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Evil Dead [WS]

1917

Market price: ~~$19.97USD~~

Our price: $13.79USD
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Status:

IN-STOCK
Released: 2002-03-05

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Evil Dead [WS] DVD Cast & Features Cast:
Theodore Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel, John Cameron, Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Hal Delrich, Sarah York

Director(s): Sam Raimi

Features:
Widescreen presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs
Audio commentary with writer/director Sam Raimi and producer Robert Tapert
Audio commentary with star Bruce Campbell
Behind-the-scenes footage & outtakes
Theatrical trailer
TV spots
Poster and still gallery
Talent bios
Languages: English
Languages: French

Evil Dead [WS] DVD Details

Video:
Theatre Wide-Screen
Audio:
Dolby Digital Surround EX (simulated 6.1)
Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel
True 6.1 system. Rear center channel is separately encoded into the DTS soundtrack.
Language:
English
French
Subtitles:
English

Running Time: 85
Genre: Horror Sci-fi Fantasy
Item Weight: 2
UPC: 013131190397
Product Code: ANCH11903DVD
Format: DVD
Year:1983
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

Evil Dead [WS] DVD Summary This auspicious feature debut from Sam Raimi -- shot on 16mm in the woods of Tennesse for around $350,000 -- secured the young director's cult status as a creative force to be reckoned with.

The nominal plot involves five vacationing college kids -- Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), and their classmates Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Scott (Hal Delrich) and Shelly (Sarah York) -- making an unplanned stopover in an abandoned mountain cabin surrounded by impenetrable woods.

Before settling in for the night, they come across an ancient-looking occult tome filled with dense hieroglyphics and macabre illustrations, a dagger fashioned from human bones, and a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

The taped message, dictated by a professor of archaeology, describes the contents of the Sumerian "Book of the Dead," filled with incantations used to bring otherworldly demons to life, giving them license to possess the living.

The message goes on to explain that those possessed by these demons can only be stopped by total bodily dismemberment.

When played among the group later that evening, the professor's recorded translations of the ritual chants traumatize the strangely prescient Shelly .

.

.

and simultaneously release an ominous presence from the depths of the forest.

The evil spirits take to their dirty work with gusto, first assuming control of Shelly and transforming her into a cackling, murderous hag with superhuman strength; the others imprison her in the fruit cellar and chain the trapdoor shut.

The spirits then begin to possess the other women, including Linda -- who immediately turns on Ash with a barrage of punches and sadistic taunts.

Unable to bring himself to chop up his lover's corpse, Ash gives her a more customary burial in the woods -- which proves to be a big mistake.

As the others succumb to demonic influence, Ash's horrific predicament becomes increasingly grim until, when all hope seems lost, he stumbles upon a final, desperate solution to the ghoulish onslaught .

.

.

well, maybe not.

Despite the shoestring production values, Raimi has fashioned a tight, lightning-paced fever dream of a movie, filled with operatic overacting and outrageously gory effects that give the project a comic-book feel.

Based on an earlier 8mm short titled Within the Woods, this feature version was fraught with distribution difficulties before finding its first audience overseas.

After considerable word of mouth (and a glowing endorsement from horror author Stephen King), the film became a hit on home video, where it achieved further notoriety thanks to its highly-publicized banning in Britain amid the notorious "Video Nasties" censorship campaign.

Raimi, along with producer Robert Tapert, writer Scott Spiegel and much of the same crew, cranked up the story's comic aspects several dozen notches for the rollicking semi-remake, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.