The last time I participated in this was either "Black Dynamite" or "This is Spinal Tap". Since then, it's been nothing but weird artsy movies no one ever heard of and I was sad. Then I saw "Evil Dead" was listed as an option and I fought for it. Fought hard. I begged all my readers to go vote and clearly, I have SOME pull cause it won, by what I'd like to think as a landslide.

Anyway, "The Evil Dead". I have an interesting history with this movie. I seen the sequel first because it was the one everyone talked about all the time. Then oddly enough, I watched "Army of Darkness" next. It wasn't until a bit later that I watched the original and was completely blown away at how similar it was to the sequel. So what's the story?

"The Evil Dead" is about five friends who decide to go to the creepiest cabin they can find in the creepiest woods they could find. The cabin use to belong to an archaeologist professor guy who was looking for the Necronomicon aka "The Book of the Dead". One of them, I think it was Ash (Bruce Campbell), plays a recording the professor left reciting passages of the book, unwittingly unleashing evil forces in the woods.

This includes demons, ghosts, and a force we only see in POV shots. More or less all the friends either end up dead or possessed, leaving Ash all alone. And I guess I have to talk about the tree scene. So one girl decides to make a run for it but all the trees in the forest come alive and start trapping her. Soon enough, one of the trees decides to get fresh with her and more or less rapes her. It's a classic scene.

The scenes with Ash alone fighting the "evil dead" is what makes this movie entertaining. I suppose this is why he and writer/director Sam Raimi decided to do it all over again for "Evil Dead 2". Here's what I tell people about the "Evil Dead" series: if you like straight up horror, watch the first film. If you like comedy and screwball antics, watch the sequels. Same story, different genres.

As for the first film, I like it enough but I do perfer the sequels. I will give this film credit for being the launching pad of both Bruce Campbell AND Sam Raimi. It's a cult classic and obviously I love it. I know it won't be for everybody but still, it's a fun movie. I say check it out!


-Jason