Video Rewind: An Evil Weekend

During most of the '80's, I really wasn't too much of a horror fan but as the years have gone by, I'll watch something "scary" every now and then.

One weekend, my friend Angie had suggested we have a pajama party (complete with drinking, pizza and of course horror movies) and I'd look for any excuse to take a Monday off. I mean, who doesn't? This was also a weekend that I'd have a crash course on The Evil Dead.

Anyway, she was really into horror movies and brought her copies of The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. Actually, she should have left both at home.

She raved and went on about how good the movies were and since most of the cast and crew were from the Detroit area, it would be like paying a tribute to them. I don't know what type of tribute it would have been, but when I look back on it and having watched the franchise again, I can't help but stick with my original thoughts...these movies suck!

No matter how you try to slice and dice it, I think it was pure luck that The Evil Dead found a distributor which helped the '80's horror movement.

So what's the plot?

Five friends travel to a cabin and mayhem begins after they discover a tape recorder. While playing it they raise the dead and you can almost guess what's about to happen. Four of them become possessed and one survives (of course without a survivor you wouldn't have two more installments).

The best and creepiest performance comes from Betsy Baker. Her makeup and "possessed" performance is by all means a cinema classic. You don't want to skip the special features portion of the DVD. Select behind the scenes and you'll truly get a sense of just how creepy she is by going in and out of character.

While it's no secret that Bruce Campbell survives (since he's the lead in the following sequels) and if you plan on watching Evil Dead II don't even waste your time. Basically, it's a remake of the original, only this time it has Ash and Linda (Denise Bixler) going to the cabin sans the others.

But in this "sequel" we also meet Professor and Mrs. Knowby and their daughter who is on her way to the cabin to bring some newly discovered pages from the book of the dead.

If you were unsettled during The Blair Witch Project with the wobbly camera, then you don't want to watch this due to the wobbly camera effect. I thought I needed some type of motion sickness pills to make me feel a little more at ease.

While there really is no connection to the original you may want to watch it out of curiosity and for the setup of part three Army of Darkness.

Although there seems to be a six year gap between movies (and if I had to choose) I'd probably go with the latter due to the more advanced special effects.

The journey into Darkness starts with the usual flashbacks (if you blink you'll miss Bridget Fonda as Linda) which tell us why Ash is in 1300 A.D.

Throughout the movie he battles the forces of evil once again and finally finds his way back to modern day. The end.

As for Angie, I don't know what happened to her. One day my friends and I had heard she joined some religious cult but no one can be sure.