The Evil Dead Trilogy

Spoiler Alert!

These are, by far, my favorite horror films of all time. They have not only redefined how to make a film on such a low budget scary, but also come up with  incredibly original ideas. I say original, this practically satirizes the dingy cabin in the middle of nowhere, a group of party loving teens arriving unsuspectingly and each being killed off. What is original is there is no cliches like the Nerd, the jock, etc. and instead they are just normal guy's and gal's, the humorously large amounts of blood and gore in this movie, the cinematography giving a POV look at the victims, his dutch angles(slanted) and the way he could make the movements more fluid and flowing. The film really gave off a surreal, thrilling and suspenseful atmosphere, with the foggy lake, concealed space of a log cabin and some cheap scares that were made all the more creepier with the build up behind it. 

The films, in a way, sort of link up to each other. The first film, considered to be the scariest, had five college students hang out in an abandoned log cabin, find a mysterious book, the NECRONOMICON, and awaken evil spirits. At first, I thought that this was going to be a zombie film, which it sort of is except for the bodies are more carriers for evil spirits called deadites, the body rots away as soon as the body is taken over and the beast can no longer remember who they are(Yeah that is pretty much a zombie). In the past zombie origins are never explained, especially in George A. Romero's living dead series. But according to witch lore and black magic, zombies are bodies that are re-incarnated with the souls of the dead. These beasts however can change appearances to lower the defenses of those around them, fly, transfer themselves or other deadites via bites to others and infest anything from tree's to furniture( that tree scene is still more creepy than some of the deadites in the film, don't look it up, buy and watch the movies thy are worth it!).

In the second film, the best one, there is more comedy, gore, action and Ash Williams like you have never seen him before. he has a wide array of one liners, goes through a whole amount of torture and wields a shotgun and a CHAINSAW HAND! Freaking awesome. He is also becoming more mentally unhinged, hallucinating and even becoming a deadite himself. The effects are also upped and the methods used(eg. puppets, stop-motion, camera angles, etc) should be used by many others for years to come. There are new characters including the daughter of the archaeologist who found the book of the dead, who is so much better than the last film's female lead. You can forget the introduction scene and connect it to the previous film to make them interlock, but it was meant to be a reboot, so you should try to watch the film as its own. 

As with the last one, completely new set up, but still connected. Ash has been transported back to the middle ages and is proclaimed the prophet from the sky(as he fell from it when they found him) and is sent to search for the book in hopes of it sending him home and ending the deadites. This film has way more slapstick than horror, but an army of skeletons, schitzo-ashes(see the previous film) and a whole new collection of one-liners are worth it.

What makes this collection of films have such a large cult following is anyones guess. Maybe its the pioneering effects of such a low budget film, instead of using lame CGI is a reason, maybe the high gore content at a time in the UK when films like these where video-nasties and banned, making it even more thrilling to see them knowing they are sort of illegal or perhaps its the legacy of the film with each film becoming an experience on how to be innovative with your money( for cheap props check out Backyard FX on youtube), how to build tension and atmosphere and coming up with an original Idea is more innovative and fun than just ripping or adapting. I recommend you see it and tell the world about it. If you have an opinion please leave a responce and thank you 

PS Sorry for the Delay, I have been busy.