Evil Dead: A Review

 ”What movies I like? I enjoy horror movies with vaampiirrres, zooombies, and all that stuff. You like scary movies?

   “Not as much as I used to. I much rather enjoy being enlightened than scared.“

     The following was a dialogue from my last date which became horrible. She ended up being eaten by Zombies who had a craving for stuck up bitches. But I digress.

   I thought about that exchange when renting the cult classic, “Evil Dead.” The horror/comedy hybrid has been more to my liking, especially this time of year when the Halloween merchandise is already on the shelves.  

   A synopsis in this case is not necessary. You don’t need psychic abilities nor creative writing skills to figure out the plot outline but here’s one anyway:

 Basically, Bruce Campbell, his long chin and buddies go out to the woods for a weekend of good times and yes, some old fashioned whoopie making.  

   While the fellas go down stairs to investigate some creepy cacophony(that is a big word for “noise”), an ancient book is found. Like in all movies of its kind, it is written in an archaic language and reading it aloud in English is a very big no-no.

   Of course in movies of its kind, so breaks the rule. In this movie’s case, however, it is a tape recording of a scholar- one who visited the cabin in the during pre-television days or long ago in other words.

   That is the setup. The rest is up to you to find out.

    “Evil Dead” is one of the first movies of its kind. It makes you laugh one moment and then scares the crap out of you the next. In my case, I laughed and was scared at the same time, an emotional combo in which I never experienced previously.

   Never in my life did a blood spewing crotch seem so hilarious. But I digress.

       The horror genre is one that always took itself way to seriously. Sometimes the scares in similar gore fest are two fold: You are either scared from what you see on the screen or you are scared of the consequences if you just scoff at the spooky effects;just imagine Wes Craven chasing you with the ax and all because you laughed at the lame double-digit Freddy Krugger sequel . This movie is not the case, because it does not take itself seriously and most of all, it counters today’s torture porn that has mistaken as spooky Halloween fare among moviegoers.

   A movie like “Evil Dead” does not take itself seriously. Hmmm. Maybe with today’s real life scares, we should all be able to relax. Life is too short to live in fear even for two hours. After all, it was James Thurber who once said that humor is pain in retrospect. It only leads to one question: Who the hell is James Thurber?