Sam Raimi is one of those few directors where you can look at a film without the sound and know that it's a Raimi film within a few minutes. He has a definitely unique style of direction and deserves a lot more credit as an auteur than he gets, and that style was evident from the start of his film career. He was definitely an inspiration to that second generation of indie filmmakers following George Romero. Also who could have known Groovy Bruce Campbell would become as beloved by fans as he did.
Speaking of Groovy Bruce, if he ever becomes one of those celebrities we find out is actually a piece of shit it’ll crush me. I can’t have The Chin be anything but the delightful human being he appears to be.
@@JeffKelly03 I try very hard not to learn about celebrities whose work I enjoy (actors, musicians, whatever) for this very reason. It's nice to hear they're cool people like with Bruce Campbell and Keanu Reeves, but the second you hear even one bad thing about them you start to wonder and it taints what you've enjoyed from them. Fortunately, so far, these two have no cases of being anything other than hilarious and awesome, but all it takes is one false rumor that gets spread around enough and you start to question it because that's what our stupid lizard brain does.
I remember rewatching The Quick and The Dead a couple of years back, seeing the dramatic Dutch-angle zoom-ins on faces, and thinking "wait is this Sam Raimi?"
And meanwhile, A Simple Plan is arguably one of the best movies Raimi has ever made but it doesn’t feel at all like one. You can really see the influence his buddies the Coens had on him with that one.
Nat, not sure if anyone noted it on your Patreon but one of the editors for this movie was Joel Coen... as in, one of the Coen brothers. Raimi, Bruce, the Coens, Frances McDormand, Holly Hunter, and Kathy Bates all lived together when they were just starting out. What a hell of a film incubator that house was.
Wow, I knew about Bruce, Raimi, Coen Brothers, Frances McDormand were close, but didn't realize they were all living together at the same time, and with Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates. That's awesome. That is a reminder that Nat needs to watch Blood Simple (1984) at some point. It is still one of my favorite, if not my favorite Coen Brothers movie. I actually liked it better than Fargo.
@@Tyler_W I think I'd rank my top 5 Coen Brothers movies as this. 1. Blood Simple 2. The Big Lebowski 3. Fargo 4. Miller's Crossing 5. No Country For Old Men ( loved the first half, but the second half was very anticlimactic).
This movie is brutal. Yeah, Evil Dead 2 is better, but this one is quite magical. Shows how much you can do with a small budget, creativity and passion for your craft.
I much prefer the first, it’s the one that scared the pants off of me as a kid and made me afraid of the dark for years. My mom thought I would think it was awful because the effects were already so dated when she put it on for me, but NOPE!
Yea I think I'm also in the minority that likes the first one better, but I still love them all, the first one just actually creeps me out and the second one makes me, like, laugh out loud a bit more @@Wraiven22
@@EarnestEgregore Honestly even though the stories are similar they are going for two completely different things. The first movie which has it campy moments Is pretty much a straight horror film. Evil dead two dead by dawn is basically a black comedy with Heavy horror elements. And since I personally prefer my horror mixed with comedy evil dead 2 is my preference. But I can completely understand why someone would Like the evil dead (1)
You’ll like Evil Dead 2 so much more. The first like 7 minutes is effectively a truncated recap of Evil Dead 1, but the jump in style, directing talent, and production quality from 1 to 2 is SHOCKING. Evil Dead 2 is Raimi and Bruce Campbell making a full buffet of their talent that effectively made Raimi’s career what it is even still today
Before we scare off Natalie, I'd say that the next movie has a lot more gore and fluid, it is done better, but somehow still a lot less brutal than this one. It is so over the top that it is more like a roller coaster ride and not as nauseating.
@@mmattson8947 but where does it have more gore? There’s some blood “fountains”, but they are so over the top that you just cannot take them seriously… also the blood has different colors and sometimes you can only see shadows of brutal death scenes…
@@munkeypantsman not exactly. Ash and Linda arrive at the cabin and shenanigans ensue with a few of the plot beats from this movie. We get the last push in on Ash that we see end this movie and then it *Really* gets going
@@deanthemachine8879 The final scene of the recap in Evil Dead 2 is an exact remake of the final scene of Evil Dead 1, with the camera breaking through the house and zooming towards Ash's face as he stands outside. The camera zooms into Ash's face at 7m6s, and Evil Dead 2 officially begins at 7m8s.
Natalie...it's not an open glass of water in the car. When you see a mason jar with a clear liquid in it, in the mountains of Tennessee, it's 100% moonshine. And yes, that is an off-roading vehicle. It's also an on-roading vehicle. In fact for Sam Raimi, it's an EVERYTHING vehicle. That's the famous Delta 88, which Sam puts pretty much in every one of his movies. It was Uncle Ben's car in Spiderman (all 3 movies), it was in Darkman, it was in A Simple Plan, hell...it was even in The Quick and the Dead (which is a western set before cars even existed.)
This film does such a good job at showing how clever filmmaking techniques can sell a scene more than any budget. Like we are sold on the shots of an evil entity chasing down the protagonists, and it is literally nothing but the camera moving through the woods with a spooky sound overlaid on top.
I think Natalie would enjoy reading about what happened during the shooting, the tricks and sacrifices done for ultra-low budget filmmaking. Every time she says that someone looks off or like a doll, the words "fake Shemp" come to mind.
I actually prefer 2 to 3, I think the slapstick went a little *too* far and that Ash is too much of a dick, but I wouldn't replace Army of Darkness at all.
My older sister had a spooky movie night with her friends and I tagged along. At the age of 9 I watched Evil Dead, The Thing, Halloween and Xtro back to back, and then had to walk home across a dark field in the middle of the night by myself. I don't think I'm okay.
If I taught film studies, this is definitely one of the first movies I'd show my students because it's a textbook example of a young aspiring filmmaker's imagination transcending the miniscule budget he had to work with.
You would be a better teacher than the ones when I went to Ithaca in the early 2000s. The first movie they had watch was Caligula. Dude!..Caligula?! After that it was an independent film about a guy tugging it to barbie dolls (with full frontal jackin and he actually "finished" on camera). None of us could comprehend why they made us all watch that. Sufficed to say many students lost their cool when dude "unloaded" on that poor barbie doll.
I was 15 years old when this came out and me and two guy friends snuck into the theater to see it. About two-thirds of the way through the movie I looked around the theater and noticed EVERYONE was silent and glued to the screen. So I waited for the next jump scare and I reached down and grabbed the calves of my friends and they screamed so loud that I thought they were going to come ask us to leave. My friends were so mad at me but I look back now and it all seems like an innocent prank of youth.
