Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

The Evil Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

One of the most oft-released-to-home-video movies finally debuts on Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 27, 2010

"'Evil Dead' is the most ferociously original Horror film of the year." -- Stephen King.

Is there a better no-budget Horror movie than The Evil Dead? The Sam Raimi (the Spider-Man trilogy)-directed 1981 genre icon is a tough picture to beat not only amongst its low-budget contemporaries, but throughout the entire spectrum of Horror, from the smallest-in-scope fright flicks to the multi-million-dollar franchises that have been re-imagined and amped up for modern audiences. The Evil Dead understands what makes good Horror, and it isn't a lot of money and a flashy story. Sam Raimi's picture is a back-to-basics effort that leaves extraneous elements out of the picture in favor of a venerable bloodbath of ooey-gooey grotesque goodness built around the simplest of plots and the most basic of characters. Raimi leaves nothing to the imagination and gives his audiences exactly what they crave over 85 minutes of delectable nastiness; a minimalist set-up is all that stands in the way between viewers and one of cinema's most gruesomely entertaining pictures of all time, and one watch is all that it takes to see why The Evil Dead has withstood its budget and the test of time to hold up as one of hardcore Horror's premiere pictures.

Alive and intact for the last time.

Five teenagers -- Ash (Bruce Campbell, My Name is Bruce), Shelly (Theresa Tilly), Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Linda (Betsy Baker), and Scott (Richard DeManincor) -- are on vacation in Tennessee. Their destination: a small, remote cabin in the middle of nowhere where they hope to spend a few quiet evenings enjoying good food, fine drinks, and one another's company. The trip to the cabin if fraught with peril, however, as they barely avoid an accident on a windy road and nearly fall through a rickety bridge. Undeterred, the quintet arrives at the cabin where they find an old tape recorder and an ancient tome. The tapes, containing the recordings of an archeologist, call the book "The Book of the Dead;" it's said to be bound in human flesh and penned in human blood and with the power to call to consciousness the demons that slumber in the nearby woods. Unfortunately, the tape wakes the evil spirits who begin to possess the five, transforming them into hideous creatures with a thirst for blood and violence. Can any of the teenagers survive the night against an ancient and deadly force freshly unleashed on an unsuspecting group of innocents?

The Evil Dead is a film school-quality picture that gets everything right, from the broadest generalizations to the most intricate of minutia, and it does so with a story that's made of almost nothing but Horror cliché. Few pictures can endure so many elements that seem straight off of page one of the "Scriptwriting For Dummies" manual and not only work, but thrive as part of a movie built around hackneyed elements like the "dark and stormy night" and the ominous "don't go in there!" basement. It's Sam Raimi's craftsmanship; his ability to do so much with so little money; the dedication of his cast; his impeccably lit, designed, and furnished locations; and his keen sense of direction that seems to frame everything from the bigest action scenes to the most monotonous set-up shots with such precision that all make The Evil Dead worth watching, even if only to revel in how well it's made given the low-budget struggles behind the movie. Indeed, Raimi masks all kinds of deficiencies not through cinematic trickery or throwing countless dollars at the problem, but instead by handling the barrage of genre clichés with a straightforward approach and building off of them to create a series of events that make a cohesive whole. Whereas lesser pictures might simply go through the motions and kill off its characters one-by-one in what would ultimately feel more like a series of vignettes rather than a complete and linear picture, Raimi uses typically "dumb" characters and their foolish actions to great effect and integrates the consequences of their missteps into the remainder of the film, thereby justifying the picture's ultra-violence within the context of the building story. That's not to say that The Evil Dead is all about its story -- it's little more than a means to an end to splatter the screen with yuk -- but Raimi uses every little chunk of the film to build towards the picture's brutality which defines the entire film, and its third act in particular.

