Daniel (10 out of 10 ) I got this at a blockbuster one day and never put it down. I love it. Plain and simple. It's amazing some hollywood idiot didn't try to remake.
Cassandra (1 out of 10 ) I thought this movie sucked. The acting was so fake and the movie was completely boring. There's more cheer in a graveyard than there was in this movie.
Feral (10 out of 10 ) Cassandra.
then perhaps you were in the wrong genre at the rental place. This movie was the scariest thing of it's time. Of course you probably thought Berry deserved the oscar too.
Justin (10 out of 10 ) It's too bad you think this was a horrible movie Cassandra. I personally LOVE it! It's so creative, and very well done I think for having only a $3,000 budget in 1979. This movie is disgustingly delightful. I hear there is supposed to be a remake in 2007. The cast will be completely different and the story will be changed some. Hopefully it will not be ruined like other remakes. (Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
tony (10 out of 10 ) Well I do agree that this is a great film, very intense and gruesome. I have to disagree with some things justin said. First, the budget for Evil Dead wasn't $3,000, it was really $375,000 ($3,000 wouldn't have even paid for the cost to rent the cabin!). And Second, in my opinion, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a great remake, perhaps even better than the original. One more thing, Evil Dead was an excellent horror movie, until Sam Raimi ruined it with Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness.
Epic Zach (10 out of 10 ) Evil Dead is epic. And I know for the epically challenged it's hard to grasp the fact that this was an extremely low budget movie that turned out to be great. Bravo Sam, bravo.
Basil098 (10 out of 10 ) Once again, you've got the budget way wrong. $50,000 (Which is about half of what Romero got for NOTLD 20 years earlier). Which is amazing to me. They didn't rent out the cabin. It was in the woods in Minnesota, I believe? You might be thinking of Evil Dead 2 which was shot on a budget of 3 mil. On another note, you must be the only person alive who thinks that the remake of Texas Chainsaw is better than the original and that Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness ruined the trilogy, Raimi totally evolved as a director/writer in both of those films. Anyhow, this is a great movie for anyone who enjoys a good low budget horror movie (which are so hard to find).
JBOO7OHMSS (10 out of 10 ) I think the cabin was in Michigan, where Sam, Bruce and the gang are from. I am with you on the new Texas Chainsaw being better. It was a lot scarier than the old one. I was surprised because most new horror movies suck, especially remakes. I don't feel that ED 2 and AOD ruined the series though. They were also classics, even though maybe not as good as the original. AOD is a great cult film and a very fun movie.
tony (10 out of 10 ) Basil, I have the DVD of this movie and on the commentary, Sam Raimi says it himself, the budget was $375, 000 which they got through private investors all arounf the Detroit area. They did rent the cabin themselves. I'd like to add that if Evil Dead 2 weren't a sequel to Evil Dead, it would be pretty good. But since it claims to be a continuation of Ash's story, but the set up for ED1 and ED2 are almost exactly the same. Ruins it for me.
Trevor (9 out of 10 ) Evil Dead is what is is, a great low budget horror movie. As for the budget the 3000$ marker may have come from the test that they did for this film, called In the Woods, which they did to try and figure out the type of film they were going to use. The initial budget was around 100000 that they raised themselves( no small feat let me assure you). Army of Darkness and Evil Dead 2 are great movies in the fact that you got to see Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert trying out a lot of ideas that you would see in later movies( ie the infamous Raimi zoom). You also have to remeber that between ED2 and AOD Raimi did Darkman, whewre he truly came into his own, Bruce Cambell became a more seasoned actor and when they came back together they did to make AOD exactly the way they did, altough the original ending wasn't used it was awesome. Love them or hate them you have to respect what they did with these movies.
Michelle Karman (1 out of 10 ) I agree with Cassandra, Evil Dead is pretty rank. I think those who disagree with her should shut up, she's entitled to her opinion just as much as you fans of Sam Raimi are. I pretty much prefer George Romero's zombie flicks...Evil Dead was simply lame, and the sequel, Evil Dead 2, made no sense at all. I got them for my horror movie collection just because - and I already had movies just as bad, so why not?
Peter (10 out of 10 ) I agree with most of what's been said here. Evil Dead is simply a landmark in horror history and for its budget (I believe the number 375 000 is correct) it's one hell of an accomplishment. I don't feel the sequels ruined it but they were just a different type of movie. What I think would ruin the movie is if they remade it. It's so of its time that a hyped-up modernized remake would be a spit in the face of horror's greatest era, much like the remakes of Halloween etc were. If they can't just let it lie, I'd much prefer a 20-years-later type sequel with Bruce starring and Sam directing. It might suck or it might be good, as opposed to a remake which would most definitely suck. Most importantly, a sequel could once again be its own movie without having to live up to the original. Remakes generally serve to target a new audience while pissing off the fans of the original, since they're never gonna accept a different version of the film they love. Sam should know that.
Justin (9 out of 10 ) To pick up on what's been said - TCM (remake) is far superior to the original. Same goes for the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Both these originals are feted way beyond their actual quality as films.
