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WITHIN THE WOODS

Drive-Ins, Deadites and Redemption

BILL WOOD | JUNE 24, 2025

April 1983. My girlfriend had just broken up with me and I was feeling a bit low, to say the least. Although it seemed otherwise at the time, high school relationships are not always built to last. As a form of consolation and perhaps pity, my "new-ex" agreed to one last trip to the drive-in theater to check out a brand-new horror flick before parting and going our separate ways. I had zero expectations for the film and really wasn't looking forward to it all that much. For starters, I grew up with Hammer horror and classics such as The Exorcist and The Shining; anything less wasn't going to cut it. Secondly, my sole motivation for that evening's excursion was the promise of redemption, reunification and the eternal bliss that would surely follow.

This latest chiller—which apparently centered on a group of college kids driving to a remote cabin and getting involved in some sort of mischief—started slowly. Plenty of teasers, no payoff; I was growing bored around the 20 minute mark. The whole thing was poorly filmed and amateurish, this was apparent even on the weathered drive-in screen. There wasn't a Blair or Nicholson to steal the spotlight. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first crappy horror movie I'd dumped money into, and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

And besides, I had more pressing concerns. What was my ex thinking right now? Was she as bored as me? Should we cut out early? The air inside the vehicle was thick with stale popcorn, awkward silence and unrequited affection. Was there still a ghost of a chance or was I blowing my sole opportunity, doomed to eke out the remainder of my miserable existence as a hopeless bachelor?!?

And then...

"Queen of spades, two of spades, jack of diamonds, jack of clubs..."

BAM. Hell itself was unleashed on-screen, and for the next hour I sank deep into my bucket seat with my jaw agape as hapless college students were possessed, burned, bludgeoned, impaled, clawed, chopped, shot, stabbed, sliced, and eviscerated into indistinct puddles of stop-motion goo. I squirmed, I winced, I even employed the patented "hand covering the face peeking through the fingers" technique. As unthinkable as it may have seemed just moments earlier, my ex-girlfriend and her soft-letdown break-up were forgotten before the credits hit the screen, along with any plans for reconciliation. All I could think about was the brutal carnage I'd just witnessed on-screen.

The next day I rang up as many friends as I could to tell them about The Evil Dead, this shocking new horror film that was powerful enough to defund romance. Me and my two best friends went the very next evening, then an entire group of us the following weekend. We talked about the movie constantly, we mimicked the scenes, we tried to memorize as many lines as we could. When the film was relegated to second feature status for an up-and-coming horror feature titled A Nightmare On Elm Street, we went back to the drive-in and saw it again. By that time I had already decided that The Evil Dead was my favorite movie ever.

It wasn't just the over-the-top gorefest that captivated me. Although I didn't realize it at the time, the film's adventurous indie aesthetic was something I eventually connected with and grew to respect and appreciate, be it art, cinema, music or gaming. It was filmed independently for a reported $350,000, roughly $1.3 million by modern standards. There are a total of seven persons in the entire movie (not counting invisible truck drivers or voice actors), two of which appear on-screen for roughly five seconds. The lo-fi special effects grew increasingly hilarious with repeated viewings, but it hardly mattered. The lesson? A lack of funding or even talent isn't absolutely necessary, provided there is passion and creativity. Future insights into the film—outlining the stressful and even dangerous conditions under which it was produced—would confirm what I seemed to know instinctively; The Evil Dead was truly a labor of love.

Despite my love for the film, The Evil Dead would soon disappear from my line of sight almost completely. Cable TV and VCRs were just coming into vogue, but my family didn't have cable and local video stores didn't have the movie available for rent (this was the era before VHS tapes were commonly sold to the public, with a single movie costing upwards of $90, or roughly $300 in today's currency). New video game consoles were consuming my TV time and music was playing an increasingly important role in my life, not to mention my "Evil Dead ex" was not the last female I would ever take on a date, much to my relief. As such, movie watching took a backseat to other interests. Within the span of four years, I may have watched The Evil Dead three or four times.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a sequel popped up. Lighter in tone and backed by bonafide studio muscle (reviewed by Siskel and Ebert!), many fans consider Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn the best entry in the franchise. I still prefer the original with its darker, grittier feel, but there's no denying that the sequel's unique blend of comedy and horror is what really put the series over the top. Its success brought the first movie back into the spotlight, and since then I've owned two VHS tapes, two DVDs, and two Blu-rays (it's my most repurchased movie by a wide margin), as well as the licensed video games. I've read Bruce Campbell's superb autobiography, If Chins Could Kill. I even visited Morristown, Tennessee, the site of the original Evil Dead cabin. The cabin itself is long gone, the remains desecrated and looted by backwoods rabble rousers. As such, all I could track down was dense shrubbery, barbed wire, the sound of barking dogs and an innate sense of pervading evil.