Oh, I actually got to watch this with BRUCE CAMPBELL for a special screening here in Houston. This movie is one of the best examples of doing something for the love of the craft because MY GOD THERE WERE ISSUES. Also, I know a lot of actors play certain roles and are very much different from the roles they're known for... but Bruce Campbell is EXACTLY like what you think he's like based on his roles...
Nat, you have to remember, that 80s kids were watching Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, the Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, The Fly, The Terminator, Alien, The Thing, Amityville, Ghoulies, Gremlins, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, The Birds, Psycho and a buttload of lower budget and just as scary B and C movies when we were less than 10 years-old. HBO in the early-mid 80s had this playing on repeat and older teenage siblings were evil.
What I love about Evil Dead is how dreamlike and unnerving some of the shots are. Like when the car first drives up to the cabin and there's no engine sound. You're almost not aware of it, but your brain gets nervous because it feels there's something wrong. Brilliant stuff.
They did this on an absolute shoestring budget, and basically lived in that shit cabin while filming. SO GOOD. (and yes, watched at around 11 years old)
I love the story about how it was made. Raimi made a short film and went around showing it to potential investors. He mentions projecting it on the dining room wall in some doctor's house. He raised the money and all the investors made a profit. Evil Dead 2 is the one that really has the big fan following. It's much campier, has a bigger budget, and sets the tone for the next movie, which is a straight up comedy in comparison to the first film, and the TV series which is mixture of all the films, though Ash is pretty much how he is in the the last two films, a lovable lout who isn't as smart as he thinks he is (I realize that's all one sentence and I see it as an accomplishment).
I love the whole thing in this movie where the professor guy is like "the recitation of these passages are what gives the demons power. This is how it's pronounced..."
Woohoo🎉 Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake with a bigger budget and they lean into it being absurdly (and gorily) comedic. Part 2 is what turned this into something other than a low budget experiment by a talented director. Part 2 gave the talented weirdos a budget and time. Part 3 is basically all comedy. Bruce Campbell was born to play the comedy and overacting Raimi has him do in part 2.
ED2 is not a remake. The first fifteen minutes, sure, but it doesn't just stop there. It basically goes, "So yeah, this happened, got it? Cool, so now that we're on the same page, here's what happened next."
People are always saying its a remake, but it really is a true sequel. Sam Raimi couldn't get the rights to Evil Dead 1 to include a recap, so he just decided to film a new summary of the first movie (although he also simplified it to just be Ash and Linda)... so the first 15 minutes is just his re-filmed/rewritten recap, and the sequel picks up exactly where evil dead 1 ended, with the evil force crashing into Ash.
My favorite fact about Evil Dead, they did not own the camera they used to film it and essentially stole it from the University they were attending. They also dropped it during filming and dented the side cowling. It still worked though and they were able to sneak it back onto campus without anyone ever finding out. Bruce Campbell was injured during that scene too, I think he hurt his neck pretty bad, but never let on or broke character even though he was in terrible pain.
Ash survives everything just like a cockroach. The only thing left after a nuclear holocaust are roaches and Ash Williams! The fans that have seen all of Ash vs. The Evil Dead will understand the nuclear holocaust comment. Great reaction as always Natalie!! Been waiting to see you watch this one, and I hope you eventually get around to Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness! Evil Dead 2 is less gore and more horror/comedy, and the third film (Army of Darkness) is a combination of fantasy, action and spooky comedy. I think you'll definitely like the next 2 movies in this series!
@@Krondon-SSRyeah but lets be honest Sam was not going to reject such amount of money lol you can see his vision was ultra manipulated by marvel team (bad writers)
Hello there Nat! GenXer here. With the VHS explosion in the early 1980’s, horror films became more readily available and accessible to us kids who grew up in this era. I rented this film along many other titles, but this is a the only one I remember out of that trip. It was one of the most horrific movies I had ever seen up to that point. Ever since then, I was a huge fan of the film, along with Sam Raimi & Bruce Campbell. Fun Fact: Sam Raimi was only 19th a year of when he made THE EVIL DEAD. It was actually filmed in 1979 under it’s original title THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. It had its world premiere at Detroit’s Redford Theatre in 1981. Fun Fact #2: When the film was released on VHS in the UK, it was banned, along with several other films. This list of banned films became known as “The Video Nasties.” Sam Raimi was even called over to England & was put on trail because of the film. This experience lead to EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN to be more of a dark comedy than a pure horror film like the first one. Glad you finally got around to watching the EVIL DEAD franchise & I look forward to seeing you watch the other installments! Cheers from a Generation X horror movie fan!
Fun fact with Evil Dead 2, they didn't have the rights to the original so they shot a 5 or 10 minute recap of the first film to start the second one and give folks a recap and retcon a few things. It is more comedic for sure but just as awesome.
Evil Dead was a student film that they sold for distribution. Evil Dead II was not able to use any of the original footage, so the first half is a remake of the first film and the second half is a condensed version of the movie Raimi wanted to make.
Good on you for making it through this one! I was actually 11 years old when I first saw this; it’s one of my favorites. If you watch part 2, here’s some info to help avoid any confusion: besides the opening monologue, the first ten or so minutes is just an attempt to recap the events of the first film; even though Sam Raimi is back as the director, they were under a different company and at the time couldn’t get the rights to use footage from part 1, so they just filmed the beginning in a way that very quickly sums up the first movie. It might look like he’s going back to the cabin like nothing happened, but that’s NOT what happens. The new events of the sequel pick up right at the moment when that main evil force breaks through the cabin door and gets Ash.
Sam Raimi's technique is equal to his perverse imagination. In his first directorial outing, he's already got a flair for the visual grammar of horror movies that John Carpenter might envy.
Evil Dead left you "unwell"? Then just get ready for Evil Dead 2. Looking back, this one really feels like a "first time" movie. Everything gets turned up to 15 in the next one: the effects, the red dye, the campiness, Bruce Campbell's chin and it's the beginning of why Ash is one of the horror/action movie badasses.
I saw the evil dead in the theaters when it first came out. I had to walk by myself, almost 2 miles at midnight to get home after the movie! That walk freaked me out!
Evil Dead is goofy but it was meant to be scary, and i think it remains a spooky concept. The sequel goes all out with the comedy aspect, the third film spirals into complete absurdity and then the two most recent films succeeded at being horror in the same way the original did. They’re all worth a watch honestly
YEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS im so happy for this video!! Evil Dead was my OG as a kid flipping back to spongebob when it got to scary, horror movie. The EVIL DEAD Franchise is one of THE best in Horror! The gore and practical effects in this movie still hold up as being SUPER creepy and SUPER disgusting
Bruce Campbell is my favorite actor, and the creation of this movie is detailed in his autobiography "If Chins Could Kill," which if you have the time to read is a hilarious and insightful look at filmmaking. Evil Dead 2 is a great film, but Army of Darkness is an absolute cult classic.
