The Evil Dead (1981)
By: J.R. McNamara on August 10, 2005.
Share
 1 Comments |
 |
| Big Sky Video (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 5.1 English DD 2.0. 81 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
 |
| Credits |
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring:Bruce Campbell,
Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich, Betsy Baker, Sarah
York,
Screenplay: Sam Raimi
Country: USA |
Based on Sam Raimi's 1978 short film, Within
the Woods, which was made to raise money
for its production, Evil Dead is
a horror classic. Originally to be titled The Book
of the Dead, but changed to The Evil Dead by producer
Irwin Shapiro (he was worried the word 'book'
gave it too much of a 'literary reference'
which would scare kids away), The Evil Dead has become a part of horror lore. Every horror fan
that is worth his mettle has experienced either
this or one of its two sequels.......repeatedly.
Five twenty something's (Bruce Campbell,
Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Deitrich, Betsy Baker and
Sarah York) go to an abandoned cabin in the middle
of the woods for a holiday. A strange occurrence
makes one of the men journey into the cellar where
he finds a tape recorder and the 'Necronomicon',
an antique book bound in human skin. The tape
contains a reading of the book which, when played,
releases an ancient evil from the woods onto the
unsuspecting group. Soon, one by one, the friends
are turned into 'deadites', carnage
craving zombies, and it is up to the sole survivor,
who must find it within himself to overcome his
fear, and defeat the Evil Dead.
The Evil Dead was the one video
that every kid in the eighties had to see, and
nothing has changed. The Evil Dead is an amazing combination of gore, violence and
slapstick that shouldn't work, but somehow
does. This Big Sky Video production treats this
disc the way it deserves, not as a Video Nasty,
but as the piece of cinematic history it is. Not
only is Evil Dead an example
of excellence in independent filmmaking, but an
absolute credit to what can be done to an independent
flick of dubious film quality when given a good
video and audio re-master.
One thing though, if you are considering purchasing
this DVD, make sure to get the 'Collector's
Edition'. Big Sky Video has also released
this in a 'Widescreen Edition' which
is missing the Raimi/ Tapert and Campbell commentaries,
the Fantasia Documentary and the Bruce Campbell
Phone interview. |
| Video |
| The 1:85:1 widescreen transfer is pretty good
when you consider the origins of the film. It occasionally
gets too dark, but this is due to the original filming,
not the recent transfer. |
| Audio |
| The Dolby Digital 5.1 is brilliant, every single
nuance of this wacky soundtrack is as clear as a
bell, from the ridiculous moog to the madcap sound
effects. This soundtrack is made even more interesting
when you listen to the commentaries which reveal
the origins of some of the sounds. The audio menu
also contains a small text piece titled 'About
the Remix', which is two paragraphs featuring
the remixing credits and process. |
| Extra Features |
| The two commentaries on this disc are quite
good. The first one is done by Sam Raimi (director)
and Rob Tapert (producer), while the second one
is done by the chin himself, Bruce Campbell (who
plays Ash). Both commentaries are interesting,
although Campbell's shines through with
his self-depreciating humour. They repeat each
other a little bit but it's still a treat
to hear the same story from different perspectives.
Fanalysis is a documentary by Bruce Campbell
about the weird phenomenon that is fandom. It
runs for 26 minutes and has, shall we say, people
who take their love of things like Star Trek and
Xena to somewhat extreme lengths. It not only
has interviews with fans but with actors like
Ted Raimi (Evil Dead 2) and Tim
Thomerson (Trancers aka Future
Cop) and of course, Bruce himself.
The Telephone Interview with Bruce Campbell is
an hour long audio only interview of average quality
but as usual shows Campbell for the entertainer
he is.
The Discovering Evil Dead documentary is a 13
minute look at the UK's Palace Pictures
who were the first to release The Evil
Dead in Britain. These are fairly informative
interviews with Nik Powell and Stephen Woolley,
about the purchase of The Evil Dead for distribution and about the ridiculousness
of the 'Video Nasty' trials during
the eighties.
Scene Outtakes are just that, average quality
bits and pieces of tape, not your 'goofs
and blunders' type of outtakes.
Cast and crew: This is just a text summary of
the credits, although the people from the film
who were 'Fake Shemps' (stand ins
for hands, feet, backs etc) have been credited
here incorrectly as 'Fale Shemps'.
The Full Colour Insert is a piece of glossy paper
with the chapter headings and liner notes from
Bruce Campbell.
One of the highlights of this package is The
Evil Dead Journal by Josh Becker (Director of Running Time). This is a 32 page
booklet tracing Josh Becker's experiences
on the set of The Evil Dead.
It reads somewhere between Scott's diary
and a drunken confession. It's sometimes
funny and at times disturbing in its drunken and
drug-fuelled paranoia. The final page of this
booklet contains some web links, some of which
have gone by the wayside since it was first published
in 2002. |
| The Verdict |
| Along with films like Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare
on Elm St, this is a necessity to every
horror fan's collection. It's The
Evil Dead, what else is there to say? Buy
this now!! |
|
| User Comments |
 |
1 user comments have been posted so far |
|
| |
 |
