Reader Recommendations: The Evil Dead (1981)

A close friend of mine decided that I haven’t lived a fulfilling life because I haven’t seen “The Evil Dead”. And after watching this movie, it is sort of surprising I’ve never even heard about this movie before. 80’s zombie horror flick seems like the right choice for me. But any who I was for warned expect a lot of cheesiness (like as if that was a bad thing) and enjoy the underlying humour. God this sounds like a movie that was made just for my enjoyment. But see if I actually enjoyed it after the jump.

There isn’t much of a story, like many horror movies the story takes a step back for the actual action. But if there is a story, it is a small and almost non-existent one. Five friends rent a cabin in the woods to enjoy the weekend at. But little do they know that there is a trapped curse living amongst them. They find a book, the “Necronomicon” and wonder what all this is about. Luckily there is a tape that translates the whole thing, but this unleashes the terror on the 5 friends. As one by one they get possessed, it is up to one to survive the night and destroy the evil dead!

When I previously said that the story takes a step back for the action, I take that back. What I mean to say is that the cheese factor takes over this movie. It is just grade A American cheese. Everything from the special effects of the blood, zombies, and the plot lines was in here. And this is where all the humour hides. Because everything is so over the top, I enjoyed the movie for its ridiculousness. I didn’t have to look too deep to find anything entertaining.

Amazing zombie make up!

What I must bring up are the beautiful zombies. Because of the cheese, these zombies were wacky and really cartoonish. But I like that a lot, these are the zombies that I think about. And I hope these are the zombies that come when the outbreak happens. I would hate to battle the fast zombies from “28 Days Later”. Much prefer these demonic, fairly understandable zombies that play mischief. Oh yeah, these zombies will lure you into thinking they are all buddy-buddy with you. All the way until they enjoy you for a midnight snack, they like the pudgy ones more.

And the fun doesn’t stop with the dialogue. They are by far the most over the top part of the movie, and this isn’t just exclusive to the humans. When Cheryl becomes possessed, she might some of the best lines. “Soon all of you will be like me, and then who will lock you up in a cellar?” That line is both eerie and funny at the same time. Just imagine a zombie saying that to you, it would creep the hell out of me. Than I would just laugh it off, because no zombie would get me alive.

I have to bring up special attention to one of the final scenes when the zombies are decomposing to nothing. The effects were done using stop animation, now the goo/blood/muscle weren’t the most realistic looking but it was still creepy. Because of the almost middle school quality of the effects, I was wondering what the hell I was looking at. And just the fear of the unknown and confusion was enough to make me want to barf from what I saw.

A clip from the decomposing scene. Just *shiver*

I would love to see more of the Evil Dead series, but I think it would be best left for October. I really want to get into the mood before continuing the series. From the over the top effects to the cheesy atmosphere the movie presents I had a total blast watching this movie. I thank my friend for making me watch a movie almost tailor made for me.

But of you guys have any movies for me to watch in October, especially scary movies. I would love to get a grand collection by the end of September.