And how people ever though ED2 was a remake is beyond me. It's bloody obvious that the opening minutes of ED2 is a RECAP/REIMAGINING of the original ED!
People who can't see this should not be allowed to procreate or vote.
Josh (10 out of 10 ) Evil Dead was AWESOME, great acting, great dialogue, great effects Evil Dead will always have a place in my heart, Evil Dead 2 was really good but not as good, & army of darkness was okay but not my favorite. The remake has been canceled & talk of Evil Dead 4 have risen, so for all the Evil Dead fans let's prepare for the next installment.
James S (uk) (10 out of 10 ) A true great of the horror genre. It's amazing how Raimi made such a brilliant flick with such poor resources. An overall excellant film with plenty of jumps and scares to satisfy the needs of most true horror-movie fanatics. The card scene gets me everytime. Maybe not the most 'Original' of horror movies at the time, but certainly by far one of the best of it's kind. Only two words can honestly describe this film. Pure Genuis.
RPG Hill (10 out of 10 ) So here's the deal I'm a huge Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert Fan, HUGE! And here's my opinion at least how I would lay things down. If you haven't seen "In the Woods" then you need to before you even consider judging Evil Dead or for that matter Sam Raimi and his team. They are really good at what they do. Honestly Evil Dead is a great extention of what "In the Woods" was. I love George Romero too, he is an amazing film maker but like all film makers they both have their own unique style for film making. Sam Raimi is more of a jokester where as George wants to tell a serious Zombie story. Now on the not of Zombies I don't know if anyone really payed attention to the Evil Dead trilogy but just so you know they're not Zombies. Sam Raimi has said himself on numerous ocassions that they are simply a creation of his own called Deadites if that's how you spell it. And they're not Zombies they are just regular people that have been possessed by what is known as The Evil Dead. Also on another note Sam grew up with some of the great film makers of our time, Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell, and they even grew up with the Cohen Brothers and did a couple films with them. So as I say Each to their own personally I think Sam is a great director, and despite Spiderman 3 which he intentionally made look like crap because the studio screwed him on his amazing story. I think he has great potential for the future of film making, and Sam if you read this I understand money is important but please for the love of god you are better than World of Warcraft the movie, I just want you to know that. And George Romero you are the King, Master and as far as I'm concerned the creator of all that is the Zombie universe. If it weren't for you we wouldn't have any Zombie movies! And that is pretty mch how I feel on the matter. Also on top of what I have already said AOD is an okay movie just too much comedy for me and strays far away from the Evil Dead franchise in my opinion. Also as far as Evil Dead 2 goes, it was made so that people that hadn't seen the first Evil Dead could understand what was going on, that's why most of the scenes from the first movie were re-shot and re-created for Evil Dead 2. So that the current audience would understand why and how Ash was in the situation he was in. If you don't have any of the info on this kind of stuff just watch the commentary of you're interested it's very informative. That and the Banther between Bruce and Sam is great. RPG Hill.
Beverley (10 out of 10 ) Evil Dead scared the shit out of me first time I saw it. I had to have a friend with me, during the day all curtains open before I would even consider watching it. It was a dare. Horror films really made me nervous. But I am glad it did. It gave me an interest in the then up and coming black 'comedy horror film', where it is intense and scary to watch, but the script is witty and you hear yourself chuckling with your hands held over your eyes. Yep I give it a hands up. I now watch any of the 3 with delight. And always, always have a good laugh at the clever dialog. Makes it much more of an entertainment experience I think. In a genre of its own.
James (10 out of 10 ) The trilogy is on a whole very good. ED1 got Sam's foot in the door, when he got the bigger budget he did a remake/sequel so they could do all the things they wanted to do in the first one. While AOD has most of the quotable lines and is more digestable by a mass majority my personal favorite is ED2 for the comedy added in such a way it really was like the further you got into the movie the less sanity Ash had. This made for a very exciting and hilarious movie.
Trevor (10 out of 10 ) The first thing that I noticed was how Sam Raimi abbreviated every scene heading throughout the entire script. I've personally never seen this style of formatting. Once I was familiar with his coding list, I flew through the text. The story itself is amazing.
Duncan (10 out of 10 ) I just want to settle an argument. Evil dead 2 is a sequel not a remake. Ed officially starts where the "force" enters Ash and propels him through the trees, where the original movie ended on a cliff hanger. The 5-7 minutes that preceded that moment is intended to be a recap. Due to issue a with the rights to the original movie Raimi was not allowed to use footage from ed1. He therefore re shot scenes that would be relevant to the story in ed2. This has been confirmed by both Raimi and Campbell in various interviews. Also, worth reading the original screen play for ed2. Thanks for reading.
Nicholas (10 out of 10 ) Evil Dead is number One in my top 5 Horror Movies and I love it and watch whenever I can. This is such a great horror movie. There was no music when Scotty was looking for Shelly, and that added the flavor that was needed for a movie like this. Bruce Campbell is one (in my opinion) one of the greatest actors ever lived and it is because of Ash. Great movie.
(9.05 out of 10)
(10 out of 10 )
(1 out of 10 )