The Evil Dead (Ultimate Edition)

THIS MOVIE WAS SHOT IN THE RATIO OF 1.33:1, WHICH IS FULL-FRAME TO FIT YOUR SCREEN. ANCHOR BAY SLAPPED 1.85:1 RATIO BARS OVER (I repeat, OVER) THE FULL-FRAME FILM!! IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, WATCH THE ELITE ENTERTAINMENT DVD VERSION OF EVIL DEAD. YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW BIG TIME COMPANIES WILL FOOL THE PUBLIC BY PRESENTING FULL-FRAME FILMS IN "WIDESCREEN" COVERING UP THE PICTURE!!

BUYER BEWARE!!


Not Yet a Fan of This Cult Flick? "Join Us!"   November 15, 2004
Michael R Gates (Nampa, ID United States)
26 out of 29 found this review helpful

Even though it's been more than 20 years since its original release, 1982's THE EVIL DEAD is still an impressive marvel of low-budget filmmaking. It does have its palpable flaws, but this first feature-length directorial effort from SPIDERMAN's (2002) Sam Raimi, produced on a shoestring budget of circa $350,000, offers clever special FX, interesting make-up work, relentless shocks, and brilliant direction and camera work. And of considerable note to genre fans, it highlights Raimi's knack for pushing violence and gore to such an extreme that it becomes comic or farcical, a characteristic that is enhanced by the slapstick talents of actor Bruce Campbell (who would himself become a cult hero due to his work in this and other Raimi films).

The story involves a group of college students who, during a weekend getaway, find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented. When they unwittingly unleash evil spirits and demons while reading incantations from the book, that's when the real havoc--and the real fun for the audience--begins. As each of the kids, one by one, are possessed by the demons they've loosed, body parts and bodily fluids go a-flying until only one young man is left to face down the Evil Dead. A simple plot with a simple set up, but Raimi and Campbell effectively milk it for all the scares and all the laughs they can get.

There are several editions of THE EVIL DEAD available on DVD, most of which come from the wonderful folks at Anchor Bay. Most are of great quality and offer beautifully restored digital transfers of this cult classic. The best discs also include feature commentaries from Raimi and Campbell.


A classic horror film. A must for collectors!   July 23, 2000
aaron wittenberg (portland, or)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I spent some time trying to find this edition. You can find the Anchor Bay copy all over, but it is VERY lacking in features.

This DVD cost me as much as the collectors edition of The Thing, but it is SO worth it.

The bonus features include roughly 20 minutes of RAW behind the scenes footage. You can see the markings on the film go past the projector, no music, very basic. But it's very interesting to watch. In fact, many of the actors comments are left in.

Also, they include dozens and dozens of pictures. Some are just ok, others are pretty interesting. The theatrical trailer is a little different too. I've never seen that one before.

First, my biggest complaint is there is no wide screen version. Maybe wide screen versions didn't exist in 1982, I have no idea.

You can select two types of commentary. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, or Bruce Campbell. Let me just say that I was very, very disappointed with Sam and Robert. They might as well have not even bothered. During the ENTIRE movie, you could just about fit BOTH of their feedback on a single sheet of paper. Worthless. At times they would go over 5 minutes with no comments. Doesn't that totally defeat the purpose? Both men are very quiet. I wish Elite would have just scrapped them altogether. I am very glad I didn't buy it for their commentary.

Bruce, on the other hand, gave EXCELLENT commentary. Just about every single scene he gives detail. He shows you mistakes, tells you how scenes were filmed, how far apart they were, and so much more information. In fact, I learned more about Evil Dead from his commentary than from ALL the fan sites combined. He did an outstanding job telling us how they filmed it.

On with the DVD, I can't imagine someone reading these reviews who hasn't seen it. My guess is that most readers will just want to know what the DVD has to offer. If you want selection, get the Elite version. The Anchor Bay version has virtually nothing on it.

The special effects look a little more fake on DVD, but I think just about everyone knows they were very low budget. Still, the blood and guts hit home. This is an excellent late night, weekend or whatever horror flick. Not for the weak, even with the low budget special effects.

As most readers will know, Evil Dead set a standard for its extreme use of blood and guts, bodily dismemberment, acts of killing, and demonic disfigurement.