Heading down The Evil Dead rabbit hole is so much fun. The films and tv show. The newest one really messed me up. Can’t wait for you to get to Evil Dead Rise. 🎉❤😅
Nat, I really hope you watch Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, i think you would enjoy those a lot more. Evil Dead 2 might confuse you though, lol. It's more of a remake of the first one than a sequel. It's just a lot more comedic.
I love everything EVIL DEAD!!!! One of the most consistent & honestly my favorite horror franchise! I love all the movies & the show which is by itself is phenomenal but the OG is my favorite! Its soooo creepy & scary but really fun! The practicals are legit incredible for the budget too! The movie made Bruce the Chin Campbell into an icon & Sam Raimi into an A list director! "Join us......join us.......join us...."😈 plus the deadites are just iconic in their own right! Glad youre finally checking out this iconic horror series Nat! Groovy!😎
The second movie is a remake of the this one, but with more comedy. The third is a direct sequel to the second, with even _more_ comedy. A definite must-watch.
I love The Evil Dead 2, it's one of my all time favorites. It's even more over the top and leans heavily into the comedy elements. The first part of the film is really just a remake of this one, but with a higher budget.
I dig these movies but my fav is Army of Darkness. It's hilarious and creepy. Maybe a reaction to that one? The second one (EDII Dead by Dawn) is actually almost as comedic as it is scary, and intentionally so. Bruce Campbell is actually really great at physical comedy.
I saw this movie when I was 11 years old, and no, I wasn't ok for a long time, it gave me a lot of nightmares, but I still love the saga and everything that came after it.
Hey Evil Dead 2 is a lot like this one but the following sequel Army of Darkness is one of my favorite films of my childhood and I hope you press onwards to see it.
This was the movie that showed me how much of a fun time you can have being scared. For the longest time I was a huge wuss when it came to horror movies but one night I worked up the courage to watch this alone and it all clicked. I think the rough edges of the Evil Dead really helped to make it more palatable as well. It seems most fans consider Evil Dead 2 to be their favorite but I'm firmly in the camp of preferring the original for being explicitly a horror movie
Me and a friend watched this when it was released on VHS (1983) when we were 18 years old. We then introduced it to multiple groups of friends to watch them crap their pants too. We didn't have a movie theatre in our little English town. (In its first week of video release, the film made £100,000 in the UK. It quickly became that week's bestselling video release, and later became the year's bestselling video in the UK)
They made this flick for UNDER 400k total, were so green that the windows they broke were real glass, the chainsaw actually had the chain on it..... And they created a masterpiece cult classic! THAT is talent
7:10 Evil Dead: Rave! I need this in my life. That reaction to the tree assault scene was the best of all reaction videos to date. "STOP I DON'T WANNA JOIN... I'M NOT HOME OKAY.!" Fantastic gag 10 out of 10.
This is why Sam Raimi is in my Top 5 filmmakers. I love this entire series. Well, the ones that feature the character Ashley Williams, anyhow. I’m too much of a chicken to watch the others.
I know people love the rest of the series but this one is it for me! Idk I'm not into the humor and camp of the other two, though I do like campy movies. I loved this one in high school and it's still a favorite. It's similar in 2 but the camerawork, the lighting, the practical effects, just all of it is so good to me! I also think it's such a great example of what younger and aspiring filmmakers can do with small budgets, passion, and innovation. I love the mirror being water tricks. It's something Jean Cocteau did a lot, which can be seen in his Orphic Trilogy.
Army if Darkness, Ash vs. The Evil Dead, etc are great! Highly recommend Bubba HoTep! The guy who plays Ash plays old man Elvis Presley and he teams up with an older black guy who thinks hes JFK, to fight a cowboy mummy in a retirement home
if you ever watch the 2nd movie, don't be confuse about the continuation since, it was both a remake and a sequel, since they can't get the copyright for the first movie.
Even though Natmare is now over, I do recommend watching the 2013 remake, and also eventually the 2023 Evil Dead Rise movie, they both have a different vibe than the original, but equally fun and entertaining imo (edit): after watching your reaction, I don't know how well you would do with the gore in those two movies, you maybe wouldn't like it lol
Since you asked... I actually saw Evil Dead when I was around 10 years old...but the overall circumstances of how this came to pass helped me quite strongly with my previous fear of horror movies. In Germany the movie went by the title "Tanz der Teufel" (meaning "Dance of the Devils"). Coincidentally, Roman Polanski's horror comedy "Fearless Vampire Killers" was very popular in Germany at the time (it was shown on TV every winter), going by the title "Tanz der Vampire" (meaning "Dance of the Vampires"). Accordingly, my mom assumed that Dance of the Devils must be a horror comedy, maybe even a sequel to the popular vampire movie (which she loved). One morning she naively decided that we could watch it together, when we were both bored and had this VHS tape lying around, without any cover or description. (My dad used to bring home lots of VHS tapes that his friends decided he had to watch, although he barely cared). What helped me immensely was that we were watching it so early, on a beautiful sunny day. We were also interrupting the movie's tension with occasional chatting, since my mother started getting uncomfortable once she noticed there was no whimsical comedy and kept asking me how I felt about it. All of that led to me just having a good time with it. No nightmares and no bad memories.
This "Evil Dead", "Evil Dead 2", and "Army of Darkness" is what got me wanting to see more of Sam Raimi's work. Especially when I realized that Sam, his brother Ted, and Bruce Campbell all like working together. They all worked on "Xena Warrior Princess" together too. Ted and Bruce also had small rolls in Sam's Spiderman movies.
You need to watch them all, Nat. Probably the most consistent horror series ever. Not one bad film. Plus I'm pretty sure you will love Evil dead 2 and army of darkness more :D
Glad to see that you've put Evil Dead on your watch list. Now that you've seen this and a few other of his movies, there is something to look for in the future. That Oldsmobile is in every one of his movies. Somehow he makes it appear over and over.
I saw this as a teen but i had been fed a steady diet of B horror movies since i saw Humanoids from the Deep at the drive-in. My parents had no concept of age appropriate cinema but it toughened me mentally that no movie really affects me.
Congrats, you just stated perhaps the most consistently good horror franchise out there! You can tell, it's a project of people with a lot of potential, who also are clearly still figuring shit out. Acting and script is amateurish, but the effects and direction does so much with so little.
i was 14 when this movie came out and we all had a great time watching it. it was funny. Evil Dead II is even better. this movie tried to be a real scary movie but Evil Dead II just doubles down on the camp and absurdity. if you see it, keep in mind that Evil Dead II is not a sequel. it is a retelling and continuation of this movie. the third movie, Army of Darkness goes all out on the greatness of the series. and is one of the most quotable movies ever.
