(NOTE TO DR. LANGGUTH: THIS IS A REPRINT OF A PREVIOUS POST FROM THE HORROR CLASS. THIS IS NOT NEW MATERIAL)
In light of this class' ability to actually use and comment on the blog, I have decided to repost one of my posts from my time in the Horror Film class that used the same blog. Unfortunately, during that run, not many people read the blog... hopefully you all enjoy
Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic, “The Evil Dead” is often cited as the definititive low budget horror masterpiece, and largely holds up as a truly horrifying, suspenseful film. Raimi’s visionary direction led The Evil Dead to receive much critical praise, and ultimately, an increased budget for two sequels (which progressively moved farther away from horror and into comedy). The Evil Dead can be applied to both Noel Carroll’s account of Art-Horror and Cynthia Freeland’s account of Art-Dread, and the film is a near perfect hybrid of both.
The movie begins with five college students, led by Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), going camping in a Tennessee cabin in the woods. Immediately after they arrive, odd things begin happening (porch swings moving by themselves, trees making noises, strange fog, etc) but the students continue and unpack.
After the cellar door flings open unexplained, Ash and Scotty investigate. While in the cellar, they find a book and a tape. The book, which is later revealed to be The Necronomicon Exmortis (a book with demonic incantations), is bound in human flesh and written in blood. The tape is of a professor who lived in the cabins deciphering the book. For thrills, the students playback the tape, which reveals the incantations to have demonic properties, and immediately the woods seem to come alive in search for revenge. Later that night, one of the students, Cheryl, is brutally attacked by the woods, and demands to return to town. Ash takes Cheryl and drives away from the cabin, but the bridge on which they came in is now in ruins, stranding the frantic campers. Ash listens to the rest of the tape and learns that humans can be possessed by Candarian Demons released by the incantations and the only way to stop the demons is through bodily dismemberment. Cheryl soon becomes possessed and attacks the campers, but is detained and locked in the cellar.
Scotty’s girlfriend Shelly is the next to be possessed by the demons, and she attacks Ash and Scotty, only to be brutally dismembered. After burying the body, Scotty flees from the cabin and is mortally wounded by the woods. Finally, Ash’s girlfriend Linda falls victim to the demons and is possessed. Ash is left alone to find a way to defeat the demons and escape the woods. Tortured by his possessed girlfriend, Ash drags her outside and buries her (unable to dismember her). She soon rises from the grave and attacks Ash, who is at the last moment able to behead her with a shovel. A wounded Ash returns to the cabin only to find that Cheryl has escaped from the cellar and Scotty has become possessed by a demon. 
Ash hurriedly grabs a shotgun and barricades the doors to prevent Cheryl from re-entering the cabin. Ash then proceeds to the basement in search of shotgun shells in what is one of eeriest sequences of the film. In the basement, the house begins to bleed, random calls of “we’re gonna get you” can be heard, clocks begin rolling backwards, and windows slam open and shut. Ash returns upstairs for the final confrontation between himself and the demon possessed Scotty and Cheryl.
Ash realizes that if he tosses the Necronomincon into the fire, then the demons will disappear. After a brutal struggle, Ash is able to toss the book into the flames and defeat the demons in the cabin. At dawn, Ash leaves the cabin, but is stalked by an unseen demon.
The Evil Dead evokes a strong feeling of art-horror. The film does have a monster as Carroll would define, which is both disgusting and fearsome. The Demons are physically, as well as categorically, disgusting. The monsters would be considered fusion monsters by Carroll. The film’s imagery is intensely horrific, with graphic violence and gore throughout (from dismemberment, to decaying corpses, to self mutilation, gouging eyes out, etc.) which adds to the overall terror and physical agitation felt by the audience. The film follows a typical onset/confrontation plot (like The Thing From Another World) where our characters are thrust into a completely isolated situation, discover the workings of a monster, and are immediately the targets of its evil. The film does have several very suspenseful scenes which accentuate the high probability of the undesired outcome, such as when Cheryl walks at night into the woods (and is attacked), when Ash goes to the basement in search of shotgun shells (and experiences preternatural terrors), and when Ash looks for the missing demon/Cheryl.
The film has an atmosphere of dread throughout, which would help place it in the category of art-dread as theorized by Cynthia Freeland. For Freeland, in order for a work to evoke art-dread, it “must depict an encounter with something terrible or unsettling that is also deep, obscure, and difficult to comprehend” (Freeland 193). Some grand themes of art-dread films include cosmic justice, Man’s place in the universe, the amorality of the universe, and the struggle between good and evil. Though The Evil Dead’s primary theme is of survival, one could make the argument that it also examines the futility of Man’s effort in the face of supernatural evil, like the Candarian Demons. Freeland also argues that “a film of art-dread must make plausible the thought of imminent danger from something that is vague but profoundly evil or unsettling” (Freeland 196). For Freeland, “The Evil Dead” would probably be too concrete in its reveal of the ‘monster’, but also very good for its vague, unsettling depiction of the ‘evil woods’. In “The Evil Dead”, there seem to be multiple monsters at work. The most obvious (and of most concern to our hero) monsters are the Demons which possessed Ash’s friends, but there is also a greater evil which seems to have possessed the entire woods which we never actually see. The greater power of the objectless evil is felt throughout the film, like when Ash attempts to drive out of the woods, only to see that the bridge has been knocked out and the metal beams holding it up folded into a hand. Several of the characters frantically scream “it won’t let us leave!”, giving the viewer an unsettling feeling about something unknown. Freeland would applaud “The Evil Dead” for its tremendously unsettling and dread-inspiring setting.
“The Evil Dead” does not merely have one or two scenes of dread, but sustains a plausible environment of dread and unsettling fear throughout the film, forcing viewers to entertain such thoughts as “is there a demon around that corner?”. Truly a masterpiece, “The Evil Dead” is primarily a work of art-horror, but definitely would fall into Freeland’s classification of art-dread.
Director Sam Raimi used several cinematic techniques to enhance and sustain an environment of dread and horror. Several point of view shots from the position of “the demon of the woods” established the potential omniscience of the evil in the film, which seemed to be everywhere. Several chilling sequences also used the point of view technique, such as when Ash first walks through the basement, Scotty looking for the missing Shelly, and scariest of all was the point of view shot from the “demon in the cellar”. The extensive use of first person shots ties the viewer intimately with the action on screen, and with the protagonist, along side of whom we as viewers are not too many steps ahead in the narrative. If Ash turns a corner, we do not know what lurks behind it, unlike many horror narratives which have at least one scene which compels the viewer to scream “No, don’t go in there you idiot!”. The use of fog, off screen sound, and generally unsettling imagery helped set the stage for a truly horrifying narrative. The acting in the film was the weakest aspect, with Campbell providing the only decent performance.
No analysis of “The Evil Dead” would be complete without mentioning the truly odd phenomena that is the character of Ash Williams. Ash has gained a mythic, global, cult following that dwarfs that of any other B Movie Horror protagonists. In later installments of the series, Ash builds his mythic stature by such macho maneuvers as cutting off his possessed hand and replacing it with a chainsaw, and perpetually wielding his “boomstick”. The character reached such popularity that the third installment of the series was officially titled “Bruce Campbell versus the Army of Darkness” in several areas. Bruce Campbell’s charismatic, accessible, and weirdly believable portrayal of Ash is a memorable aspect of “The Evil Dead”.
Overall, “The Evil Dead” still stands the test of time, and 28 years later still provides a chilling account of horror and encounters with supernatural evil.
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