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Brenda's Review of The Evil Dead 1981 *Spoilers* · Brenda's Horror Movie Reviews

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, this is Brenda, and I'm back with a review of The Evil Dead from 1981.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've done Evil Dead Rise and Evil Dead Burn, but I have to go back to where it all started.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: This one was directed by Sam Raimi and it stars Bruce Campbell, and I was lucky enough to sit in on one of his QAs at a Spooky Empire in Florida, and he's really an entertaining, smart, witty person.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: The first Evil Dead had a budget of around$350,000, but it went on to gross over$29 million worldwide.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I gave it a rewatch on HBO Max, and I see that it says that it's leaving soon if you want to watch it on that platform.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And something that I didn't notice or know much about, it says it's rated NC17.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't given a rating at all when it was first released, and in 1990, when NC 17 came about, it was given that rating for substantial graphic, horror, violence, and gore.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yum.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was first released in Detroit with the name Book of the Dead.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I fell in love early on.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: In 1981, I was 10 years old, but I love the stop-motion animation.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I remember renting this in the video store and kind of sneaking it in to watch it when I'd have somebody spend the night.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And my real obsession came from the scene where they're guessing cards trying to use ESP and starts calling out the right number and the right suit until she turns around and her eyes have rolled back in her head.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're completely white, and she starts to levitate and is full on possessed.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I just thought, oh, that's fun.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have five friends that are going to a cabin in the woods in Tennessee, and it was actually filmed in Tennessee.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: The cabin is out in the middle of nowhere, and they have to drive over a really rickety bridge to get there.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: There are a couple of things that happen that let you know that this isn't gonna end well.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: The porch swing stops swinging and the clock pendulum stops.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then when they're all settled in and having dinner, the trapdoor and the floor flings open.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Scott goes down to the fruit cellar and that's where he finds a shotgun, reel-to-reel tape recorder, the book of the dead, and a dagger.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And of course they listen to the tape.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's the voice of a professor who talks about ruins and ancient burial practices and incantations, and the book is made out of human flesh and blood.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say that when you recite these things or listen to them, you become possessed, and he was saying that his wife became possessed.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing it's not a great idea, you know I'd listen too.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: My dumbass would have awakened Conda in the first hour.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Cheryl hears a voice saying, Join us, and she thinks it's the guy.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: She goes outside, she ends up in the woods, the branches hold her down, and she ends up getting raped by a tree.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've read that Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi actually regret making that scene.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know this sounds strange, but when my kids were growing up, I loved horror so much I didn't mind them seeing gore.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't want them seeing females being held in a bad light.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, after the tree incident, Cheryl wants to get out of there, so her brother Ash tries to drive her away.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And at first the car wouldn't start after they finally got it going, then they find out that the bridge has been torn apart.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Not long after that is my favorite scene with the cards, and as Cheryl is possessed, she ends up stabbing Linda's ankle with a pencil.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then Scott knocks her into the basement.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then it really starts getting wild.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Shelley's possessed, attacks Scott, chews her own handoff.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Scott stabs her with a dagger, axes her, cuts her up.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ash and Scott bury her.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Scott wants to leave, he walks off looking for a hiking trail.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ash goes to check on his girlfriend Linda and she pops up possessed.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ash starts hitting Linda because she won't shut up.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: She keeps giggling and she's doing some little rhyme about we're gonna get you and not another peep.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Time to go to sleep.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So bam, hit her again.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then the real Linda starts talking, and then a normal voice is coming from the basement, and it's Cheryl trying to get Ash to let her out.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Then it just becomes chaos.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: She breaks through the floor, grabs Ash.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Linda's giggling again.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ash drags her outside.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Linda stabs Ash's arm, keeps coming after him.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Then she falls on the dagger.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: He chains her up.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was gonna use a chainsaw on her, but ends up burying her.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: He actually really loves her.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: He goes to pick up a necklace that he had given her earlier and she grabs him.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: She'd been acting asleep.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: He beats her with a piece of wood and ends up cutting her head off with a shovel.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The other ones keep coming after poor Ash.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't understand with all the blood that got on him how he didn't get possessed.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: But while he was getting an attack, he was able to use the necklace to grab the book of the dead and throw it in the fireplace.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So as daylight comes, Ash starts to stagger away from the cabin and something that we don't see comes after him and he screams for the last scene.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a lot of action at the end of this movie.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So let's see how many wine glasses it gets.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Eerie?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you have woods in the night, wine glass environment.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, wine glass.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't like a cabin in the woods?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Out where nobody can hear you scream.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Evil?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wine glass.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: It wouldn't have gone down the way it did if those fools wouldn't have gone down in that fruit cellar, but hey, temptation.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Empathy?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, not really.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we have no animals.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: The 2013 reboot does have a dog in it, but that one will be for another time.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And no children, so no wine glass.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Entertaining?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll give it two wine glasses.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this is one of the best things that I can remember coming out of 1981.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So even though we're lacking on empathy, it still gets five wine glasses.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sadly for me, there will not be an episode next week.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be headed to Savannah, Georgia to spend some time with my daughter.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be going on a ghost tour into a haunted tavern.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I also have another podcast with my best friend Stacy.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're into haunted locations, be sure to look for and listen to the Savannah, Georgia episode on Let's Wine with Brendan Stacy.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can always reach out to us at bstudios at myyahoo.com.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: My next movie review will be Children of the Corn from 1984, and I'll be back in October.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: So until then.