Loved your reaction. I loved that you "got" the film, and you could articulate things from a cinema perspective and personal perspective. (I've seen every single RUclips reaction of this film.) This is my favourite horror movie. The effects, the sound design, the camera work, and Baby Bruce. Linda's iconic "We're gonna get you.." is on par with Nightmare on Elm Street's "1, 2, Freddy's coming for you..". The fact this was basically a low-budget student film is astonishing, considering its execution and cultural impact on the film industry, creating the whole "cabin in the woods" horror genre. FYI, Part 2 has a 10 minute recap of part 1 as the opening, but due to Sam Raimi not having rights to footage from the 1st film, they had to reshoot, recast, and simplify the storyline so people who hadn't seen it could catch up. So that will assuage your confusion. I make sense of it by thinking of it as Ash having a nightmare about the events of the first film (up until he wakes up in part 2 in the chair), and dreams are often not a faithful retelling of events. The fact that Ash's mind is also greatly impacted makes him a semi-unreliable narrator, so that works too. Ash is one of the best final girls ever. Imagine having to kill your best friend, sister, and girlfriend? His character development throughout the franchise is iconic.
Ms. Gold! Congratulations on welcoming The Evil Dead into your world! A few things: Ash returns for Evil Dead 2. Evil Dead 2 is essentially the same film.. but a whole more tongue in cheek. Ash’s ride is actually Raimi’s personal car and appears in all of his films- including as Uncle Ben’s car in Spiderman. Evil Dead 2 has glorious sequel called Army of Darkness which is even more over the top fun. Bruce Campbell (Ash) has roles or cameos in most of Raimi’s films including all 3 the first Spiderman films. Raimi also directed superhero film called Darkman starring Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand.
I've seen this movie waaaaaaay too young, and alone in the house. I think I was around 1st grade... my dad was outside, my mom was gone with my three siblings... I was so scared, I wasn't even able to get out of the couch to turn off the TV (no remote on this TV), in fear that the woman from the cellar would catch my legs from under the couch. I don't know how I ended up alone in the house watching this movie, but I had nightmares for a long time after that.
To answer your question, I watched this on video when I was 11 years old. We rented it from the video store in the days before video tapes had age ratings in the UK like movies did. I believe this was one of the films that led to ratings for video tapes being introduced in the UK.
The water mirror is a reference to Jean Cocteau. In Blood of a Poet, he used the trick with a pool of water, while in Orpheus it was a pool of mercury which is more reflective (although toxic).
Yup "unwell" is an apt description of how I felt too. It wasn't scary but man the practical effects... xD Also good job on the video editing, its fun. Can't wait for the next one!
Soooo glad to see you watch this indy film classic. I would highly recomend checking out the "making of" story behind this one. It's a fasinating study in what can be done with a shoestring budget if your talented enough. (Becase of legal reasons, the recap in the next two films are slightly diffrent, but for the streaming series, ASH VS EVIL DEAD, this is the story they went with.) I think the biggest unbelievable part of the story is five Uni students deciding to spend their Winter break in a cabin in the woods.
I saw it in the late 90s on laser disc. They actually gave us boys free reign to pick the movie for our whole class to watch in 7th grade and this is what we brought. Our teacher didn't even look at what we had and left to blaze cigarettes in his car before we even started it. The girls were not impressed.
Sam Raimi is one of those few directors where you can look at a film without the sound and know that it's a Raimi film within a few minutes. He has a definitely unique style of direction and deserves a lot more credit as an auteur than he gets, and that style was evident from the start of his film career. He was definitely an inspiration to that second generation of indie filmmakers following George Romero.
Also who could have known Groovy Bruce Campbell would become as beloved by fans as he did.
Speaking of Groovy Bruce, if he ever becomes one of those celebrities we find out is actually a piece of shit it’ll crush me. I can’t have The Chin be anything but the delightful human being he appears to be.
@@JeffKelly03 I try very hard not to learn about celebrities whose work I enjoy (actors, musicians, whatever) for this very reason. It's nice to hear they're cool people like with Bruce Campbell and Keanu Reeves, but the second you hear even one bad thing about them you start to wonder and it taints what you've enjoyed from them.
Fortunately, so far, these two have no cases of being anything other than hilarious and awesome, but all it takes is one false rumor that gets spread around enough and you start to question it because that's what our stupid lizard brain does.
I remember rewatching The Quick and The Dead a couple of years back, seeing the dramatic Dutch-angle zoom-ins on faces, and thinking "wait is this Sam Raimi?"
@@Vaishinolove that movie. So underrated.
And meanwhile, A Simple Plan is arguably one of the best movies Raimi has ever made but it doesn’t feel at all like one. You can really see the influence his buddies the Coens had on him with that one.
Nat, not sure if anyone noted it on your Patreon but one of the editors for this movie was Joel Coen... as in, one of the Coen brothers. Raimi, Bruce, the Coens, Frances McDormand, Holly Hunter, and Kathy Bates all lived together when they were just starting out. What a hell of a film incubator that house was.
Wow what an incredible house of talent and I really hope I remember this gem of a fact in future
Wow, I knew about Bruce, Raimi, Coen Brothers, Frances McDormand were close, but didn't realize they were all living together at the same time, and with Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates. That's awesome.
That is a reminder that Nat needs to watch Blood Simple (1984) at some point. It is still one of my favorite, if not my favorite Coen Brothers movie. I actually liked it better than Fargo.
It's also why Bobbi-Jo in Evil Dead 2 has a very distinct Holly Hunter vibe
@@Justin0807 love Blood Simple. My top 3 Coen movies (from what I've seen) are probably:
3. Fargo
2. Blood Simple
1. No Country For Old Men
@@Tyler_W I think I'd rank my top 5 Coen Brothers movies as this.
1. Blood Simple
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Fargo
4. Miller's Crossing
5. No Country For Old Men ( loved the first half, but the second half was very anticlimactic).
This movie is brutal. Yeah, Evil Dead 2 is better, but this one is quite magical. Shows how much you can do with a small budget, creativity and passion for your craft.
I much prefer the first, it’s the one that scared the pants off of me as a kid and made me afraid of the dark for years. My mom thought I would think it was awful because the effects were already so dated when she put it on for me, but NOPE!
Yeah she should watch Evil Dead 2 and then Army of Darkness and then the new series.
