Evil Dead

In the winter of 1979, Sam Raimi went into the Tennessee woods with several friends to shoot a horror movie. 1981 saw the fruition of those efforts with the release of “Evil Dead” which has become a cult classic. You see, long before his vision of Spiderman was brought to the silver screen, he had his directing teeth cut with horror films. “Evil Dead” was the first of these to gain notoriety (and a profit).

This is the simple story of five friends who go to a cabin in the woods for a vacation and the horror they find there. One of the characters is Ashley Williams (played by Bruce Campbell) who becomes world renown as simply Ash. What Ash and the others discover is the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead) and a tape recorder belonging to a professor, who also owns the cabin. The tape in the recorder tells the tale of the professor’s findings and has some passages from the Necronomicon. Unfortunately for the cabin visitors, these words are translated resurrection incantations for something evil.

Outside in the forest, this evil force awakens and attacks, then mayhem ensues. We learn that the only way to kill a possessed person or "deadite" is by total bodily dismemberment. So there is an excellent excuse to have blood and gore by the buckets! One by one the people are killed and only one remains to survive the evil dead.

What I love about this movie is how Raimi focused so much energy into this simple plot. The cabin in Tennessee was very small and had to be overhauled for the purposes of the film, this included ripping up the floor in one corner to produce a makeshift cellar entrance. It was a cold winter especially for the southern United States and filming problems (frozen power cords, props, as well as actors) were monstrous to overcome. Raimi pressed on and continued filming even when it required a month or more between shots to adapt other schedules.

His use of the disorienting camera angles for the first person point of view shots were amazing! From the point of view of the main characters as well as the point of view of the demons, audiences got a brand new way to feel the tension and horror of the moment. Some predictable jumps are included, but many shocks that one is not prepared for make this film an excellent champion for horror films and special effects! This movie of course set the stage for the two sequels (“Evil Dead 2:Dead by Dawn” & “Army of Darkness”) which have driven the cult status of the “Evil Dead” trilogy to an internationally recognized phenomenon!

• Today's Cure song is "Breathe" from the Join The Dots: B-Sides and Rarities Collection - (2004) This track, found on disc 2, was originally featured as a B-side on some of the 1987 releases of "Just Like Heaven." Here is a song that sighs with violins and keyboards and speaks of eternal desire & love.
  

"Breathe
Breathe on me
Be like you used to be
Breathe on me "


CJ