Never mind Raimi's prowess as director; The Evil Dead is first and foremost a hardcore genre picture that gets right to the point and never relents. From a tree-raping scene to mutilated body parts oozing pure nastiness, Raimi's picture never wants for anything more gut-wrenching, blood-curdling, and vomit-inducing than what it puts on display through most of its runtime and its final 20 or 30 minutes in particular. It's still admirable that The Evil Dead never quite feels as nasty as it really is considering the level of hardcore gore on display, and that's a credit to Raimi's ability to immerse his audience into the picture and make it a complete event rather than just a hodgepodge of filmed blood and various innards strewn all over the screen. Still, there's no mistaking where most of The Evil Dead's budget was spent. The violence and gore look fantastic even approaching the film's 30th birthday; there's something to be said for not just the practical gore elements used throughout the film but also the honest makeup effects, even if they don't look just right at the seams in high definition. Still, one can't help but admire the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into creating all of the film's demon-possessed individuals at their various stages of decay and transformation. The Evil Dead is no doubt a tough watch -- maybe even an impossible one -- for viewers with less than an ironclad stomach, but the picture is nevertheless a must-see for those who can take it to revel in just how good the gore and makeup look on a budget many times smaller than even the average generic slasher that doesn't come close to approaching the same level of excellence as The Evil Dead.

Last but not least is the contribution of the cast and Bruce Campbell in particular. The movie and the franchise that would ultimately make Bruce a household name, The Evil Dead gives the actor plenty of maneuvering room to do his thing, even if his performance is physically understated in this part as compared to his efforts in the two sequels -- Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn and Army of Darkness. Here, Campbell plays the part of Ash with a more serious, frightened, and genuinely crushed and defeated demeanor, whereas in the sequels he would turn the character and, by extension, the franchise, into something far lighter and humor-oriented than what's found in The Evil Dead. In a way, The Evil Dead kinda-sorta parallels the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with its gloomier and far more serious first picture and lighter, more mischievous and mass audience-friendly sequels. It's that shift in tone that allows Evil Dead II to play out as something more like a "remake-lite" of The Evil Dead; though much of Dead By Dawn feels like a copy of the original, that lighter tone makes the movie seem far fresher than it otherwise should. Of course, by the time Army of Darkness rolled around, the franchise had stepped fully into the obviously comedic and had fully embraced an almost completely audience-friendly veneer at the expense of the hardcore visuals seen in the first two pictures. No matter the tone, though -- grisly serious or comically humorous -- Campbell plays his signature role in all three films at a level worthy of his status as the world's number-one B-movie actor, and despite all of Sam Raimi's efforts, the Evil Dead films probably wouldn't have worked nearly as well without Bruce in the lead role.

The Evil Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Evil Dead debuts on Blu-ray with two versions of the film found on one disc: a 1.37:1-framed transfer that approximates the picture's original aspect ratio, and a 1.85:1 "enhanced" presentation. Whichever of the two viewers select, Anchor Bay's Blu-ray delivers a high quality image across both versions. Make no mistake, The Evil Dead looks its age and budget; there's nothing shiny, bright, or fresh about this movie, but that roughly-hewn texture is reflective of the original elements. Still, Anchor Bay's transfer delivers an unparalleled Evil Dead viewing experience; the image retains a fair bit of grain while print damage and random other anomalies are kept to a minimum, resulting in what is, generally, a handsome and strong film-like texture. Fine detail is never exemplary, but The Evil Dead wasn't shot with top-end equipment and was captured at 16mm rather than higher-resolution 35mm. With that in mind, what's here looks marvelous, with the transfer bringing out all there is to see in faces, clothes, and the wooden planks that make up the cabin's walls and flooring. Blacks are absorbing and deep without devouring too much in the way of necessary detail, while flesh tones appear accurately rendered. Though there's some obviously soft and smeary elements -- some shots surrounding the sequence where Ash gives Linda the necklace, for instance -- The Evil Dead impresses a great deal on Blu-ray, and fans can rest assured that this is the best the film has ever looked across both of the offered aspect ratios.

The Evil Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Anchor Bay brings The Evil Dead to Blu-ray with a wonderfully satisfying Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Though it's not a perfect track -- some elements, like crunching leaves underfoot, leave a bit to be desired -- it's almost a revelation considering how effortlessly it flows, how natural the various elements play out, and how spacious and clean most of the mix sounds. The track isn't quite as powerful as one might expect; some of the heavier elements, like the hanging bench seat that beats against the cabin's wall upon the group's arrival, is surprisingly understated but no less an effective mood-setting sonic tool. Still, there are some heavier elements later in the film that provide a heftier experience, and the track also handles some of the louder effects -- notably the frighteningly loud shrieking noises made by the demons -- so well that they're capable of sending chills down listeners' spines. Anchor Bay's lossless mix also delivers an absorbing environmental ambience throughout, whether the slight drip-drip-drip sound as Ash enters the basement in search of a missing Scotty early in the film or various creaking wood floorboards and blowing winds that make their presence known at several points during the film. Music plays cleanly and accurately across the front and at just the right volume and power at reference levels, accompanied by a fair but not overbearing amount of surround support in tow. Rounded out by pitch-perfect dialogue reproduction, The Evil Dead's TrueHD soundtrack will impress even longtime fans of the film.