Yea I think I'm also in the minority that likes the first one better, but I still love them all, the first one just actually creeps me out and the second one makes me, like, laugh out loud a bit more @@Wraiven22
@@EarnestEgregore
Honestly even though the stories are similar they are going for two completely different things.
The first movie which has it campy moments Is pretty much a straight horror film.
Evil dead two dead by dawn is basically a black comedy with Heavy horror elements.
And since I personally prefer my horror mixed with comedy evil dead 2 is my preference.
But I can completely understand why someone would Like the evil dead (1)
@@KronnangDunnI would say stop at the movies.
You’ll like Evil Dead 2 so much more. The first like 7 minutes is effectively a truncated recap of Evil Dead 1, but the jump in style, directing talent, and production quality from 1 to 2 is SHOCKING. Evil Dead 2 is Raimi and Bruce Campbell making a full buffet of their talent that effectively made Raimi’s career what it is even still today
Only the first 7 minutes actually. The sequel starts exactly where Evil Dead 1 ends.
Before we scare off Natalie, I'd say that the next movie has a lot more gore and fluid, it is done better, but somehow still a lot less brutal than this one.
It is so over the top that it is more like a roller coaster ride and not as nauseating.
@@mmattson8947 but where does it have more gore? There’s some blood “fountains”, but they are so over the top that you just cannot take them seriously… also the blood has different colors and sometimes you can only see shadows of brutal death scenes…
@@munkeypantsman not exactly. Ash and Linda arrive at the cabin and shenanigans ensue with a few of the plot beats from this movie. We get the last push in on Ash that we see end this movie and then it *Really* gets going
@@deanthemachine8879 The final scene of the recap in Evil Dead 2 is an exact remake of the final scene of Evil Dead 1, with the camera breaking through the house and zooming towards Ash's face as he stands outside. The camera zooms into Ash's face at 7m6s, and Evil Dead 2 officially begins at 7m8s.
Natalie watches Evil Dead.
Horror fans everywhere: groovy.
all hail to the king...baby
LITERALLY beat me to it. The '87 version is where we're definitely introduced to the GOAT that is Ash Williams and his Boomstick.@@essexginge9167
"...give me some sugar baby"
Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.
Natalie...it's not an open glass of water in the car. When you see a mason jar with a clear liquid in it, in the mountains of Tennessee, it's 100% moonshine. And yes, that is an off-roading vehicle. It's also an on-roading vehicle. In fact for Sam Raimi, it's an EVERYTHING vehicle. That's the famous Delta 88, which Sam puts pretty much in every one of his movies. It was Uncle Ben's car in Spiderman (all 3 movies), it was in Darkman, it was in A Simple Plan, hell...it was even in The Quick and the Dead (which is a western set before cars even existed.)
Came here to make a moonshine comment. Thanks for doing my work for me!
The Evil Dead series is SO FUN! 2, Army of Darkness and the TV Series Ash vs Evil Dead leans into the horror-comedy genre, you would love it
I’m still sad about Ash vs Evil Dead 😪
@@Rockersudak same!! 😭
@@Rockersudaksame 😢
I really hope Nat watches Ash Vs Evil Dead after Army of Darkness
@@Gurgimunchingcrunchingwhat's funny is EvtED ended like the original planned ending for Army of Darkness.
This film does such a good job at showing how clever filmmaking techniques can sell a scene more than any budget. Like we are sold on the shots of an evil entity chasing down the protagonists, and it is literally nothing but the camera moving through the woods with a spooky sound overlaid on top.
A camera strapped to a 2X4, of all things.
I think Natalie would enjoy reading about what happened during the shooting, the tricks and sacrifices done for ultra-low budget filmmaking.
Every time she says that someone looks off or like a doll, the words "fake Shemp" come to mind.
Evil Dead 2 is like a more funny parody of the first movie. But Army of Darkness is where it's at.
Groovy!
I actually prefer 2 to 3, I think the slapstick went a little *too* far and that Ash is too much of a dick, but I wouldn't replace Army of Darkness at all.
You could definitely say that the Evil Dead series gets less serious and more comical as it goes on. Until the recent reboot and remake.
They were low on gas in that movie..
@@yunehversomi1458the way I see it is it’s ash’s mind becoming more and more insane
My older sister had a spooky movie night with her friends and I tagged along. At the age of 9 I watched Evil Dead, The Thing, Halloween and Xtro back to back, and then had to walk home across a dark field in the middle of the night by myself. I don't think I'm okay.
One of the best Horror films of all time, all the more impressive when you consider it was done by film students. Masterpiece.
And how the dagger was made with dinner scraps (bones from fried chicken).
Remake is better #noshade
@@ay2537🤡
If I taught film studies, this is definitely one of the first movies I'd show my students because it's a textbook example of a young aspiring filmmaker's imagination transcending the miniscule budget he had to work with.
You would be a better teacher than the ones when I went to Ithaca in the early 2000s. The first movie they had watch was Caligula. Dude!..Caligula?! After that it was an independent film about a guy tugging it to barbie dolls (with full frontal jackin and he actually "finished" on camera). None of us could comprehend why they made us all watch that. Sufficed to say many students lost their cool when dude "unloaded" on that poor barbie doll.
@@NewYorkFloridaMan Yikes! Sorry you had to go through that.
I took a class with Raimi's film studies professor at Michigan State. He's actually one of the Fake Shemps in Army of Darkness.
I was 15 years old when this came out and me and two guy friends snuck into the theater to see it. About two-thirds of the way through the movie I looked around the theater and noticed EVERYONE was silent and glued to the screen. So I waited for the next jump scare and I reached down and grabbed the calves of my friends and they screamed so loud that I thought they were going to come ask us to leave. My friends were so mad at me but I look back now and it all seems like an innocent prank of youth.
🤡
Oh, I actually got to watch this with BRUCE CAMPBELL for a special screening here in Houston. This movie is one of the best examples of doing something for the love of the craft because MY GOD THERE WERE ISSUES. Also, I know a lot of actors play certain roles and are very much different from the roles they're known for... but Bruce Campbell is EXACTLY like what you think he's like based on his roles...
Nat, you have to remember, that 80s kids were watching Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, the Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, The Fly, The Terminator, Alien, The Thing, Amityville, Ghoulies, Gremlins, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, The Birds, Psycho and a buttload of lower budget and just as scary B and C movies when we were less than 10 years-old. HBO in the early-mid 80s had this playing on repeat and older teenage siblings were evil.
What I love about Evil Dead is how dreamlike and unnerving some of the shots are. Like when the car first drives up to the cabin and there's no engine sound. You're almost not aware of it, but your brain gets nervous because it feels there's something wrong. Brilliant stuff.
