Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Major disclaimer: I dislike horror as a genre pretty much from top to bottom. I am a major movie buff. I've seen quite literally thousands of films, have run film societies, and own a staggering pile of DVDs. But I don't like horror. I love nearly every other genre, from film noir to Astaire/Rogers musicals to screwball comedies to Italian Westerns to every imaginable form of Sci-fi, but I simply detest Horror. Doesn't matter who makes them, films by people like Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, and Eli Roth, not to mention lesser lights, just bore me to tears.

THE EVIL DEAD was not only as boring to me as other horror films, the sheer amateurish quality (albeit gifted amateurs) added an additional layer of torture. There was simply nothing in this film -- not a single second -- that I found in any way, shape, form, or manner to be even remotely entertaining.

OK, maybe I'm missing something. Perhaps the way I'm wired I'm constitutionally incapable of "getting" whatever there is to get in a horror movie. So, in a way, this review might end up saying more about me than the movie. Or perhaps it says more about most people who watch and enjoy this than it does about me. When I watch this, absolutely nothing steps forward to refute my conviction that this is complete and utter crap.

I will add that Bruce Campbell's commentary is great. I actually watched this and the two sequels to the film because I was reading Campbell's account of his career as an actor, IF CHINS COULD KILL: CONFESSIONS OF A B ACTOR. I love the book; hate the EVIL DEAD movies. Obviously the two subsequent films engage in a great deal of self-parody. I found both his account of making the film in the book and his commentary on making the film on the DVD to be infinitely more entertaining than the film itself.

In short, if you, unlike me, like horror films, especially no-budget horror film, you might like this. In fact, you will apparently love it, like most of the reviewers here. But if you don't like horror, you will, like me, probably view this movie as a different kind of horror film, in which the horror consists of your having to watch it. I'd rather watch a mime troupe than ever watch this again.

The Bottom Line:

Despite being made for almost nothing by people who were hardly professionals, The Evil Dead is an extraordinarily effective and suprisingly well-made horror movie that is capable of scaring just about anyone.