The Evil Dead
Dir: Sam Raimi
1981
*****
Sam Raimi's 1981 The Evil Dead is a horror masterpiece and is King of the video nasties. It's is also a masterclass in independent film making, how to and how not to make your own film. Raimi and childhood friend Bruce Campbell had made a few Super 8 films together as kids and after becoming interested in the horror genre, they decided to make a short (Within the Woods) and plug it to the studios with the idea of getting funding for a feature length version. It was a clever move that somehow paid off. The shoot took over a year to complete and was grueling for all involved. Raimi had borrowed money from everyone he knew and the cast and crew were made up of mostly friends and family. The making of the film is covered amusingly in Bruce Campbell's brilliant autobiography; If Chins Could Kill. He recounts the endless days of shooting in the cold, the intentional pain Raimi put the acts through in order to get the right 'horror' reactions and the grueling daily make-up rituals that would include sticking contact lenses with the thickness of tupperware in his eyes. It's fair to say that the lack of budget made Raimi into a creative director. Steadicams were expensive, so Raimi invented the 'Shaky-cam'. He used crew as stand ins when the main actors were busy doing other things, referring to them as 'Shemps', a technique he would continue in pretty much every film he's made since. The unique use of sound really makes the film stand out among other horror films, Raimi being influenced by the experimentation going on by Brian De Palma for his film Blow Out in the sound studio they were both using. The editing is also phenomenal. A young Joel Coen was working at the editing production studio at the time and after working on the film he and Raimi became good friends, Raimi being the influence for him to get his debut Blood Simple made. Raimi, Campbell and the Coens would join forces once more for the brilliant but highly underrated Crimewave. All of the unique and creative components Raimi brought to the film made it a true original and after horror master Stephen King gave it positive reviews, New Line Cinema decided to give it a go a distribute it, to much success. Its notoriety made it a cult hit in a very short time. It's originality and perfection in capturing pure terror resonated with audiences and it has been regarded as one of cinema's greatest horrors since.