In the midst of Evil Dead Rise on the to-be-watch, the Halloweenies head back to the cabin yet again. This time they are talking about the magic within the woods. In particular, those amazing images that place death in Evil Dead. Or the evil in Evil Dead. Starting with DIY chaos in the 1981 version to the jaw-dropping craziness by KNB every thing is left untreated.

Watch the episode below or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Are you new to the Halloweenies? Reconnect with the group by revisiting their essential episodes of the past, including Halloween A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, and The Evil Dead. This year? It’s Chucky!

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I am awestruck by my personal choice of the greatest horror movie ever, 1981’s The Evil Dead, more and more each time I watch it. It’s the same for sequels (Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness) and soft reboots from 2013 that I would not view as a pure remake, but I would consider it as one of the top horror movie remakes in the event that I were to. I also find myself noticing something different about this tale of gruesome and often morbidly funny tales of demonic possession with each viewing, too.

The most recently re-watched of the first four Evil Dead movies in preparation for the upcoming five-parter, Evil Dead Rise -the upcoming horror movie I’m looking forward to the most — was no exception. So, how about you simple screwheads take the time to read through this breakdown of the fun things that popped out at me while rewatching one of the best horror movie franchises ever? Let’s begin at the beginning.

Some might be quick to write off The Evil Dead as just another cabin in the forest horror film. However, a closer study of the terrifying iconic classic shows just how complex writer and director Sam Raimi’s screenplay really is. For instance the film’s inventive use of foreshadowing — an element of the storytelling that , I’m ashamed to admit, did not dawn on me until this latest rewatch. I am awed by the way the film teases Cheryl Williams’ (Ellen Sandweiss) destiny when she sees the cellar door open and close by itself early in the film, as well as when her younger brother Ash (Bruce Campbell, in the character that made him a great horror movie character) discovers a sketch in the Necronomicon which resembles the book as the book “comes back to life” at the very end.

watch Evil Dead Rise ‘s just that I’ve not really thought about how blood pours from the possessed Scotty’s (Richard DeManincor, credited with the role of Hal Delrich) stomach wound as if it were a tap until recently. But this was the first time I really focused on it. It seems like I was mesmerized by the image of blood which bears an equivocation to the cherry Kool-Aid instead of dyed corn syrup and I’m sure I’ll appreciate its uniqueness more than I ever have even though the blood appears more accurate to medical standards in the rest of the franchise.

Another scene from the visceral final sequence of The Evil Dead that has always amazed me is when arms explosively appear out of Cheryl and Scotty’s defeated Deadite self. For years, I just chalked this up to being another example of the extraordinary visual skills of director Sam Raimi However, it occurred to me on this rewatch that these arms are demons and, more specifically, of the demons who controlled Ash’s companions. Have you ever witnessed something so bizarre and terrifying in a horror film that is supernatural featuring demonic possession such as, say, The Exorcist? I think not.