Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1981
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Possession
Plot:
Arriving at a remote cabin in the woods, a group of friends finds a strange book in the basement, which unleashes a horde of demons that possess the group one by one and forces the lone survivor to battle them off to survive the terrifying ordeal before he becomes a member of the undead like his friends.
Review:
This here is easily one of the all-time best horror films ever made. Among the numerous outstanding qualities on display is the startling amount of high-quality suspense featured here, which makes for a truly chilling and utterly unnerving experience that starts almost from the very beginning. One of the most innovative aspects of this, the demented and bizarre camera angles here flying around the woods at inhuman speeds at truly obscure angles that gives a great idea of the forces at play here, and the continued usage of the tactic all throughout the first half to show the creatures out in the woods chasing after the ones inside or sneaking up to the cabin makes for a stellar, stand-out series of scenes which makes for quite a nice time here by building to quite a dynamic fever-pitch along the way.
As well, the later scenes in the woods where the incessant rolling fog coming through the woods enhances matters so that the scenes around the cabin where they begin whispering in demonic voices or of them approaching the destroyed bridge off in the distance are just plain chilling and creepy, effectively making a clichéd situation all the more uneasy here with the lead-in from here to the film's second half where this really picks up. Firmly entrenched with the possession angle and featuring the group coming under the influence one by one, this becomes a series of demented, creepy antics here with the possessed popping out of the darkness, crashing through the floors, or appearing sane before turning into a glowing-eyed demon throughout this section, making for some utterly chilling, jump-worthy sequences that are surprisingly demented.
Aided by the chilling, creepy cackling they do in that eerie sing-along voice while tormenting him in their demon make-up, it all creates a remarkably nerve-wracking experience. Still, none of this here is possible without the film's utterly over-the-top and graphic gore gags here, with the requirement that the body must be dismembered to be freed of possession means there's several graphic depictions here id dismantling the corpse, along with the wounds inflicted here to hold them down in the first place which requires all sorts of stabbing, impaling and setting on fire, which doesn't include the vicious antics committed against the friends while being terrorized, the blood-splatter let loose in the basement or the graphic meltdown at the end which ups the ante quite well here. While the effects don't hold up at all and the story's a mess, the positives are far more worthwhile, which make this one as enjoyable as it is.
Overview: *****/5
One of the genre's all-time undisputed classics, this one manages to hold itself up incredibly well all these years later with so few issues that it’s a gold-standard entry in the genre. Those with an appreciation for this style or approach, who enjoy this era of genre filmmaking, or who are genre fans in the slightest, will have a lot to like here without too many not enjoying this one.
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