Which brings us to the present and Lions Gate Films' 4K UHD release of The Evil Dead. This particular edition was released in 2018 and is already out of print and becoming increasingly hard to find, but (if you haven't guessed by now!) I had to own it. I paid a fair amount for a used copy and I'm glad I did.

There are several factors at play when it comes to discussing a 4K release of The Evil Dead, the first being my own extremely biased view of the movie. To this day I consider it one of the finest horror films ever produced, it's in my personal Top Three along with Nosferatu (1922) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Since its release in 1981, the "demons in the woods" formula has been Xeroxed countless times over, not to mention the numerous spinoffs, remakes and sequels that have transformed Evil Dead into a *gasp* marketable franchise. As a result, the original may have lost some of its gruesome potency for modern horror fans viewing for the first time. But it's important to remember just how brilliant Sam Raimi's artistic vision was when the project was originally conceived as Within The Woods in the late '70s. Safe to say there was nothing like The Evil Dead when it was released and its influence will likely be felt as long as horror movies are being made.

Another factor is the 16mm equipment the movie was originally shot on, that medium's limitations, and specifically how far the visuals could possibly be upgraded in the leap to 4K. There are two schools of thought here, the first being that the upgrade in visual quality from HD to 4K is nominal at best (for what it's worth, the audio quality is parallel). This isn't a high-def special effects bonanza on par with Godzilla vs. Kong, therefore the Blu-ray will likely suffice for most viewers. In fact, a dusty third-gen VHS copy may even be preferred in some cases. The reverse is that—based on what I've read—most folks seem pleasantly surprised with the results here and in fact cite this particular 4K restoration as an example of just how far visuals can be improved, even for a film as dated as this. I'm far from being a film critic or digital media scholar, so all I can discuss is what I see with my own two eyes.

The bonus material included with this release is sparse. Over the years, various releases of The Evil Dead have included a compelling array of supplemental material, from outtakes, behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews with the original cast to latex replicas of the Necronomicon. Here we get audio commentary... and that's it. In fact, the HD Blu-ray (included in this Ultra HD release) appears to be a 1:1 duplicate of a previous Anchor Bay release with no extras aside from commentary (although it does feature both 1:33.1 and 1:85.1 versions of the film, which is really nice). Taking this into consideration, Evil Dead completionists probably won't be selling off their legacy copies any time soon.

With these older digital movie releases, we have another issue that pops up; post-editing at the director's request. The original Star Wars trilogy is a widely-known example of this, but it's actually quite common, and recent digital releases of The Evil Dead are certainly not exempt. Whether it be editing out stray hairs or steadying camera shots, know that the 4K version of this film is not an untouched transfer of an original print. Personally I'd have preferred a warts-and-all approach, especially when it comes to a movie like this. But I also understand why it will probably never happen, and for what it's worth, this version actually features less post-editing than earlier Blu-ray releases, with some edits being removed altogether.

Having noted a few potential detractions, I do believe that the 4K UHD version of The Evil Dead is the definitive release to date when it comes to visuals, even if the results aren't mind-blowing. The HDR grading adds increased levels of contrast: deeper blacks and brighter whites, while the core color values remain fairly muted and true to the source material. The increased resolution offers a decent spike in detail when it comes to film grain, as well as hair, clothing, etc. Thanks to this increased clarity, the no-budget special effects - a garish array of milk, food dye, corn syrup and stew meat, among other concoctions - are pushed to the forefront. These effects were undeniably cheesy even back in the day and they take on an increasingly comical tone here, which should come as absolutely no surprise to longtime fans. Presented in its filmed aspect ratio of 1:33.1, this is arguably the best way to experience this iconic movie in the comfort of your home.

The Evil Dead 4K UHD is intended solely for the super-fan who has to own the absolutely best version of this landmark film, and while it's not the be-all-to-end-all for franchise enthusiasts (there is a "Groovy Collection" which may come closer to this mark), it's definitely my new go-to when it comes to re-experiencing one of my all-time faves. I do wonder what the inevitable 8K release could ever possibly do to improve upon it, seeing how incremental the 4K improvements are over the Blu-ray. Oh well, I'm sure I'll end up buying it regardless. - BW

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