The Evil Dead is easily one of my favorites in the possession/supernatural horror genre of films with a simple story, fine performances all things considered including introducing audiences to the campiness greatness that is Bruce Campbell.
The Evil Dead
(1981)
Genre(s): Horror
Lionsgate | NR – 85 min. – $22.99 | October 9, 2018
Date Published: 10/26/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: These screen captures do not represent the 4K release. They were taken from the included Blu-ray release.
THE MOVIE — 4.25/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Ashley “Ash” Williams (BRUCE CAMPBELL), his girlfriend Linda (BETSY BAKER), sister Cheryl (ELLEN SANDWEISS), friend Scott (HAL DELRICH) and his girlfriend Shelly (SARAH YORK), hike into the woods to a cabin for a fun night away. There they find an old book, the Necronomicon, whose text reawakens the dead when it’s read aloud. The friends inadvertently release a flood of evil and must fight for their lives or become one of the evil dead. Ash watches his friends become possessed, and must make a difficult decision before daybreak to save his own life in this. Quick Hit Review: I’ve only previously seen The Evil Dead once before many years ago and although I normally don’t care for supernatural horror movies with few exceptions (like The Exorcist) but this is one that thrilled from beginning to the bloody end. It also launched Bruce Campbell’s career and of course was the first of the Dead trilogy with Army of Darkness taking it into an insane level of glorious campiness. What most impressed me, part from the genuinely frightening moments, were the make-up and special effects work Raimi and company did on a strict budget (reportedly $375,000). It might make today’s viewers chuckle, but I for one appreciated it. I’ll take the cheesy effects over the just as fake looking visual effects. In the end, I just had a fun time re-watching The Evil Dead and is must viewing for the Halloween season (or any time of year for that matter). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Unfortunately there’s only one feature, the Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Sam Raimi, Producer Robert Tapert and Actor Bruce Campbell. None of the featurettes on previous releases were ported over, would’ve been nice to have some of those Best Buy exclusives… |
VIDEO – 4.25/5 |
| Lionsgate releases The Evil Dead onto the 4K UHD format presented in its original theatrical 1.33 full frame aspect ratio and given a 2160p high-definition transfer. I’ve actually never seen the movie in this opened matted version having only the widescreen 1.85 one on both DVD and Blu-ray so it’s kind of nice seeing this as originally shown. As such, the picture doesn’t look bad though compared with other 4K titles, not the best either. Detail is sharp throughout while colors do shine at times though toned down in keeping with the dark nature of the film. Black levels are stark and there is some minor natural looking grain, however it’s not always consistent. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The disc comes with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track which I assume is the same as the one on the Steelbook Blu-ray release from 2014. Not bad sounding at all, this track offers good dialogue levels with no real discernible hisses or pops and some respectable depth for when the demons encounter Ash and friends. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Overall, The Evil Dead is easily one of my favorites in the possession/supernatural horror genre of films with a simple story, fine performances all things considered including introducing audiences to the campiness greatness that is Bruce Campbell. This 4K release from Lionsgate has very good video/audio transfers but sadly very limited in the features department. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.