Cult 101: The Evil Dead (1981) 4K Restoration
Director: Sam Raimi Run Time: 85 min. Rating: NC-17 Release Year: 1981
Starring: Barbara Carey, Betsy Baker, Bruce Campbell, Cheryl Guttridge, David Horton, Dorothy Tapert, Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich, Philip A. Gillis, Theresa Tilly
Country: United States
Language: English
Presented as part of the 2023 edition of Cult 101.
About the film:
A secluded cabin. An ancient curse. An unrelenting evil. Five young friends have found the mysterious and fiercely powerful Book of the Dead. Unable to resist its temptation, they release a violent demon on a blood-thirsty quest to possess them all.
An innovative and iconic cult classic, Sam Raimi’s first feature film The Evil Dead (1981) screened out of competition at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival for an audience that included horror master Stephen King, who endorsed the film with a rave review in Twilight Zone magazine. And the rest is history.
Grindhouse Releasing worked with Raimi to restore the film from the original 16mm camera negatives. This stunning version of the film features a reimagined score by original composer Joseph LoDuca and a thrilling new 5.1 surround mix created by Marti Humphrey and Jussi Tegelman, the award-winning sound crew behind the film Drag Me to Hell (2009) and series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-2018).
About the filmmaker:
Sam Raimi is a highly inventive American filmmaker. He developed his dynamic visual style crafting short stories and the savage, darkly humorous horror features The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992). He helmed a wide variety of films, including his original superhero story Darkman (1990), western The Quick and the Dead (1995), crime thriller A Simple Plan (1998), baseball film For Love of the Game (1999), and fantasy The Gift (2000) before being handed the reins of Stan Lee’s web-slinging comic book superhero for Spider-Man (2002) and its sequels. With his latest feature, he brought a bit of horror to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
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