The Evil Dead is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi and executive produced by Raimi and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss and Betsy Baker. The film focuses on five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area. After they find an audio tape that, when played, releases a legion of demons and spirits, members of the group suffer from demonic possession, leading to increasingly gory mayhem. Raimi and the cast produced the short film Within the Woods as a "prototype" to build the interest of potential investors, which secured US$90,000 to produce The Evil Dead. The film was shot on location in a remote cabin located in Morristown, Tennessee, in a difficult filming process that proved extremely uncomfortable for the cast and crew.
The low-budget horror film attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Horror author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which helped convince New Line Cinema to serve as its distributor. Though a modest commercial success in the United States, grossing just $2.4 million, it was a bigger success internationally, grossing more than $27 million for a worldwide gross of $29.4 million. Both early and later critical reception were universally positive and in the years since its release, The Evil Dead has developed a reputation as one of the most significant cult films, cited among the greatest horror films of all time and one of the most successful independent films. The Evil Dead launched the careers of Campbell and Raimi, who collaborated on several films together, including Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
The film spawned a media franchise, beginning with two sequels written and directed by Raimi, Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), as well as video games, comic books, and a television series. The film's protagonist Ash Williams (Campbell) is regarded as a cult icon. The fourth film, serving as reboot, remake and sequel, was titled Evil Dead and was released in 2013. Raimi co-produced the film alongside Campbell and the franchise producer, Robert Tapert. As with the films, the follow-up television series Ash vs Evil Dead was created and produced by Sam and Ivan Raimi, with Campbell also executive producing.
Cast
Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams
Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl Williams
Hal Delrich as Scott
Betsy Baker as Linda
Theresa Tilly as Shelly
Plot
Five Michigan State University students—Ash Williams, his girlfriend, Linda; Ash's sister, Cheryl; their friend Scott; and his girlfriend Shelly—vacation at an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee. Approaching the cabin, the group notices the porch swing move on its own but suddenly stop as Scott grabs the doorknob. While Cheryl draws a picture of a clock, the clock stops, and she hears a faint, demonic voice tell her to "Join us". Her hand becomes possessed, turns pale and draws a picture of a book with a demonic face on its cover. Although shaken, she does not mention the incident.
When the cellar trapdoor flies open during dinner, Shelly, Linda, and Cheryl remain upstairs as Ash and Scott investigate. They find the Naturan Demanto, a Sumerian version of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, along with an archaeologist's tape recorder. Scott and Ash joke around with the items and take them upstairs. Scott plays a tape of incantations that resurrect a demonic entity. Cheryl yells for Scott to turn off the tape recorder, and a tree branch breaks one of the cabin’s windows. Later that evening, an agitated Cheryl goes into the woods to investigate strange noises. She gets attacked, stripped, pinned to the ground, and raped by demonically possessed trees. When she manages to escape and returns to the cabin bruised and anguished, Ash agrees to take her back into town, only to discover that the bridge to the cabin has been destroyed. Cheryl panics as she realizes that they are now trapped and the demonic entity will not let them leave. Back at the cabin, Ash listens to more of the tape, learning that the only way to kill the entity is to dismember a possessed host. As Linda and Shelly play Spades, Cheryl correctly calls out the cards, succumbs to the entity, and levitates. In a raspy, demonic voice, she demands to know why they disturbed her sleep and threatens to kill everyone. After she falls to the floor, the group checks on her; Cheryl stabs Linda in the ankle and throws Ash into a shelf. Scott knocks Cheryl into the cellar and locks her inside.
Everyone fights about what to do. Shelly becomes paranoid upon seeing Cheryl’s demonic transformation. She lies down in her room but is drawn to look out of her window, where a demon crashes through and attacks her. Shelly becomes a Deadite and scratches Scott’s face. Scott throws her into the fireplace, briefly burning Shelly's face. As she attacks him again, Scott bisects part of her wrist with a knife and then she bites off her own mangled hand. Scott stabs her in the back with a Sumerian dagger, apparently killing her. When she reanimates, Scott dismembers her with an axe and buries the remains. Shaken by the experience, he leaves to find a way back to town. He shortly returns mortally wounded; he dies while warning Ash that the trees will not let them escape alive. When Ash checks on Linda, he is horrified to find that she has become possessed. She attacks him, but he stabs her with a Sumerian dagger. Unwilling to dismember her, he buries her instead. She revives and attacks him, forcing him to decapitate her with a shovel. Her headless body bleeds on his face as it tries to rape him, but he pushes it off and retreats to the cabin.
Back inside, Ash is attacked by Cheryl, who has escaped the cellar, and the reanimated Scott. He shoots Cheryl several times, gouges Scott's eyes out, and pulls out a branch lodged in Scott's stomach, causing him to bleed out. The Deadites attack, bite, and beat Ash with a pipe. Ash throws the Naturan Demanto into the fireplace, and the Deadites stop their attack. As the book burns, Scott, Cheryl, and the book gruesomely decompose. Demonic hands protrude from both corpses, and Cheryl’s decomposed body falls and splatters in front of Ash, leaving him covered in her and Scott’s entrails. He hears a voice say "Join Us" but relaxes when it dies away. As day breaks, Ash stumbles outside. Before he can leave, an unseen entity rapidly trails the forest and runs through the cabin, breaking the cabin doors and attacks him from behind.