They did this on an absolute shoestring budget, and basically lived in that shit cabin while filming. SO GOOD. (and yes, watched at around 11 years old)
280,000 dollars... crazy low even for 1979.
I love the story about how it was made. Raimi made a short film and went around showing it to potential investors. He mentions projecting it on the dining room wall in some doctor's house. He raised the money and all the investors made a profit.
Evil Dead 2 is the one that really has the big fan following. It's much campier, has a bigger budget, and sets the tone for the next movie, which is a straight up comedy in comparison to the first film, and the TV series which is mixture of all the films, though Ash is pretty much how he is in the the last two films, a lovable lout who isn't as smart as he thinks he is (I realize that's all one sentence and I see it as an accomplishment).
I love the whole thing in this movie where the professor guy is like "the recitation of these passages are what gives the demons power. This is how it's pronounced..."
This movie is such a classic, one of my all time favorite movies. Watched this so many times in high school in the 80's
Woohoo🎉
Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake with a bigger budget and they lean into it being absurdly (and gorily) comedic. Part 2 is what turned this into something other than a low budget experiment by a talented director. Part 2 gave the talented weirdos a budget and time.
Part 3 is basically all comedy.
Bruce Campbell was born to play the comedy and overacting Raimi has him do in part 2.
Only the first 10 minutes of Evil Dead 2 are a remake of the first movie, after that it's a direct sequel
ED2 is not a remake. The first fifteen minutes, sure, but it doesn't just stop there. It basically goes, "So yeah, this happened, got it? Cool, so now that we're on the same page, here's what happened next."
People are always saying its a remake, but it really is a true sequel. Sam Raimi couldn't get the rights to Evil Dead 1 to include a recap, so he just decided to film a new summary of the first movie (although he also simplified it to just be Ash and Linda)... so the first 15 minutes is just his re-filmed/rewritten recap, and the sequel picks up exactly where evil dead 1 ended, with the evil force crashing into Ash.
Thank you! Beat me to it. @@BrickTitmeat
My favorite fact about Evil Dead, they did not own the camera they used to film it and essentially stole it from the University they were attending. They also dropped it during filming and dented the side cowling. It still worked though and they were able to sneak it back onto campus without anyone ever finding out. Bruce Campbell was injured during that scene too, I think he hurt his neck pretty bad, but never let on or broke character even though he was in terrible pain.
"THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT SHOE ATTIRE FOR THIS!"
I hope you always stay true to who you are.
Bruce hated those "cheeseball" shoes too, as he called them in his commentary on the film.
Ash survives everything just like a cockroach. The only thing left after a nuclear holocaust are roaches and Ash Williams! The fans that have seen all of Ash vs. The Evil Dead will understand the nuclear holocaust comment.
Great reaction as always Natalie!! Been waiting to see you watch this one, and I hope you eventually get around to Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness! Evil Dead 2 is less gore and more horror/comedy, and the third film (Army of Darkness) is a combination of fantasy, action and spooky comedy. I think you'll definitely like the next 2 movies in this series!
Ash's ability to take damage is somewhere between John Wick and Deadpool.
I love when horror directors make superhero movies
How about epic fantasy movies?
Didnt like Doctor strange 2 as much
@@Krondon-SSRyeah but lets be honest Sam was not going to reject such amount of money lol you can see his vision was ultra manipulated by marvel team (bad writers)
You shoul watch Darkman it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkman
Groot's dark origin story?
Hell yeah! Do your self a favor, watch Evil Dead 2 to unwind... and then you're ready for the greatest, the Army of Darkness.
Amazing how influential Evil Dead 1 and 2 became in filmmaking, directing, camera techniques, etc...not to mention pop culture.
Even the 2013 remake and 2023's Evil Dead Rise is worth a watch. They're all so entertaining and a wild ride. And the TV show is a lot of fun.
Hello there Nat! GenXer here. With the VHS explosion in the early 1980’s, horror films became more readily available and accessible to us kids who grew up in this era. I rented this film along many other titles, but this is a the only one I remember out of that trip. It was one of the most horrific movies I had ever seen up to that point. Ever since then, I was a huge fan of the film, along with Sam Raimi & Bruce Campbell.
Fun Fact: Sam Raimi was only 19th a year of when he made THE EVIL DEAD. It was actually filmed in 1979 under it’s original title THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. It had its world premiere at Detroit’s Redford Theatre in 1981.
Fun Fact #2: When the film was released on VHS in the UK, it was banned, along with several other films. This list of banned films became known as “The Video Nasties.” Sam Raimi was even called over to England & was put on trail because of the film. This experience lead to EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN to be more of a dark comedy than a pure horror film like the first one.
Glad you finally got around to watching the EVIL DEAD franchise & I look forward to seeing you watch the other installments! Cheers from a Generation X horror movie fan!
Evil Dead 2 and the third movie Army of Darkness would definitely be more to your liking! Really fun films
Fun fact with Evil Dead 2, they didn't have the rights to the original so they shot a 5 or 10 minute recap of the first film to start the second one and give folks a recap and retcon a few things. It is more comedic for sure but just as awesome.
Evil Dead was a student film that they sold for distribution. Evil Dead II was not able to use any of the original footage, so the first half is a remake of the first film and the second half is a condensed version of the movie Raimi wanted to make.
Definitely do Evil Dead 2. It amps up the fun and the campiness, which helps make the over-the-top gore more tolerable.
Good on you for making it through this one! I was actually 11 years old when I first saw this; it’s one of my favorites. If you watch part 2, here’s some info to help avoid any confusion: besides the opening monologue, the first ten or so minutes is just an attempt to recap the events of the first film; even though Sam Raimi is back as the director, they were under a different company and at the time couldn’t get the rights to use footage from part 1, so they just filmed the beginning in a way that very quickly sums up the first movie. It might look like he’s going back to the cabin like nothing happened, but that’s NOT what happens. The new events of the sequel pick up right at the moment when that main evil force breaks through the cabin door and gets Ash.
Sam Raimi's technique is equal to his perverse imagination. In his first directorial outing, he's already got a flair for the visual grammar of horror movies that John Carpenter might envy.
I am glade you watched the original before the remake
Evil Dead left you "unwell"? Then just get ready for Evil Dead 2. Looking back, this one really feels like a "first time" movie. Everything gets turned up to 15 in the next one: the effects, the red dye, the campiness, Bruce Campbell's chin and it's the beginning of why Ash is one of the horror/action movie badasses.
I saw the evil dead in the theaters when it first came out. I had to walk by myself, almost 2 miles at midnight to get home after the movie! That walk freaked me out!
