This is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Some people may find the special effects work primitive by todays standards, but for a low-budget film as this is they are excellent and charged with a weirdly supernatural energy; something one never sees today in the big production horror films.
However, this review is mainly going to be about the picture format. Evil Dead was filmed in 16mm, which is a full-screen format, not widescreen.
BEWARE of the so called "widescreen" versions: Book of the Dead Limited Edition, and the other editions from Anchor Bay. Nothing has been added to sides of the picture to make it wider; instead the top and bottom of the film have been cut away to make it look like a modern theatre film. Instead of more, you actually gett less. In some parts of the movie this makes an important differance; in the close-ups of faces, parts like the chins are now gone (...); other important details also disappear, like when the trap-door in the floor opens and we look down into the cellar, the lower edge of the opening is gone, so we don't see the entrance in its whole.
The full-screen version is still available, with excellent picture quality, in the Elite Entertainment edition.

Even though it's been more than 20 years since its original release, 1982's THE EVIL DEAD is still an impressive marvel of low-budget filmmaking. It does have its palpable flaws, but this first feature-length directorial effort from SPIDERMAN's (2002) Sam Raimi, produced on a shoestring budget of circa $350,000, offers clever special FX, interesting make-up work, relentless shocks, and brilliant direction and camera work. And of considerable note to genre fans, it highlights Raimi's knack for pushing violence and gore to such an extreme that it becomes comic or farcical, a characteristic that is enhanced by the slapstick talents of actor Bruce Campbell (who would himself become a cult hero due to his work in this and other Raimi films).

The story involves a group of college students who, during a weekend getaway, find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented. When they unwittingly unleash evil spirits and demons while reading incantations from the book, that's when the real havoc--and the real fun for the audience--begins. As each of the kids, one by one, are possessed by the demons they've loosed, body parts and bodily fluids go a-flying until only one young man is left to face down the Evil Dead. A simple plot with a simple set up, but Raimi and Campbell effectively milk it for all the scares and all the laughs they can get.

There are several editions of THE EVIL DEAD available on DVD, most of which come from the wonderful folks at Anchor Bay. Most are of great quality and offer beautifully restored digital transfers of this cult classic. The best discs also include feature commentaries from Raimi and Campbell.

A couple of months ago it was announced that Evil Dead was coming out on Blu-Ray. I confess that I was not very excited due to the fact that I had a copy of the HDTV broadcast of Evil Dead and didn't expect much of an improvement. Yet I decided to pick up a copy at my local DVD shop. With little excitement, I nonchalantly put the disc in my Blu-Ray player and sat back. Unlike some other Blu-Rays, this one had didn't have to take time loading and immediately went to previews of horror movies. I skipped through these and went to the menu. When the menu started playing, my spirits immediately were uplifted. The menu had the same music as the one in the Ultimate Edition over a nice collection of suspenseful moments in the film with a sepia filter over them. I decided to watch the full screen version.
The moment the movie started I was shocked. The once blurry and pink Renaissance logo and Evil Dead title were now sharp red. I was intrigued. As the movie proceeded, I was thoroughly amazed, this is and probably will always be THE BEST PICTURE QUALITY THAT EVIL DEAD WILL BE PRESENTED IN. I highly doubt that a film shot on 16mm can be up-converted beyond this; however, don't get me wrong, this isn't reference quality Blu-Ray, it's very far from it. There is plenty of grain that is inherent to 16mm film. Apparently Sam Raimi really did supervise this transfer well. It no longer suffers from the problems evidenced in the widescreen Anchor Bay releases and surpasses even the Elite DVD in sharpness. The color timing is spot on and is probably what was intended. For example, at the end, the sky is white rather than pinkish like in the Elite DVD. Additionally, reds do not bloom as in the Ultimate Edition transfer and HDTV broadcast.Read more ›

I spent some time trying to find this edition. You can find the Anchor Bay copy all over, but it is VERY lacking in features.
This DVD cost me as much as the collectors edition of The Thing, but it is SO worth it.
The bonus features include roughly 20 minutes of RAW behind the scenes footage. You can see the markings on the film go past the projector, no music, very basic. But it's very interesting to watch. In fact, many of the actors comments are left in.
Also, they include dozens and dozens of pictures. Some are just ok, others are pretty interesting. The theatrical trailer is a little different too. I've never seen that one before.
First, my biggest complaint is there is no wide screen version. Maybe wide screen versions didn't exist in 1982, I have no idea.
You can select two types of commentary. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, or Bruce Campbell. Let me just say that I was very, very disappointed with Sam and Robert. They might as well have not even bothered. During the ENTIRE movie, you could just about fit BOTH of their feedback on a single sheet of paper. Worthless. At times they would go over 5 minutes with no comments. Doesn't that totally defeat the purpose? Both men are very quiet. I wish Elite would have just scrapped them altogether. I am very glad I didn't buy it for their commentary.
Bruce, on the other hand, gave EXCELLENT commentary. Just about every single scene he gives detail. He shows you mistakes, tells you how scenes were filmed, how far apart they were, and so much more information. In fact, I learned more about Evil Dead from his commentary than from ALL the fan sites combined. He did an outstanding job telling us how they filmed it.
On with the DVD, I can't imagine someone reading these reviews who hasn't seen it.Read more ›