Categories:
1981 films,English-Hindi language films,The Evil Dead (franchise) films,1981 horror films,1980s horror thriller films,1980s independent films,1980s teen horror films,American films,American haunted house films,American splatter films,American supernatural horror films,American teen horror films,Archaeology in popular cultureDark fantasy films,Demons in film,Directorial debut films,Features based on short films,Films directed by Sam Raimi,Films set in Tennessee,Films shot in Michigan,Films shot in Tennessee,Films using stop-motion animation,Films about rape,Renaissance Pictures productions,Films with screenplays by Sam Raimi,Films about spirit possession,Films shot in Detroit,Video nasties
The low-budget horror film attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Horror author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which helped convince New Line Cinema to serve as its distributor. Though a modest commercial success in the United States, grossing just $2.4 million, it was a bigger success internationally, grossing more than $27 million for a worldwide gross of $29.4 million. Both early and later critical reception were universally positive and in the years since its release, The Evil Dead has developed a reputation as one of the most significant cult films, cited among the greatest horror films of all time and one of the most successful independent films. The Evil Dead launched the careers of Campbell and Raimi, who collaborated on several films together, including Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
The film spawned a media franchise, beginning with two sequels written and directed by Raimi, Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), as well as video games, comic books, and a television series. The film's protagonist Ash Williams (Campbell) is regarded as a cult icon. The fourth film, serving as reboot, remake and sequel, was titled Evil Dead and was released in 2013. Raimi co-produced the film alongside Campbell and the franchise producer, Robert Tapert. As with the films, the follow-up television series Ash vs Evil Dead was created and produced by Sam and Ivan Raimi, with Campbell also executive producing.
Cast
Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams
Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl Williams
Hal Delrich as Scott
Betsy Baker as Linda
Theresa Tilly as Shelly
Plot
Five Michigan State University students—Ash Williams, his girlfriend, Linda; Ash's sister, Cheryl; their friend Scott; and his girlfriend Shelly—vacation at an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee. Approaching the cabin, the group notices the porch swing move on its own but suddenly stop as Scott grabs the doorknob. While Cheryl draws a picture of a clock, the clock stops, and she hears a faint, demonic voice tell her to "Join us". Her hand becomes possessed, turns pale and draws a picture of a book with a demonic face on its cover. Although shaken, she does not mention the incident.
When the cellar trapdoor flies open during dinner, Shelly, Linda, and Cheryl remain upstairs as Ash and Scott investigate. They find the Naturan Demanto, a Sumerian version of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, along with an archaeologist's tape recorder. Scott and Ash joke around with the items and take them upstairs. Scott plays a tape of incantations that resurrect a demonic entity. Cheryl yells for Scott to turn off the tape recorder, and a tree branch breaks one of the cabin’s windows. Later that evening, an agitated Cheryl goes into the woods to investigate strange noises. She gets attacked, stripped, pinned to the ground, and raped by demonically possessed trees. When she manages to escape and returns to the cabin bruised and anguished, Ash agrees to take her back into town, only to discover that the bridge to the cabin has been destroyed. Cheryl panics as she realizes that they are now trapped and the demonic entity will not let them leave. Back at the cabin, Ash listens to more of the tape, learning that the only way to kill the entity is to dismember a possessed host. As Linda and Shelly play Spades, Cheryl correctly calls out the cards, succumbs to the entity, and levitates. In a raspy, demonic voice, she demands to know why they disturbed her sleep and threatens to kill everyone. After she falls to the floor, the group checks on her; Cheryl stabs Linda in the ankle and throws Ash into a shelf. Scott knocks Cheryl into the cellar and locks her inside.
Everyone fights about what to do. Shelly becomes paranoid upon seeing Cheryl’s demonic transformation. She lies down in her room but is drawn to look out of her window, where a demon crashes through and attacks her. Shelly becomes a Deadite and scratches Scott’s face. Scott throws her into the fireplace, briefly burning Shelly's face. As she attacks him again, Scott bisects part of her wrist with a knife and then she bites off her own mangled hand. Scott stabs her in the back with a Sumerian dagger, apparently killing her. When she reanimates, Scott dismembers her with an axe and buries the remains. Shaken by the experience, he leaves to find a way back to town. He shortly returns mortally wounded; he dies while warning Ash that the trees will not let them escape alive. When Ash checks on Linda, he is horrified to find that she has become possessed. She attacks him, but he stabs her with a Sumerian dagger. Unwilling to dismember her, he buries her instead. She revives and attacks him, forcing him to decapitate her with a shovel. Her headless body bleeds on his face as it tries to rape him, but he pushes it off and retreats to the cabin.
Back inside, Ash is attacked by Cheryl, who has escaped the cellar, and the reanimated Scott. He shoots Cheryl several times, gouges Scott's eyes out, and pulls out a branch lodged in Scott's stomach, causing him to bleed out. The Deadites attack, bite, and beat Ash with a pipe. Ash throws the Naturan Demanto into the fireplace, and the Deadites stop their attack. As the book burns, Scott, Cheryl, and the book gruesomely decompose. Demonic hands protrude from both corpses, and Cheryl’s decomposed body falls and splatters in front of Ash, leaving him covered in her and Scott’s entrails. He hears a voice say "Join Us" but relaxes when it dies away. As day breaks, Ash stumbles outside. Before he can leave, an unseen entity rapidly trails the forest and runs through the cabin, breaking the cabin doors and attacks him from behind.
Categories:
1981 films,English-Hindi language films,The Evil Dead (franchise) films,1981 horror films,1980s horror thriller films,1980s independent films,1980s teen horror films,American films,American haunted house films,American splatter films,American supernatural horror films,American teen horror films,Archaeology in popular cultureDark fantasy films,Demons in film,Directorial debut films,Features based on short films,Films directed by Sam Raimi,Films set in Tennessee,Films shot in Michigan,Films shot in Tennessee,Films using stop-motion animation,Films about rape,Renaissance Pictures productions,Films with screenplays by Sam Raimi,Films about spirit possession,Films shot in Detroit,Video nasties
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