Evil Dead is goofy but it was meant to be scary, and i think it remains a spooky concept. The sequel goes all out with the comedy aspect, the third film spirals into complete absurdity and then the two most recent films succeeded at being horror in the same way the original did. They’re all worth a watch honestly
YEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS im so happy for this video!!
Evil Dead was my OG as a kid flipping back to spongebob when it got to scary, horror movie. The EVIL DEAD Franchise is one of THE best in Horror!
The gore and practical effects in this movie still hold up as being SUPER creepy and SUPER disgusting
I want to see Natalie watch one of Sam’s later movies: Drag Me to Hell. It would be such an entertaining reaction guaranteed 😂
Bruce Campbell is my favorite actor, and the creation of this movie is detailed in his autobiography "If Chins Could Kill," which if you have the time to read is a hilarious and insightful look at filmmaking. Evil Dead 2 is a great film, but Army of Darkness is an absolute cult classic.
This movie ranked at #76 in the 100 scariest movie moments on Bravo, cool reaction as always Natalie, you take care and have a nice day sweetie 🥰❤️
Heading down The Evil Dead rabbit hole is so much fun. The films and tv show. The newest one really messed me up. Can’t wait for you to get to Evil Dead Rise. 🎉❤😅
Nat, I really hope you watch Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, i think you would enjoy those a lot more. Evil Dead 2 might confuse you though, lol. It's more of a remake of the first one than a sequel. It's just a lot more comedic.
I love everything EVIL DEAD!!!! One of the most consistent & honestly my favorite horror franchise! I love all the movies & the show which is by itself is phenomenal but the OG is my favorite! Its soooo creepy & scary but really fun! The practicals are legit incredible for the budget too! The movie made Bruce the Chin Campbell into an icon & Sam Raimi into an A list director! "Join us......join us.......join us...."😈 plus the deadites are just iconic in their own right! Glad youre finally checking out this iconic horror series Nat! Groovy!😎
The second movie is a remake of the this one, but with more comedy. The third is a direct sequel to the second, with even _more_ comedy. A definite must-watch.
I love The Evil Dead 2, it's one of my all time favorites. It's even more over the top and leans heavily into the comedy elements. The first part of the film is really just a remake of this one, but with a higher budget.
I dig these movies but my fav is Army of Darkness. It's hilarious and creepy. Maybe a reaction to that one? The second one (EDII Dead by Dawn) is actually almost as comedic as it is scary, and intentionally so. Bruce Campbell is actually really great at physical comedy.
Welcome to the absolute chaos that is the Evil Dead franchise Natalie, hope you do ED2! It’s my favourite movie.
So so happy you’re watching this! Also a fun fact, my dad went to High School with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell!
I saw this movie when I was 11 years old, and no, I wasn't ok for a long time, it gave me a lot of nightmares, but I still love the saga and everything that came after it.
I saw far worse at that age 😅
Hey Evil Dead 2 is a lot like this one but the following sequel Army of Darkness is one of my favorite films of my childhood and I hope you press onwards to see it.
This was the movie that showed me how much of a fun time you can have being scared. For the longest time I was a huge wuss when it came to horror movies but one night I worked up the courage to watch this alone and it all clicked. I think the rough edges of the Evil Dead really helped to make it more palatable as well. It seems most fans consider Evil Dead 2 to be their favorite but I'm firmly in the camp of preferring the original for being explicitly a horror movie
ha ha Your thumbnail really does sum up your reaction Nat 😀
This year's Natmares season has been stellar Nat. Thank you 🤗
Me and a friend watched this when it was released on VHS (1983) when we were 18 years old. We then introduced it to multiple groups of friends to watch them crap their pants too. We didn't have a movie theatre in our little English town.
(In its first week of video release, the film made £100,000 in the UK. It quickly became that week's bestselling video release, and later became the year's bestselling video in the UK)
It became part of the video nasty series
They made this flick for UNDER 400k total, were so green that the windows they broke were real glass, the chainsaw actually had the chain on it..... And they created a masterpiece cult classic! THAT is talent
And that's why this movie is goated
7:10 Evil Dead: Rave! I need this in my life.
That reaction to the tree assault scene was the best of all reaction videos to date.
"STOP I DON'T WANNA JOIN... I'M NOT HOME OKAY.!" Fantastic gag 10 out of 10.
This is why Sam Raimi is in my Top 5 filmmakers. I love this entire series. Well, the ones that feature the character Ashley Williams, anyhow. I’m too much of a chicken to watch the others.
That swing just suddenly stopping...thank you for keeping it in and showing your reaction. Same one I had. "Oh shit."
Evil Dead 2 is a MUST! It's basically the same story... that then continues on past the last scene in this one 😁
I know people love the rest of the series but this one is it for me! Idk I'm not into the humor and camp of the other two, though I do like campy movies. I loved this one in high school and it's still a favorite. It's similar in 2 but the camerawork, the lighting, the practical effects, just all of it is so good to me! I also think it's such a great example of what younger and aspiring filmmakers can do with small budgets, passion, and innovation. I love the mirror being water tricks. It's something Jean Cocteau did a lot, which can be seen in his Orphic Trilogy.
Sam Raimi was the only reason why I went to see MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
I never cared about the Multiverse
Says the person with the Rick avatar! Hahah! I see you.
All of the evil dead stuff is worth the time
Army if Darkness, Ash vs. The Evil Dead, etc are great! Highly recommend Bubba HoTep! The guy who plays Ash plays old man Elvis Presley and he teams up with an older black guy who thinks hes JFK, to fight a cowboy mummy in a retirement home
if you ever watch the 2nd movie, don't be confuse about the continuation since, it was both a remake and a sequel, since they can't get the copyright for the first movie.
Next time watch the remake (2013 version) it is so good & wholesome
Please watch all of them and the series. They are so great. Please don't wait till next Halloween.
Even though Natmare is now over, I do recommend watching the 2013 remake, and also eventually the 2023 Evil Dead Rise movie, they both have a different vibe than the original, but equally fun and entertaining imo
(edit): after watching your reaction, I don't know how well you would do with the gore in those two movies, you maybe wouldn't like it lol
Since you asked...
I actually saw Evil Dead when I was around 10 years old...but the overall circumstances of how this came to pass helped me quite strongly with my previous fear of horror movies.
In Germany the movie went by the title "Tanz der Teufel" (meaning "Dance of the Devils"). Coincidentally, Roman Polanski's horror comedy "Fearless Vampire Killers" was very popular in Germany at the time (it was shown on TV every winter), going by the title "Tanz der Vampire" (meaning "Dance of the Vampires"). Accordingly, my mom assumed that Dance of the Devils must be a horror comedy, maybe even a sequel to the popular vampire movie (which she loved). One morning she naively decided that we could watch it together, when we were both bored and had this VHS tape lying around, without any cover or description. (My dad used to bring home lots of VHS tapes that his friends decided he had to watch, although he barely cared).
