Demon resurrection.
Feisty tree branches.
Blood.
Stop-motion animation.
The Necronomicon.
Bruce Campbell.
I can't seem to go more than six months without watching The Evil Dead on VHS praying to the Dark Lord that the remake never reaches fruition. This may seem like an obvious first film to give my undead praise to, but it is partially responsible for my devotion to early 80s horror. Written & directed by Sam Raimi, it was released in 1981 and quickly found its prestigious position in the canon of campy horror.
There are a couple of interesting horror-to-horror connections in Evil Dead. The first includes the ripped up poster of The Hills Have Eyes in the cellar of the cabin (an homage to director Wes Craven). The other is the midnight viewing of Evil Dead in the 2001 film Donnie Darko, right before insanity ensues for young Gyllenhaal.
Sam Raimi's recent endeavor, Drag Me to Hell (his first proper horror film since Army of Darkness), shows what he's capable of doing with a proper budget after seventeen years of staying away from the genre. Fans of Raimi can't deny the beauty of a talking goat, shadows of a Pan-inspired Satan, and the protagonist's imminent doom of getting pulled into the fiery pits of hell. Evil Dead wins my heart though...could've been the blood pipe, blood light bulbs, and blood electric sockets.
No comments:
Post a Comment