The Ultimate Edition [DVD] of the Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror.

This review is another October-themed entry in captaind's The Good Movies EpiGuide Write-Off 2: http://www.epinions.com/content_5245804676.

My history with THE EVIL DEAD is something of a journey. The first time I rented it was at a Mesa Video Update store in a crappy VHS print courtesy of Thorn/EMI Video. Sure it wasn't the most pristine copy of the film one could ever watch, but I didn't mind once I got a load of just how insane and outrageous the movie was for a cheap old movie. Now I was familiar with the names of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell thanks to Army of Darkness, but I can tell you as much as anyone that this 1992 action romp did little to prepare me for the blacker-than-tar humor and unhinged filming sensibilities of a younger, hungrier Raimi. The movie was something I also caught on TV back in the days when the Sci-Fi Channel had the sack to air it before wussying out for cheap monster movies without even a fraction of what made THE EVIL DEAD a young genre buff's rite of passage.

The first version of the film I bought over the counter was the VHS copy from Anchor Bay that was Limited Edition copy #20644 out of 35,000 shipped copies. I foolishly attempted to sell this at a garage sale before I realized I was suppressing my natural geeky enthusiasm towards this movie I fell in love with. Besides, none of the other releases I know contain second unit sound and lighting technician Josh Becker's journal focusing on the making of the movie from November 11, 1979 to January 29, 1980. I updated to DVD the right way: Elite Entertainment's 1999 special edition release, which contained one of my first and foremost favorite audio commentary tracks as delivered by Bruce Campbell, the man with the golden chin.

Then Anchor Bay released a limited edition package that was a reproduction of the or "Book of the Dead," with artwork by FX artist Tom Sullivan and a particularly funky smell emanating from the rubber exterior, causing a feeling likely akin to what happens after one does a whippit. I made the foolish mistake of reading the trying to actually read the damn thing over the course of a few years, and although I didn't get any visits from angry demons mad that I interrupted their beauty sleep, Anchor Bay heard me.

How else can I explain the fact that I am staring right at the front cover of the 2007 "Ultimate Edition" re-release of this never-resting cult classic?

There is no other movie like this which has given me the runaround in regards to coveting available copies. Frankly, I kind of feel like a w****. I'm pretty sure that the next edition is going to come complete with a collectible Candarian dagger and a baggie containing some of the burnt remains of the Morristown, TN cabin in which the film was shot. What else can I say about the constant revival of this movie on videodisc format let alone actually discussing the movie proper?

The phrase "Spam in a cabin" was coined by professional drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs as a sort of epiphany after watching THE EVIL DEAD, which eventually took home the 1983 Drive-In Academy Award for Best Picture. The plot is as simple as it can be for anyone whose heard of the name Equinox: five college-aged friends take a vacation at a remote cabin in the woods and summon the forces of darkness in the process (from a spoken recorded passage of text from the Naturon Demonto, or "Book of the Dead"), getting possessed and slashed for their R&R. The roads lead to nowhere, the fruit cellar becomes a convenient monster lockdown site and there's a chainsaw in the work shed to be used in case of emergency. I'm licking my lips at the synopsis I just wrote.

THE EVIL DEAD is in a word: unrelenting. Sam Raimi strapped a camera to his hand and scampered around the outdoors in a way to convince you that something is watching, waiting for the chance to strike at any moment. Forget about those sequences in the Friday the 13th movies where we see the victim running through the woods as fast as she can compared to close up shots of the killer's foot moving steadily for the kill. In these woods, something spectral and unbound is on the prowl, and Raimi can't contain the demons conjured up in his camera movements. Edited with the help of Joel Coen, the movie rushes forth with macabre urgency and celebratory chaos once poor Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Ash's sister, steps outside the door in her robe.

This review borders on 3000 words accounted, so I will try to keep my opinions about the movie simple enough to transition into a discussion of the DVD contents. THE EVIL DEAD, as Joe Bob Briggs puts it, defies simple plot description because it is a compendium of clichés. And according to Edgar Wright, maker of Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, the dialogue makes the movie feel like an "X-rated episode of Scooby-Doo." The performances and production values are often laughable, the blood spurting from open wounds looking like a cross between corn syrup, tree sap and half-and-half. THE EVIL DEAD sounds unimpressive until you start hearing about the aesthetic value of the low-budget but highly ambitious direction or the unbridled verve of the horror that follows, be it the unsettling POV shots of the evil force scurrying through the foggy woods or the just plain wincing shot of a pencil being jabbed in the ankle of Linda (Betsy Baker), Ash's girlfriend.

And just who is this Ash character I've mentioned twice so far? That would be Ashley J. Williams, played by Bruce Campbell in an immortal display of physical prowess and repressed mania. It wasn't until the eventual sequel/remake that his character would truly become a man, because in the original EVIL DEAD he's kind of a second banana hero next to the more instinctive, courageous Scotty (Richard DeManincor). Ash takes a load of abuse throughout the course of the flick from his possessed companions, even having his greatest adversary at one point be a bookcase. Ash's heroism is completely coincidental and reluctant, and Raimi is mischievous enough to suggest that even he might not be able to keep the dark spirits away from him.

