The Evil Dead
1981 · Directed by Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi's debut. Five college kids at a remote Tennessee cabin find a Sumerian incantation tape. Things deteriorate. The shaky-cam through the woods. The pencil. The tree.
Why It's Cult
The Evil Dead is what happens when a 21-year-old Raimi and a 21-year-old Bruce Campbell make a horror film with no money and total commitment. The cabin sequences are real — they shot in actual Tennessee winter, eating beans, sleeping where they could. The infamous tree scene. The makeup-effects pioneering. Spawned two sequels and a TV show, but the original still bites hardest because nobody involved knew what they were doing yet.
The Plot, Officially
Five college students take time off to spend a peaceful vacation in a remote cabin. A book and audio tape is discovered, and its evil is found to be powerful once the incantations are read out loud. The friends find themselves helpless to stop the evil as it takes them one by one, with only one survivor left with the evil dead and desperately tries to fight to live until morning.
Starring
Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