The Evil Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Evil Dead's Blu-ray debut actually comes with most of the special features plopped onto a separate DVD disc; only a new commentary track, recorded in late 2009, with Writer/Director Sam Raimi, Producer Robert Tapert, and Actor Bruce Campbell is found on the Blu-ray disc. The commentary is a strong one, with the participants exploring the picture's origins and the state of filmmaking and the distribution system in the late 1970s, speaking on the people that helped make the picture possible, the business aspect of filmmaking, technical information, the shooting schedule, the general grind of the shoot and the difficulties surrounding it both in front of and behind the camera, the casting process and choice of shooting locales, the challenges of applying the makeup, creating the gore effects, tales from the set, and plenty more. This is a coherent, informative, and easy listen; longtime fans of the film will want to upgrade for this track alone, though the high quality video and audio presentations don't hurt, either.

The DVD disc contains a plethora of extras, all presented in standard definition, broken down into three categories: "Featurettes," "Trailer & TV spots," and "Photo Gallery." "Featurettes" contains the bulk of this package's supplements, beginning with One By One We Will Take You: The Untold Saga of 'The Evil Dead' (53:46). This is a massive, absorbing, and all-encompassing documentary that examines the making of the film, its effects, its reception, the quality of Sam Raimi's direction, and much more. 'The Evil Dead:' Treasures From the Cutting Room Floor (59:24) is a massive collection of various raw alternate takes and footage from the making of the film. The Ladies of 'The Evil Dead' Meet Bruce Campbell (28:55) features Campbell and his three female co-stars reminiscing on the making of the film. Discovering 'The Evil Dead' (13:06) looks at how The Evil Dead became a Horror favorite. Next is Unconventional (19:09), a piece that features the cast discussing film conventions and their experiences in working them. At the Drive-In (12:04) features the cast giving away copies of The Evil Dead DVD at a screening of the film. Reunion Panel (31:19) sees the cast of the film speaking and answering questions at the Flashback Weekend Horror Convention in Chicago on July 30, 2005. Book of the Dead: The Other Pages (1:57) contains footage of Ash flipping through every page in the book. Finally, Make-Up Test (1:08) is a string of footage testing out some of the film's makeup and special effects. Also included in this set is the film's theatrical trailer (1:54), four TV spots (0:33 each), and a photo gallery.

The Evil Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Evil Dead is a watershed picture that's united critics, genre fans, and casual moviegoers alike -- despite its excessive brutality and visual nasties -- as a shining example of how filmmaking done right can overcome even the smallest of budgets. Although it's probably not quite the best example of a micro-budget picture that works better than most other movies many times its size -- that honor goes to Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi -- The Evil Dead is nevertheless a can't-miss movie for its honest and straightforward approach to its genre, getting every element absolutely right even under less-than-ideal conditions and a minuscule budget. The vision and skill of Director Sam Raimi, the eagerness of its cast and the work of Bruce Campbell, and the no-frills Horror storyline packed with scrumptious gore all come together for one of Horror's preeminent pictures, one that's spawned two strong but vastly different-in-tone sequels and made careers for both its director and lead actor. Despite its deserved reputation as one of the more visually grotesque pictures of all time, The Evil Dead is, simply put, a must-see for any film fan. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of The Evil Dead delivers a 1080p transfer that's easily the best home video release the picture has ever seen. Also in tow is a marvelous lossless soundtrack and a incredible array of thorough, absorbing, and entertaining extra content. No doubt there will be another (or three or four or five) Blu-ray release of The Evil Dead at some point in the future, but this package is well worth the asking price and is worthy of inclusion into every Blu-ray collection. The Evil Dead receives my highest recommendation.