What helped me immensely was that we were watching it so early, on a beautiful sunny day. We were also interrupting the movie's tension with occasional chatting, since my mother started getting uncomfortable once she noticed there was no whimsical comedy and kept asking me how I felt about it. All of that led to me just having a good time with it. No nightmares and no bad memories.
Please give the Star Trek franchise a chance.
The slow thoughtful philosophical content could be interesting
Natalie, you braved this flick. Gratitude for your valiant heart.
This "Evil Dead", "Evil Dead 2", and "Army of Darkness" is what got me wanting to see more of Sam Raimi's work. Especially when I realized that Sam, his brother Ted, and Bruce Campbell all like working together. They all worked on "Xena Warrior Princess" together too. Ted and Bruce also had small rolls in Sam's Spiderman movies.
You NEED to watch part 2...
You need to watch them all, Nat. Probably the most consistent horror series ever. Not one bad film. Plus I'm pretty sure you will love Evil dead 2 and army of darkness more :D
Always so surprised when I see people say Evil Dead doesn't have any bad movies. Evil Dead Rise is one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time
@@danishprince2760 neat
The moment with the pencil is somehow one of the most visceral moments in any movie
Glad to see that you've put Evil Dead on your watch list. Now that you've seen this and a few other of his movies, there is something to look for in the future. That Oldsmobile is in every one of his movies. Somehow he makes it appear over and over.
The making of documentaries about this movie are fantastic. The grueling DIY nature of this movie is so fun to hear. Less fun to live through.
I saw this as a teen but i had been fed a steady diet of B horror movies since i saw Humanoids from the Deep at the drive-in. My parents had no concept of age appropriate cinema but it toughened me mentally that no movie really affects me.
No one is mentioning the absolute gem that is Evil Dead 2013. Absolutely bonkers of a reboot, you will love it.
Congrats, you just stated perhaps the most consistently good horror franchise out there!
You can tell, it's a project of people with a lot of potential, who also are clearly still figuring shit out. Acting and script is amateurish, but the effects and direction does so much with so little.
i was 14 when this movie came out and we all had a great time watching it. it was funny. Evil Dead II is even better. this movie tried to be a real scary movie but Evil Dead II just doubles down on the camp and absurdity. if you see it, keep in mind that Evil Dead II is not a sequel. it is a retelling and continuation of this movie. the third movie, Army of Darkness goes all out on the greatness of the series. and is one of the most quotable movies ever.
I'm so glad you started this franchise.
whole franchise is awesome , all the films and tv show
the first 3 films go horror -> horror/comedy -> comedy, army of darkness is really fun with its campiness and humor
Loved your reaction. I loved that you "got" the film, and you could articulate things from a cinema perspective and personal perspective. (I've seen every single RUclips reaction of this film.) This is my favourite horror movie. The effects, the sound design, the camera work, and Baby Bruce. Linda's iconic "We're gonna get you.." is on par with Nightmare on Elm Street's "1, 2, Freddy's coming for you..". The fact this was basically a low-budget student film is astonishing, considering its execution and cultural impact on the film industry, creating the whole "cabin in the woods" horror genre. FYI, Part 2 has a 10 minute recap of part 1 as the opening, but due to Sam Raimi not having rights to footage from the 1st film, they had to reshoot, recast, and simplify the storyline so people who hadn't seen it could catch up. So that will assuage your confusion. I make sense of it by thinking of it as Ash having a nightmare about the events of the first film (up until he wakes up in part 2 in the chair), and dreams are often not a faithful retelling of events. The fact that Ash's mind is also greatly impacted makes him a semi-unreliable narrator, so that works too. Ash is one of the best final girls ever. Imagine having to kill your best friend, sister, and girlfriend? His character development throughout the franchise is iconic.
In film school, evil dead 2 is the textbook on what you can do without cg.
Evil Dead 2 is like this divided by 3. With x5 comedy and quality.
You have to watch part 2 right away, while this one is still fresh in your mind.
NATALIE! You are making my Halloween season with these reactions of my favorite spooky and scary films. Thanks!
YESSSSSS BEST SERIES BEST SERIES
Ms. Gold! Congratulations on welcoming The Evil Dead into your world! A few things: Ash returns for Evil Dead 2. Evil Dead 2 is essentially the same film.. but a whole more tongue in cheek. Ash’s ride is actually Raimi’s personal car and appears in all of his films- including as Uncle Ben’s car in Spiderman. Evil Dead 2 has glorious sequel called Army of Darkness which is even more over the top fun. Bruce Campbell (Ash) has roles or cameos in most of Raimi’s films including all 3 the first Spiderman films. Raimi also directed superhero film called Darkman starring Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand.
I've seen this movie waaaaaaay too young, and alone in the house. I think I was around 1st grade... my dad was outside, my mom was gone with my three siblings... I was so scared, I wasn't even able to get out of the couch to turn off the TV (no remote on this TV), in fear that the woman from the cellar would catch my legs from under the couch. I don't know how I ended up alone in the house watching this movie, but I had nightmares for a long time after that.
I used to watch it by myself in the dark on Saturday evenings and the creepiness made me imagine someone walking down the stairs towards me 😅
To answer your question, I watched this on video when I was 11 years old. We rented it from the video store in the days before video tapes had age ratings in the UK like movies did. I believe this was one of the films that led to ratings for video tapes being introduced in the UK.
The water mirror is a reference to Jean Cocteau. In Blood of a Poet, he used the trick with a pool of water, while in Orpheus it was a pool of mercury which is more reflective (although toxic).
I love your reactions nat and can't wait to see you watch this.
Yup "unwell" is an apt description of how I felt too. It wasn't scary but man the practical effects... xD
Also good job on the video editing, its fun. Can't wait for the next one!
First saw this when I was fourteen. Had a lot of fun. Still my favorite out of the trilogy.
Soooo glad to see you watch this indy film classic. I would highly recomend checking out the "making of" story behind this one. It's a fasinating study in what can be done with a shoestring budget if your talented enough. (Becase of legal reasons, the recap in the next two films are slightly diffrent, but for the streaming series, ASH VS EVIL DEAD, this is the story they went with.) I think the biggest unbelievable part of the story is five Uni students deciding to spend their Winter break in a cabin in the woods.
I saw it in the late 90s on laser disc. They actually gave us boys free reign to pick the movie for our whole class to watch in 7th grade and this is what we brought. Our teacher didn't even look at what we had and left to blaze cigarettes in his car before we even started it. The girls were not impressed.