THE EVIL DEAD deserves to remembered as more than just a geek show, although the overt gore does become unbearably repulsive when viewed freshly. A demon biting off her own nearly severed hand ought to test any viewers threshold for pain if any earlier sequence hasn't already done so. The tour de force climax puts the splatter to a good use by simply having it drip onto a projector and thus running down the screen literally, giving a late sign of dry, ironic humor which was not lost earlier in the film (fans will remember a similar sequence right off the bat). But lauding the movie simply for its gore detracts from the movie's way with suspense, mixing loose and inventive camera movements (Raimi's knack for ominous wide angle shots is impressive) with the creepy atmosphere of setting and sound effects to make for legitimately scary sequences, like when the force intrudes upon Shelly (Theresa Tilly) in her bedroom and boyfriend Scotty goes to check upon her after hearing the shattered window.

THE EVIL DEAD is presented in a three-disc Ultimate Edition which isolates both widescreen and full frame editions of the film, the former on the first disc and the latter on the second. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen image, matted for theatrical display, is remastered well enough for a 16mm kamikaze effort, likely the same THX-certified transfer used in prior Anchor Bay editions. There's no getting around softness and grain inherent to the age and materials used to produce the film, but there is a rather muted tone to the image that dilutes some of the detail and also deprives flesh tones and certain colors of their natural qualities. Low-lit interior sequences displayed these issues more frequently than in night shots. The transfer does present good-looking saturation including some particularly solid blackness levels, and there was a clearness to the image that was luckily free of excessive print damage or digital transfer issues like noise and edge enhancement. THE EVIL DEAD looks really fine if you take it with a grain of salt, probably the best it will ever look on a professional level and certainly worth the effort for those with widescreen DTV sets.

The Dolby Digital EX 5.1, DD 2.0 and DTS-ES 6.1 surround sound mixes are definite holdovers from the older Anchor Bay releases. I was more amazed by the fact that THE EVIL DEAD was given full home theater mixes than the Sam Raimi-approved widescreen presentation. And it certainly sounds miles away from how I first heard the movie, especially once you realize the mixers really went crazy in regards of stereo separation and surround speaker reinforcement. Simply put and sorry if I sound like a huckster, but you haven't truly lived "The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror" until you fired up either of these tracks. From Joe LoDuca's eerily grand score to the enveloping sounds of angry, supernatural ambience, I was transfixed anew by how f***ing SCARY this movie sounds. Even my subwoofer was more nefariously active than I anticipated. Granted some of the dialogue and effects show signs of distortion the same the picture exhibits some wear, but the incorporation of directional effects and the solid use of all channels left me more than satisfied. Even the dialogue was intelligible and duly rooted in the center speaker.

The full frame version of the film includes only a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix, thus staying more faithful to my earliest experiences watching the movie. There is also a French language stereo surround track and both discs present the movie with closed captions for the hearing impaired.

Instead of lumping the contents of the extras into paragraphs, I will just simply list the extras one by one and go into detail about what to expect in this edition:

DISC ONE
- Vintage audio commentary by Sam Raimi and producer Robert Tapert. The writer/director and producer casually, reflectively talk about the making of the film, sharing a few great anecdotes and production specifics. In between making fun of Bruce Campbell, whom they are aware of has recorded his own separate commentary, we learn of how Tapert met his wife after she serendipitously walked out after witnessing Shelly's sexual assault by a tree branch. The track does give over to gaps of silence and dead zones in the discussion, especially late in the movie. And although the two men feel a but too sedate considering the action on screen, it's a jolly listen due to their chummy recollections.

- "One by One We Will Take You: The Untold Saga of THE EVIL DEAD" (53:42). This is as good a trip down memory lane possible given that nobody with the last names Raimi or Campbell turns up to talk. Robert Tapert is present, as are Tom Sullivan, Josh Becker and transportation captain David Goodman from the crew, the three female members of the cast and guest commentators Gregory Nicotero, Eli Roth, Edgar Wright, and John "Joe Bob Briggs" Bloom. Backed by a solid amount of behind-the-scenes footage, the interviewees mostly provide a perspective that is missing from either of the commentaries. Sandweiss is full of stories about her cast members and rough & tumble nature of her performance, whilst Goodman became a reluctant cook because there was no way in hell you could afford craft services. The filmmaker fans weigh in on how the film impacted them from the moment they saw it, with Wright certainly the wittiest and Roth the most self-defensive. And hearing from Mr. Bloom is always a treat, since he was the film's most ardent champion for territories a little south of 42nd Street.

