In 1978, a young college filmmaker named Sam Raimi shot a short film entitled "Within The Woods" with a group of friends.  This film featured four friends renting a cabin in the woods only to have their friendly excursion become host to a little supernatural possession.  Within The Woods would become to the precursor to one of the most widely known and revered horror films of all time, The Evil Dead.  Following a similar plot to the student film before it, The Evil Dead brought a relentless amount of shocking imagery and gore-soaked scenes to audiences across the world and would quickly develop one of the largest cult followings in movie history.  Here’s the review of the latest edition (among many releases of the same film currently available) of The Evil Dead from Anchor Bay Entertainment:

So here we have the Ultimate Edition of Evil Dead that was released in December 2007.  Let me just say up front that this film has been released nearly a dozen or so times in different "editions" since the creation of the DVD format.  Hardcore Evil Dead fans often roll their eyes upon hearing the fact that their favorite film has been re-released yet again, but they still buy the newest edition anyway.  This probably explains explains the reason why this franchise has been such a cash cow.  None the less, lets see how this particular edition measures up:

The Plot:

Five college kids decide to rent a cabin deep within the woods presumably just to chill out for the weekend.  After spending some time in the cabin, they just happen to stumble upon The Book of the Dead, how lucky of them!  Later on, they find a tape recorder in the basement of the cabin which they play back for shits and giggles.  The recorder actually has demonic incantations from the Book of the Dead and shortly after its playback, these incantations summon demons who start to possess the group.  The first person to get possessed is a girl named Cheryl, who prior to her possession gets raped by trees in one of the most ridiculous scenes ever.  One by one the kids are possessed by this demonic force, leaving an unlikely hero named Ash to put in end to the evil that has overtaken his friends.

The DVD:

•  Image
  • There are two versions of the film on the Ultimate Edition set, one being an anamorphic widescreen version, and the other being a full-frame version.  The widescreen version looks pretty well on DVD, although I’ve heard its a port from a previous version of the movie.  The same thing goes for the full-screen version on the second disc, although the quality is a notch or two below the widescreen version.  Still purists prefer the full frame version, as its how the movie was originally released.  Considering the budget of the film and what materials Anchor Bay had to work with, I’ll give an overall of 8.5 out of 10

• Sound
  • On disc one, there is both Dolby Digital 6.1 and DTS-ES tracks.  I chose to go with the DTS track when watching the movie, and although it sounds pretty well, its not as solid as other DTS tracks I have heard from other "cult" movies.  The full frame version of the film is presented in Dolby Surround 2.0 and it’s pretty much what you would expect.  Despite all the sound options you have in this set, none of them really goes "above and beyond" for it to be considered "Ultimate":  7 out of 10
    

• Extras
  • Here’s where this set really shines.  Disc 1 has a documentary about the film, its history, and its impact on the genre.  Disc 2 also has a featurette of scenes that were cut from the film.  However, I should note that both of these were available on previous releases of the film it its "Book Of The Dead" packaging.  Disc 3 is packed with all new features (well they’re new to me, I’m not sure if any of these were on previous sets), most of which detail "The Ladies of Evil Dead" who were the actresses in the film.  It details what they’re up to now, and their activities at horror conventions across the country.  I found this and other features on this disc to be very enjoyable.    9 out of 10

The Bottom Line:

Before I conclude this review, I have to point out that Evil Dead is one of the scariest movies of all time.  Despite a lot of hokey acting and the feeling of a low budget film that it emits, the ability to scare the hell out of you can’t be denied.  In particular, the scene where Cheryl first becomes possessed still freaks me out to this day.  Not to mention images of a demon in the cellar, and the shrieks and laughs of these demonic creatures on screen.  This film always gets praise among horror fans, but I think that many people look over the fact this movie is quite simply spooky as hell.

So is the Ultimate Edition the definitive version of The Evil Dead?  Well, yes and no.  Noticeably absent is the original student film that the movie was based on, "Within the Woods".  Apparently there was an uncleared audio sample that prohibits a wide release of the movie.  Many fans have speculated (and often joked) that there will be even more releases of this film in the feature, possibly containing Within the Woods.  Also, several extras were ported over from "The Book of the Dead" edition that was released a few years before this.  I don’t own that edition, but many folks have complained of its similarities.

Overall, I’m going to base my rating of this set on its own merit, rather than comparing it to previous versions.  If you don’t have this movie on DVD yet, you can’t go wrong with this set.  If you do have it on DVD, you may want to pass on this one.  Or, if you’re a geek like me and you want to "upgrade" your previous version by buying this, you can’t go wrong either.  This set has all of the audio options, video options, and extras you could want. The film itself is bonafide classic, and it belongs on any serious DVD collector’s shelf.  Well, that is if you don’t have it already…..

9 out of 10

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