This Ketchup Tastes Like Blood...
Long before Ash ever uttered his first witty one-liner, he was a mild-mannered young man with a knack for killing the evil undead. This is original movie is far different from any of the sequels, in the sense that this is a true horror movie. It has some scares, lots of violence and a whole bunch of scenes that make you uncomfortable. It's a classic zombie flick, and for that fact alone, I loved it.
The story opens with a group of teenagers going up to a cabin in the middle of the woods for a vacation. After finding the Book of the Dead, an ancient curse is released, and before we know it, Ash (Bruce Campbell) and the rest of the gang find themselves under the attack of the evil that was resurrected. From this point on, we are treated to gore-filled scenes with some sweet zombie killing action. The story has everything a good zombie movie has: one zombie grappling with the hero for the shotgun while another lying on the floor grabs his legs, lots of slashing and a few good old shotgun blasts right to the head. As far as zombie horror goes, it doesn't get much better than this.
The acting is nothing spectacular, but who would expect it to be? Ash is the mild-mannered hero (what happened to this Ash, anyway?), Scotty is the trademark jerk, and the girls are pretty much all the same character with different color hair. Bruce Campbell is really the only decent actor in the movie, as he is able to use facial expressions very well. In the beginning, he is all smiles, towards the middle, he is withdrawn and determined to survive, but at the end of the movie he is a terrified wreck. In the slasher movies nowadays, when the survivors finally get away, they hug their friends and laugh. That isn't very realistic if you ask me. Ash staggers out of the cabin, covered in blood, his eyes frantically searching the woods. Now that's how a horror movie should be treated.
This is one of the scariest and goriest zombie movies ever made. It's kind of strange to see Sam Raimi make a movie like this, and then make Spider-Man. But, if you are a fan of zombie movies or horror in general, this movie will be great for you. It was for me.