Premise - A group of friends go to a secluded cabin to spend the weekend, in it's basement they find an old tape recorder and creepy book. When the tape is played back it recites passages from the book and all hell breaks loose, literally. The Evil Dead is a great film, although it has no right to be. It has everything stacked against it. Terrible special effects (even given the age of the film), incredibly hammy acting and a cliché ridden plot. But, the film succeeds. It's testament to the commitment of the films makers that the movie got made at all. They were on a shoe string budget filming over the course of several years because of low funds and with cast and crew abandoning the film on a regular basis, the film was surely doomed to failure. However Raimi's experience in super-8 films meant he was acclimatised to working with no money and no hope. It's Raimi's work as director that makes Evil Dead stand out from other, lesser schlock-horror flicks. The effect of the 'force' running through the forest is a touch of genius and was destined to be mercilessly copied in a multitude of lesser films. He Crafts out matte shot's that he shouldn't have been able to pull off given the money available. The cabin is shot in such a way that it almost comes alive, becoming a character in itself. As bad as the acting is, it's also endearing. Bruce Campbell initially plays Ash as a snivelling wuss who get's his ass kicked a lot. But, when the s**t hit's the fan, he's ready and waiting with the chainsaw. He isn't as assured here as he is in the sequels, but it's a nice piece of work all the same. As I said the special effects are mostly terrible, but you can't help but be impressed by what they achieved. Raimi clearly had ideas above his means, but whilst in no way convincing, some of the effects are clever. Of special note is the infamous 'tree rape' scene (finally available in a UK cut of the film). A woman is accosted by tree's and raped, even today the quality of the woman's performance and the effects make it a disturbing scene. Whilst the script is cliched and borrows from the likes of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and 'Night Of The Living Dead, it adds enough fresh ideas to the mix to get away with it, just. The film is a classic and deserves it's place in horror cinema history. If only for kick starting the careers of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Joel Coen.

8/10 for The Evil Dead. Poster Quote - The Cheap Dead.