DISC TWO
- Vintage audio commentary by Bruce Campbell. Are all men who do commentaries loud-mouthed braggarts? Nope. Just Bruce, baby...Just Bruce. Who needs a documentary when you've got the man who played the world's baddest chainsaw-handed blowhard cracking wise and dishing out enough dirt to fill a toolshed? Fast-paced and blessed with an encyclopediac memory of the shooting, distribution and even the smallest of technical details, Campbell has fun picking apart the on-screen action and getting into the inspirations and execution, making fun of himself and others in the process. Arguably the most endlessly entertaining solo audio commentary tracks ever recorded.

- "Treasures from the Cutting Room Floor" (59:19). I'm certain that even if you bought the Elite Entertainment package, you will still be unfamiliar with a lot of the outtakes in this brand new feature. Presented in chronological order are outtakes from the film that range from raw footage of shots later tweaked in reverse motion, general flubs and injuries, shots of fog machines and fake blood application, and even some legitimate deleted scenes. That moonshine sequence Campbell mentions early in his commentary is presented here, as are many other priceless moments only spoken about in earlier special editions. The Elite Entertainment outtakes were mostly silent, whereas there is audio to about 90% of the material featured on the AB disc. In short, this exclusive feature alone is reason enough to pick up the "Ultimate Edition" despite the reservations.

- Easter egg alert: Highlight the book in the special features menu and press enter.

DISC THREE
- "Life After Death: The Ladies of THE EVIL DEAD" (14:55). Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker and Theresa Tilly had all grown up and apart from the movie they starred in whilst in their youth. Suddenly, their past caught up with them, and the women felt the drive to band together and confront the phenomenon even as they were living normal lives with families and soccer games. They produced this documentary which allows them the chance to discuss in depth how they managed to cope with the infamy and popularity of the movie, even getting the chance to meet ardent EVIL DEAD fan Alice Cooper. The final credits montage is really funny stuff, so heads up.

- "The Ladies of THE EVIL DEAD Meet Bruce Campbell" (28:51). Since we've already come to know the personalities of the three ladies, it's only natural they also confront the trilogy's most revered single presence: Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell. The trouble with sitting down with Bruce is that he is so intimate with the film's colorful production history, there will be overlap with the material from the previous documentary and commentary. There's still a wonderful dynamic between the actors and several untouched anecdotes, including Betsy's recollection of Bruce dragging her wounded body out of the cabin and Bruce's moonshine-fueled antics with a Southern girl in a club.

- A 31-minute "Reunion Panel" filmed at the Flashback Weekend Horror Convention in Chicago, July 2005. Joining Bruce and the ladies onstage are Tom Sullivan, "Fake Shemp" Ted Raimi and Richard DeManincor, aka "Hal Delrich." The fan questions may often feel redundant ("Did anybody get hurt during the film?" Did you not listen to the commentaries, bro?), but putting together all of the principal cast together in the same scenery does provide a stream of consistently acerbic, enthusiastic responses that are periodically self-deprecating and playfully taunting. It should be said that the untrained eye and ear might confuse Ted Raimi with Quentin Tarantino.

- "Unconventional" (19:06). An offshoot of the latter feature, with the actors engaged in a hearty group discussion about their experience meeting fans on the convention circuit and the legacy of their own film. Campbell sounds the most seasoned of the group, naturally, whereas Ted describes himself as "kind of a convention geek." The two of them act as quasi-moderators although the ladies chime in on their own with thoughts and stories at the drop of a dime. Footage of the stars up close with DEAD devotees young and old pepper the feature and turn up in untouched excerpts during the credits.

- "At the Drive-In." A day before the panel discussion, the reunited EVIL DEAD team appeared in front of a drive-in movie screen rewarding their audience with free copies of THE EVIL DEAD on DVD. Although not the most exciting scenario, once again it is worth watching to catch the droll interplay between the stars.

- "Discovering THE EVIL DEAD" (13:04) A fascinating featurette focusing on the turbulent video history of THE EVIL DEAD in the United Kingdom. Palace Pictures founders and cineastes Stephen Wooley and Nik Powell discuss their impressions of the movie and the witch hunt that occurred when the movie was placed on the "Video Nasties" list of banned VHS releases alongside a slew of exploitation titles.

- The movie's trailer (missing the opening narration by Bob Dorian) and four TV spots (which feature Stephen King's sentence of reverence) return, as does a minute-long make-up test familiar to owners of the prior AB edition of the film. There are galleries devoted to on-set stills and posters/memorabilia, and six other Anchor Bay release trailers turn up in the "Also on DVD" menu. Two Easter egg features can be found on the main menu, one which should also be recognizable and another which is more surprising. AB has included no "Ultimate" booklet, but instead a two-sided poster reproducing both the original and restored theatrical re-release poster art.

Movie: 4.5 stars.
Video: 4 stars.
Audio: 4.5 stars.
Extras: 4.5 stars.
Final: 4.5 stars, rounded to five for display purposes.

THE EVIL DEAD is not rated but would qualify for an NC-17 due to gory scenes of carnage and a simulated rape scene. The movie runs 85 minutes. The movie premiered in Detroit on October 15, 1981 but would not be distributed theatrically until April 15, 1983 through New Line Cinema.