Think of some icons of modern pop culture, what kind of names come to mind? Sam Raimi perhaps? The director of some of the most beloved superhero movies of the early-2000s. What about Bruce Campbell? Popular leading and supporting man in TV series such as Burn Notice, Hercules, and Xena: Warrior Princess. How about common horror tropes we’ve come to know and love? A cabin in the woods with college kids making really poor decisions? Terrifying things coming out of the ground and terrorizing said adult-children? All of these things that have formed great memories and common knowledge of pop culture were born from the movie The Evil Dead.
The Evil Dead has such rich history in the horror genre. Filmed on a budget of less than $400K, the movie captivated audiences with its grotesqueries and fast-paced action-horror style. It launched the careers of both Raimi and Campbell as horror icons, and it set the tone for the supernatural horror subgenre for the next two decades and even has established tropes that shape movies today, almost 40 years later. It produced such famous sequels as Army of Darkness and a modern reboot/sequel/prequel Evil Dead 2013, and it helped establish action horror as a legitimate cinematic pursuit.
Even aside from its history and impact on the horror genre, The Evil Dead is an incredible film years later. It really slaps you in the face with its action and practical effects; if I had to group its primary fear mode, I would call it chaotic fear: so many things happen at once in the Evil Dead that the viewer quickly identifies with the protagonists’ overwhelmed feelings besieged by the chaos and anarchy within the cabin. You really feel immersed in the action, and the adrenaline really leaves you exhausted by the end of the movie. If you’re a horror fan, your Halloween experience is not complete without watching the Evil Dead.
