I don't understand the hype.
When watching this film, I got the serious impression that “Army of Darkness” ended up being a kind of sequel or spin-off to this work, considering the themes involved and the persistence of the main actor, Bruce Campbell. Both films have similarities, and it's hard not to think about it.
Sam Raimi is one of those directors who have made a name for himself in horror cinema, but I can't help but think that this is one of his poorest works. “Evil Dead” is dark, it's bizarre, it's full of gore and scenes that make you want to throw up your popcorn, but it's not the kind of film I would watch again. With a miserably low budget and a lot of creativity, the director manages to disgust us more than to scare us, and there is little in this film that can really instill fear or dramatic tension. In fact, there are scenes that dangerously border on comedy.
Bruce Campbell does what he can, and what he does is enough to guarantee protagonism due to the absolute lack of a capable and competent cast. The actor is not completely devoid of ability or talent, but he seems to have limited himself to this, and similar films. It goes without saying that the rest of the cast doesn't even deserve a mention in this review, as they are absolute amateurs or people who made mistakes in their profession. And of course the Necronomicon, a book created by the fantasy imagination of H. P. Lovecraft, has a relevant role in the plot and is absolutely fearsome. In the midst of this funny disaster, what saves this film a little is the way Raimi takes the opportunity to study cheap visual and special effects, and the results he can get from them. Buckets of paint, raspberry juice, bizarre synthetic makeup similar to carnival faces, we have almost everything.