Edwige, my steadfast kangaroo companion, followed a trail of Smarties through the Supergirl exhibit. A spray-painted smile covered the face of a bust of Helen Slater. As we entered The Kidnap Syndicate exhibit, I heard the rattle of metal as some punk wearing blue jeans, a red and white striped shirt, and a red and white pom pom beanie, aimed a spray can at the wax figure of an elderly James Mason. A huge bag of Smarties hung from his belt, chocolate candies slipping out as he sprayed the hair of James Mason a sickly green. — To be continued. 

Tonight’s movie is 1981’s The Evil Dead from director Sam Raimi. Let’s just dive right in. Five Michigan State University students decide to spend the weekend at a cabin deep in the woods. We have Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend, Linda (Betsy Baker), his sister, Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), his best friend, Scotty (Hal Delrich), and Scotty’s girlfriend, Shelly (Sarah York). That’s only five characters. Not too much to keep track of.

They arrive at the cabin and the mood is rather foreboding. A swing chair keeps banging against the front of the house and Cheryl uncontrollably draws a creepy book on her sketch pad, While eating dinner, the door to the basement swings open. Scotty and Ash go down to investigate. They find a shotgun, a tape recorder, a blade with a skull hilt, and an ancient book covered in stretched human skin. That sure beats those paper grocery back covers we made for our schoolbooks back in the 80s.

The college students gather around the tape recorder and give it a listen. An archaeologist recounts how he found a copy of the Sumerian Book of the Dead. The archaeologist then proceeds to recite incantations for resurrecting demons and things go downhill from there. Cheryl gets attacked by some trees in the woods and insists that Ash drive her into town. Unfortunately, the bridge is out. What to do? What to do?

Ash continues to listen to the recording while Linda and Shelly play a game of “Guess which card I’m holding?” Cheryl calls out each card correctly before revealing that she’s possessed by some ancient Sumerian demons. She warns the rest of the college students that they’ll be taken “one by one” before passing out. Linda checks on Cheryl only to have her Achilles tendon stabbed through with a pencil. Ash subdues his possessed sister and locks her in the cellar.

Shelly is next to get possessed and she goes to town on Scotty, digging her manicured nails into his face. Scotty flings Shelly off of him, but her head lands in the fireplace. Undaunted, the demonically possessed Shelly continues to attack Scotty and knocks Ash into a shelf that collapses on him. Lots of furniture falls on Ash in this movie. Shelly then attempts to stab Scotty with the skull blade, but Scotty cuts through her wrist with a hunting knife. She then bites through what’s left of her wrist and flings the useless appendage on the floor.

This is a gory movie, but gory in that fun way where you wonder how the director and the special effects team pulled some of this stuff off. And I can think of worse ways to spend one’s time than seeing Bruce Campbell abused by undead monsters. More of that next week when I cover Evil Dead II.

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode 284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443, episode 444, episode 450, episode 477, episode 491, episode 492, episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, and episode 596) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.