The Evil Dead--Full Uncut Version [1982] with Special Features

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the Autumn of 1979, Sam Raimi and his merry band headed into the woods of rural Tennessee to make a little film called The Evil Dead. They emerged with a roller coaster of a film packed with shocks, gore and wild humour, a film that remains a benchmark for the genre. Ash (cult favourite Bruce Campbell) and four friends arrive at a backwoods cabin for a vacation, where they find a tape recorder containing incantations from an ancient book of the dead. When they play the tape, evil forces are unleashed and one by one the friends are possessed. Wouldn't you know it, the only way to kill a "deadite" is by total bodily dismemberment and soon the blood starts to fly. Raimi injects tremendous energy into this simple plot, using the claustrophobic set, disorientating camera angles, and even the graininess of the film stock itself to create an atmosphere of dread, punctuated by a relentless series of jump-out-of-your-seat shocks. Much of the film's energy is supplied by the "Raimi-cam," a gliding, swooping, rushing camera that suggests a dislocated, otherworldly point of view while injecting a lively if spooky fleetness to the pace. Though it's no comedy, Raimi's dry wit and cinematic cleverness pervades the entire film. The Evil Dead lacks the more highly developed sense of the absurd that distinguish later entries in the series--Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness--but it is still much more than a gore movie: it marks the appearance of one of the most original and visually exciting directors of his generation, and it stands as a monument to the triumph of imagination over budget. --Simon Leake, Amazon.com

On the DVD: For a film made on the tiniest of budgets and shot in 16 mm, The Evil Dead looks impressive in this widescreen 1.85:1 anamorphic print, even if the picture quality is never going to rival that of 35 mm. The revelation here is the soundtrack, with optional DTS 6.1 audio mix, which showcases Sam Raimi's bizarre assembly of sound effects and Joseph LoDuca's minimalist Bernard Herrmann-inspired score. Director Raimi and Producer Robert Tapert chat amiably about making the film on the first commentary track, but the real treat is Bruce Campbell's "alternate" commentary, which is not only extremely informative but laugh-out-loud funny, too. Among other nuggets we learn that: the distinctive moving camera effects were created by strapping the camera to a plank held between two people who had to run very fast through the woods; most of the actors were so worried about appearing in a horror movie that they made up stage names for the credits; and Raimi's 73 Oldsmobile has since reappeared in almost every one of his films. A trailer and stills gallery complete the extras package. --Mark Walker

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Customer reviews

review by: Dok date: 2007-08-02 rating:
Still one of my absolute favourite horror movies
At the time of writing, The Evil Dead is now a quarter of a century old but it is still one of my all time top ten horror movies and it is still capable of giving me the creeps. There are still plenty of timeless moments but the thing that I have always and still really love about this is the creepy camera work and weird noises, I was only a child when I saw this on video not long after it was released but was far too young to understand all the hype and controversy that surrounded it, so from a personal point of view, this just made it all the better. Right from the beginning when the five youngsters are travelling by car on that narrow road alongside those woods and the way in which the camera view hovers over that river as if something evil that cannot be seen is following them, I just had a feeling even at such a young age (I had already seen plenty of horror movies before it and so I was already a converted fan) that this was going to be something like I had never seen before but I wasn't expecting what was about to follow.

Like I said, I love the camera work in this movie for example, when they first arrive at the cabin, the way in which they very slowly drive towards it surrounded by woods and it goes almost deadly silent. For some reason even though absolutely nothing happens when they first arrive, it never fails to give me the creeps when they get out of the car and they all just stand there without saying a word just looking at the cabin as if they don't know what to say or think plus at the same time that thing (I still don't know what the hell it is) outside the cabin which makes that banging noise (and stops when one of them picks up the cabin keys) also for some reason never fails to give me the creeps and I find the whole look of the cabin inside very creepy, all these little underappreciated moments that I find really creepy and this is in the first ten minutes, it just brilliantly plays with my imagination, proof again as far as I am concerned, that the low budget look will always be more scary than any expenisive mainstream blockbuster horror movie can ever be.