The Elite version costs more than the Anchor Bay version, but if you are a TRUE Evil Dead fan, get the Elite copy. It is far superior. You will be VERY glad you did.

Did you know they shot in at least 3 different locations? Hal and Sarah (actors) were not their real names? Betsy Bakers character had several stand ins? That there was no cellar in the actual cabin? That many of the back to back scenes were actually filmed 6 month (or years) apart? Well, you'll find out.


THE, "ULTIMATE" EDITION, BUT STILL NOT THE, "PENULTIMATE" EDITION...   December 17, 2007
stryper (Canada)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

First off, anyone who loves this film knows, that the now out of print, "Elite" edition, has the best over all picture quality (just compare the scene where Ash gives Linda the necklace, between the two versions, and you'll see that the Anchor Bay version is soft, almost to the point of being out of focus, where as the Elite version is much sharper) and it seems that no matter how many times Anchor Bay, "Remasters" their print of, The Evil Dead, they just can't seem to make it look any better.

So what we have in this new, "Ultimate" edition, is the same old tired transfer of the film, this time in both wide and full screen formats (of which the major consensus is that the full screen version is the director's preferred aspect ratio, which is made even more evident during the commentaries for Anchor Bay's previous, "Evil Dead" edition (the one cropped to widescreen, but with both commentaries on the same disc) during the scenes where things in the picture are referred to, even though the widescreen matting on the top and bottom has covered them up, case in point, white rocks placed at the bottom of the cabin's front porch, which one of the commentaries refer to as looking like teeth, making the cabin look like a skull, are cropped out, in order to get the full shot of the large moon in the top of the frame (we where obviously meant to see both).

And as for the, "New" material, it consists mainly of a 59 minute retrospective, with no Bruce or Raimi participation (although Rob Tapert and the, "Ladies of the Evil Dead", along With the, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz director and the Cabin Fever, Hostel director, to name a few, pipe in through out) which doesn't really tell you any more info then you already know, and also a couple of, "Ladies of the Evil Dead" talk sessions, which although interesting, aren't really all that worthy of an upgrade.

Of Note: one of the, "Ladies of the Evil Dead" mentions at some point, having been at a commentary session with the other two girls, and since this commentary doesn't appear on this, "Ultimate Edition", DVD set, then it can only lead one to believe that another edition is in the works (probably, "The Ladies of the Evil Dead", Edition).

There's also a, "From the Cutting Room Floor" feature, which is really just a cleaned up version of the deleted /alternate scenes, which already appear in both the last Anchor Bay and Elite editions.

So, unless you can't get your hands on the, Elite DVD, to get the full screen version, want to see the, "Soccer Moms of the Evil Dead", are a completest (my particular affliction... lol) or just want to fork over more hard earned cash to the people at Anchor Bay, then this edition can be skipped, and you can begin to save up for the next edition.

Hope this helps :)



Evil Dead: The Ultimate Experience in Cult Horror   October 12, 2000
Robert Graff (USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

One of, if not the, biggest cult horror film of all time makes it's long awaited debut on DVD...and fans will not be disappointed. Elite Entertianment has brought Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD to us in an impessive collector's edition with enough extras to make any deadite fan happy. First off, let's talk about the quality of the presentation. In a word: excellent. I've seen Evil Dead a number of times on video and I can safely say that i have never seen Evil Dead look this good. The film is presented in it's original full-frame aspect ratio and the print is extremely clean. The audio has been remixed in both a 2.0 stereo and 5.1 dolby surround soundtrack and I doubt that this film has looked or sounded this good...well, ever. The DVD also contains a number of exciting extras including the films trailer, a still gallery, and about 20 minutes of raw behind the scenes footage. The most exciting features, however, have to be the disks two audio commentary tracks. One is a very insightful track featuring director Sam Raimi and Producer Rob Tapert. The other track is the real gem of the disk. A seperate audio track featuring star Bruce Campbell. This is one of the most entertaining and funny tracks you will ever come across, as Cambell takes great liberties to make fun of the film, the director, and himself. I don't know what Anchor Bay's future release of Evil Dead will hold, but for my money, this is the best version of the film that any fan could ever hope to own.