Heading to Halloween Night 6: “The Evil Dead” and “Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn”

Are you tired of the 80s yet?!? Me neither!

While I’d like to delve further into the genre’s best decade, there are other periods in horror’s illustrious 105-year history that deserve our time and cannot be ignored.

So let’s take a second look at this distilled decade before we head out. Sounds like a good plan? Groovy…

RELATED: Bruce Campbell Officially Retires From Role As Ash In The Evil Dead Franchise: ‘I Just Can’t Physically Take Him Anymore’

Perhaps the quintessential “cult classic,” this 1981 film was born from the brainchild of a talented young film director (and college dropout) named Sam Raimi.

After shooting numerous films with his Kodak Super 8, this nobody from Royal Oak, Michigan decided to try his hand at making a horror film. His first attempt was a 1978 short film titled In the forestwhich he shot with the help of his friend and later Hollywood producer Robert G. Tapert for a budget of $1,600. And Raimi cast his long-time friend Bruce Campbell in the lead role.

Why does this all matter? Because In the forest Not only served as a prototype for tonight’s first feature, but it also helped Raimi secure The evil deadThe estimated budget is $350,000.

Originally titled Book of the Dead and intended as a direct remake of In the forestInstead, the film follows five MSU students as they take a vacation trip to a remote cabin in the Tennessee woods. This crew includes Ashley Joanna “Ash” Williams (Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), his sister Shelly (Sarah York) and their friends Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) and Scotty (Hal Delrich).

Excited for relaxation and debauchery, they arrive to find, much to the group’s dismay, that the cabin is the epitome of a rustic, dilapidated shithouse. Things look even worse inside, and it’s not just about aesthetics, because inside the wall is… the book.

The “Book of the Dead” is called Naturom Demonto (also known as “Necronomicon Ex-Mortis”) and is a Sumerian grimoire found years ago by an archaeologist named Raymond Knowby.

The ancient tome is bound with human flesh and inked with human blood. It contains various prophecies, funerary formulas, and passages regarding the resurrection of demons, giving them permission to possess the living. The book was brought to the cottage by Knowby to allow him peace and was dedicated to translating his words.

However, not only is Knowby nowhere to be found, but the translations from his book are also nowhere to be found. Instead, there’s just a tape recorder – and when, in a brilliant move, the group decides to press play, that’s it real The party begins.

Pure low-budget paradise – that’s the best way to describe this film.

Its effects reflect the amount of money being spent, but the atmosphere makes for the perfect distraction, and luckily for Raimi, it’s difficult to make Gore look bad. Meanwhile, there is no plot or character development whatsoever – and no one asked for it! There’s also a particular scene with Sister Shelly out in the woods that doesn’t paint a good picture of trees or their true intentions for humanity…

Dark and raw, The evil dead contains none of the humor that would become more of a focus of the franchise in later entries. After its screening at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, the film received a rave review from horror author Stephen King, which in turn caught the attention of New Line Cinema and led to the film being released in theaters in 1983. With his debut, Sam Raimi was suddenly no longer a nobody.

And while Raimi’s story continues in our next feature, it’s best if you start before you get there The evil dead on TUBI.

RELATED: Bruce Campbell Poised to Return as Ash for an Evil Dead Animated Series

In 1987, Raimi and Campbell weren’t quite who they were before in every sense of the word and reunited for what was arguably the greatest sequel in horror history.

A comedy disguised as a horror film, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Both are essentially a remake of the first evil Dead and also an extension of his narrative.

Sound confusing? Don’t worry. It’s best to properly suspend your disbelief for the duration of this feature. You won’t need it anyway.

The sequel begins with a brief reenactment of what happened in the first film – only in this version there are only Ash (Campbell) and his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) in the cabin and no dead friends.

However, the events themselves play out much like before, with the group finding the Necronomicon and making the predictably stupid move of playing Professor Knowby’s recorded translation of his text, after which Linda is possessed, beheaded, buried, yadda-yadda.

Now, after these events, Ash is alone in the isolated cabin, being screwed over by a band of evil – to the point where his own hand turns against him.

And as if things couldn’t get any crazier for Ash after his hand got separated, Knowby’s daughter is on her way to the cabin! Suffice it to say that a big surprise awaits her, especially in the fruit cellar.

Over-the-top gore, slapstick comedy, and brilliant filmmaking techniques are some good terms to use to describe it Evil Dead II. Viscera flows in abundance, fountains of blood bubble from holes in the wall, and a man receives the one-finger salute from his own severed hand. The violence quickly reaches an extreme where it becomes surreal, but never loses its low-budget charm (which in itself is a remarkable achievement considering the estimated budget of $3,600,000 isn’t exactly peanuts ). Some will say that the film is in poor taste, while the more sophisticated will find this to be in poor taste around bad taste.

As for Campbell, he brings more personality to the character this time around, and his performance here has made Ash a horror icon, where he will remain from now on until the seas run red with blood again.

And it wasn’t just its protagonist who received such an award. Thanks to the ever-growing popularity of Evil Dead IIit spawned another sequel, a remake, a fantastic series, and another remake – not to mention a number of comic book and video game adaptations. To this day, the film is celebrated as a classic and is even considered by many to be superior to its predecessor.

With this release, Raimi had his big break, after which he had a real breakthrough Great Career as one of Hollywood’s best directors. He can never be called a nobody again.

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NEXT: Heading to Halloween Night 5: “A Nightmare On Elm Street” and “A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”

This article was mentioned: Bounding Into Halloween Bruce Campbell Evil Dead Halloween Horror October Sam Raimi

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