What I learned from Evil Dead (1981)

 What is a romance novelist doing writing about a classic horror film? There can be no wider separation between them. And yet...

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Evil Dead is the quintessential B-movie horror flick that strives to be gory but maybe not so much scary. If you read Bruce Campbell's biography If Chins Could Talk, you'll find out how the movie that made Bruce, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert famous was actually made in practically their own backyard with next to no budget and huge amounts of creativity.

If you haven't seen this amazing gem and can remember that this was made in 1981 with NO budget and NO digital animation, you'll have a fun time quoting again and again some of the classic lines.

Now: What I Learned from Evil Dead

Improvise When You Don't have the Right Tool

All the special effects were done by actually DOING them. There weren't any stunt men to take the risks for the actors. If you needed a guy to fly through the air, according to Bruce Campbell, you get strapped to a pole in front of a huge 70's car. Then it is driven into a window or you are pulled through a window or whatever the scene calls for. And frankly the stunts work because they are fun to watch. It looks like Bruce expressions aren't acting but actual emotions like fear, surprise and alarm.

Make Your Characters Drive the Plot

There are some things certain characters won't do. Evil Dead is not a subtle film and because of that, the characterization isn't either. But for this it works! We have a clear idea of who Ash is and what he probably will or will not do. Instead of destroying the pace, Ash drags you kicking and screaming happily from scene to scene.

Make Sure There is a Plot

and while it bogs down a little in the middle, Evil Dead moves with speed from the cabin in the woods, to the fields to back in time (Do you want to see this movie yet?). We all know that most of the characters won't make it. They show the gore and make sure we know things are really really bad. Maybe that's why I stand behind Ash and scream at the screen to "get away!" or "don't back up in a cemetery". Someone has to survive!  Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is similar but Evil Dead still retains the top spot for the ideal mix of camp and horror / gore

Creativity - Super Creativity

Above all else, Evil Dead is creative. If necessity is the mother of invention, there still needs to be a spark of creativity to be able to come up with the necessary solution to a problem. If you have only one car to film, and it is your parents' car, you use it whenever the story calls for THE CAR. You cut off a hand - stick a chain saw on it. And remind Ash to remember the magic words!

Evil Dead the only horror movie that I will watch over and over. Actually I'll watch Slither and Tucker and Dale over and over too but Evil Dead and it's sequels are admirable for what they did with so little.

And this is from a romance novelist!