The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1983)
"Join us... join us... join us..."
It is England, 1983. A video label called Palace Pictures bought the rights to release a small horror film called The Evil Dead in the U.K. What they did next was audacious to say the least. They released The Evil Dead on home video AND at the cinemas at the same time. On the newly emergent home video market, it sold tens of thousands, and -whilst it made some money at the cinemas -the fact that it was so successful on video meant it attracted a great deal of attention: Police raids and court cases ensued, plus the unwanted intervention of conservative politicians and religious right-wing nutters like campaigner Mary Whitehouse, all of whom wanted the film, and similar films, banned outright. This bunch of grey-haired buffoons, most of which had never actually seen the bloody film, decided to make an example of it.
The ensuing press-induced hysteria won over the Conservative government, who set about -via their department of public prosecutions- altered the law about censorship, re-named the BBFC review board (originally set up in 1912), and created a list of 72 films (LINK http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/nasties.htm) that should be banned, which famously went on to be called the BBFC banned list.
Thus, the Video Recordings Act 1984 had been created, which began a wave of paranoia from imbeciles who had high morals, yet absolutely no idea how to think logically. As a result of all this over-protective madness, the term 'video nasty' was created and The Evil Dead was pronounced the worst of its kind! Oh, these were very dark days.
One of the key problems the British press & the BBFC had with this film upon release, could well have been the sexual attack sequence, often referred to as the 'tree rape' scene. Raimi himself apparently isn't too proud of this, but what's done is done, and after neglecting to include it in so many previous versions of the film, I'm glad that it was eventually re-instated in the (finally) uncut release of 2001.
So, The Evil Dead: Five snot-nosed kids (three women, one man and one Bruce Campbell) go to an old cabin in the middle of nowhere for respite. Strange things are afoot in this abandoned cabin, and by idiotic chance, the kids find the book of the dead, eventually resurrecting the evil dead themselves! Oh no! Chaos & spurting liquid goo ensue.
What strikes me most about The Evil Dead is Raimi's very strong visual sense, creative camera work & incredible use of sound. The movie is of high artistic quality, and blends horror with humour with a perfect balance. I always found the sequel/re-make Evil Dead 2, to be a little bit too silly, where as The Evil Dead is perfect, which is even more amazing when you think about how low budget it was.
The version reviewed here is the recent North-American (Region A Locked) Blu-ray release from Anchor Bay. It includes 2 choices to view the film: One with the original (warts and all) aspect ratio of 4:3, and one with a Raimi-approved 16:9 ratio, which I don't like so much as it crops the picture too much. If this is to be the ultimate edition, then I want the choice of watching the film in the ratio it was originally shot in. Kudos to Anchor Bay for giving us the option, as the more recent European Sony BD release does not include the 4:3 version. This limited edition 2 disc Anchor bay release also includes an SD disc of extras, but is now out of print.
Sam Raimi's debut not only altered the horror genre, but also altered people's perceptions of censorship. The Evil Dead is not evil. It is dead funny, though, and it's an absolute classic. Finally, it can be enjoyed in the best version available to humanity... ans the undead. Raimi went on to be a Hollywood big shot. The BBFC still cuts and censors films to this very day.
