 
A
group of five friends go up to a cabin in
the woods for a vacation where there's
unspeakable evil lurking in the forest. After crossing
their car from a bridge the bridge nearly
collapses.
Then while one of the five friends named
Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) is doing some
sketch art she feels a force controlling
her artwork and the cellar making noises.
Next, they find a Necronomicon book and
the taped translation of the text. They
play the tape and Cheryl freaks out
wanting the tape to be shut off.
Suddenly the evil is released and the
first one who gets posessed is Cheryl as
at first she is molested by a tree and
then later on while she is in the cabin
she turns into a demonic zombie.
Cheryl gets locked into a cellar but
stabs one of the other girls in the foot
with a pencil and is the next one to get
posessed.
All but one named Ash (Bruce Campbell)
survives from being turned into a demonic
zombie and struggles to stay alive as the
bridge he crossed over to go to the cabin
collapsed after they all arrived there as
they feared it would and is trapped
there.
I found this film
crappy at first with it's low production
values but years later it grew on me.
It is indeed a cult classic and
influential. It kind of reminds me of a George
A. Romero Living Dead flick
with more intensity and neat effects.
The story line was rushed a bit but
watching it again is a great ride I can
assure you.
When you find out that they are listening
to an evil chant ona tape you just know
something terrible is going to happen.
The acting is poor
but this was a low production film and
most of these actors never intended to be
actors in the first place.
Bruce Campbell however does well at
being driven crazy by the evil forces and
has acted in many other b-movies and does
a good job in them and worked with Sam
Raimi in many of his other projects since
he was long time friends with him since
school but none of the cast were trained
actors to start with.
Most of the other actors remained virtual
unknowns.
Ellen Sandweiss became a full
time Mom after this film but has had many
fans over the years with this one and
returned to the horror genre by acting in
independent films that is written and
directed by Dante Tomaselli and
became a cult item with this film.
A woman takes off
her top while an evil spirit is looking
in the window as her breasts are nearly
exposed.
Ellen Sandweiss' character as
Cheryl has her top ripped off while she
is being molested by a tree.
Lots of gore in
this film as it was considered the be the
goriest film of that time.
Some examples:
A posessed woman bites her hand off and
her face is slaughtered looking with
blood drooling out of her mouth plus her
body parts are chopped up with an axe
A head is decapitated and very graphic
plus is being hacked into several pieces
Eyes are pushed in with blood gushing out
and much more gruesome effects throughout
the film.
Some people's stomachs might not be able
to take it but of course if you can sit
through Nikos the Impaler
then I'm sure you are fine with this one.
Sam Raimi really
knew his stuff in this film as he knew
how to make an intense horror zombie film
especially with the camera angles of the
spirit chasing the people around a d then
showing Sandweiss' character
turning into a demonic zombie before your
eyes.
But his most classic direction was when
it showed Sandweiss being raped
by a demonic tree in the deep dark woods.
Beforehand he made Within the
Woods with most of the same cast
to take it to companies so he can get
funding for this one and succeeded.
He moved on to be a successful producer,
writer and director for many other films
like Darkman and Spider-Man
plus his involvement in the Evil
Dead sequels.
He also produced many TV episodes of Hercules:
The Legendary Journeys and
Xena: The Warrior Princess. Sam
also did the odd acting job too.
The music was composed by Joseph
LoDuca and has worked with Raimi
in many of his other projects to date and
has some good keyboard organ type as well
as the violin playing in the film for
it's low budget sounding.
[first
lines]
Scotty: Hey Ash, where are we?
Ash: Well we just crossed the
Tennessee border...
Linda:
Hey Ash! I guessed the card right!
Ash: Yeah... truly amazing.
Voice:
Join us...
Voice:
I know now that my wife has become host
to a Candarian demon. I fear that the
only way to stop those possessed by the
spirits of the book is through the act
of... bodily dismemberment.
[Cheryl
has become possessed]
Cheryl: Why have you disturbed our
sleep? Awakened us from our ancient
slumber? YOU WILL DIE!
Cheryl:
[possessed] Soon all of you will
be like me... And then who will lock you
up in a cellar?
[cackles]
Shelly:
[Shelly's face smoking and scarred]
I don't know what I would have done if I
had remained on those hot coals...
Burning my pretty flesh.
Linda:
[singing] We're going to get you.
We're going to get you. Not another peep.
Time to go to sleep.
Cheryl:
Kill her if you can, loverboy.
[Shelly
has been hacked into several pieces]
Ash: We can't bury Shelly. S-She's
a friend of our's.
Ash:
You bastards! Why are you torturing me
like this? Why?
[last
lines]
[an unseen force rips through the
cabin and comes up behind the
unsuspecting Ash]
Ash: Aaaaaah!
|