Although sometimes the effects in this do look a litte cheap or ridiculous (especially that animation type scene near the end), there are still plenty which are still very effective in my opinion, I still particularly find the eyes by those possessed and the noises that they make truly horrible and that legendary card guessing scene, timeless.

If you have never seen The Evil Dead and you like your horror movies, then the best way I can describe it overall is plenty of blood and guts, funny at times, not at all complex but most importantly it is creepy with some of the best camera and sound effects ever to appear in horror movie. AN UNMISSABLE LOW BUDGET CULT HORROR CLASSIC.

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review by: mccanns23 date: 2006-07-24 rating:
WE'RE GONNA GET YOU !
Evil dead is something special,something sinister,and something that really brought the horror genre to its knees and started the gore trend that followed.It also brought the world a new nerdy superhero in Ash (bruce campbell).
This is 25 years old,and if you look at the low budget special effects then its fair to say that they look slightly suspect to say the least,but what the film lacks in budget and the kindness of age it makes up in the sheer fear factor and a strong script and cult status in terms of the following that the film would get years after its release.
The story borders on simplicity itself,nothing fancy and over the top here except the gore.Five friends enter the woods to rent a cheap cabin in the woods and awaken the dead by playing a tape that recited words of the book of the dead and thus the dead awaken and lets just say that they aint happy to be woken from their slumber,you would think they would be grateful but they aint.
from here on the blood pours and so does menace and chilling moments such as when the forest turns on one female,certaimly insane.This is one dark film that has hidden depths to it,the sequel is certainly better,despite basically being a remake with more laughs,but in terms of opening the gates of hell to the horror industry this is the leader of the pack.

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review by: date: 2006-07-10 rating:
Poor transfer on Anchor Bay editions
Avoid the Anchor Bay edition of this movie like the plaque. The picture quality is atrocious. I must admit that the picture has never looked brilliant for this low budget movie, but I did a side-by-side comparison of this movie between the Elite Entertainment and Anchor Bay editions.
With the Anchor Bay transfer the colours look all wrong and the picture is darker and muddy looking.
The Elite disc the colors look more crisp and the picture is clearer and brighter.

On the Anchor Bay disc the picture has been re-framed from it's original fullscreen 4.3 ratio to fill a 16:9 display. The movie was never shot in widescreen, black bars have simply been added to the top and bottom of the picture resulting in the loss of a lot of picture information and it looks terrible.

The best version and correct version to buy is the Elite Entertainment edition which was released in the U.S. several years ago. It's also region 0 so will play in any DVD player.

Don't let the fancy packaging and cheap extras tempt you into buying the dreadful Anchor Bay editions.

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review by: date: 2006-02-28 rating:
fun with condiments
As with many of these films, Evil Dead begins with dialogue so insipid and acting so bad, it's a relief when the zombies actually show up. After that, this is a satisfying ketchup fest, completely over the top, and mercifully free of the dreaded cgi. It's too silly to be frightening, the plot is confused (rapist trees? a self-automating film projector?) and the characters are so flat that zombification actually lends them depth. But if you like to watch cackling, porridge-fleshed, wall-eyed demonesses being dismembered by knife, stake, shotgun, and shovel, while spurting ketchup, mustard, and rice pudding around the interior of a small log cabin, (I do), then this is about as good as it gets.


review by: wwwmcrossla date: 2005-05-25 rating:
Histeria in the gorest fashion
I intended to watch this film and find it extremely comeidic and it surrpassed my expectation as the line "join us" came out I cried possible annoying after a while but entertaining for a long time even if u detest zombie films check this out. But I don' understand why evil dead 2 is not on this site.

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Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Comedy . All Comedy
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Horror . Comedy Horror
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Horror . Film Series
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . 18
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Collector's & Special Edition
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Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . English

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