(Reviewed by Snake-666) - A true shock horror classic!  Sam Raimi's first major film effort, 'The Evil Dead' has now become a cult classic and one of the most popular horror films of the last twenty-five years and in my opinion, quite rightly so.

A small group of teenagers head off to a secluded cabin in the woods for a weekend of fun and partying. However, shortly after their arrival they unwittingly summon malevolent forces by playing a tape-recorder onto which a professor had recorded himself reciting the demon resurrection passages from 'The Book of the Dead'. What was going to be a fun weekend away turns into a brutal and savage nightmare.

This was Sam Raimi's buddy Bruce Campbell's first appearance as Ash and despite the reputation he has built up since the Evil Dead series in this film, he didn't steal the show quite as much as the others. Each actor and actress gave it their all in this film, and they all have the ability to make you truly believe in what is going on. This, accompanied by Sam Raimi's amazing direction and the films awesome special effects help make 'The Evil Dead' one of the truly imaginative, original and relentlessly shocking horror films of the modern-horror period, and possibly one of the greatest films of the Eighties.

After a slow and suspenseful start to 'The Evil Dead' everything is turned upside down once the evil is unleashed. Apart from occasional breaks in action to allow the increasing tension and fear from the characters to be expressed the brutality of the film is virtually non-stop. Certain scenes may suggest or portray ideas that can cause offense, but that's one of the reasons why this is such a shocking film. The film is all that much better for the gore or horror fan in it's uncut form, this includes one of the most horrific scenes in horror film history - the tree rape scene.

I'm not saying the film doesn't have flaws. Occasional lacks of realistic or just general dialogue hamper the film a little, and there is a little repetitiveness to the movie, but these small flaws are negligible enough in the face of all the good points of the movie to ignore.

This is one of the serious contenders for the Horror Hall of Fame and in my opinion is a must see for horror fans. 9/10