Within The Woods - Will's Review

I struggle to get a full length review from most 90 minute movies, so how well I'll fair with a half hour student film, we shall see...

But of course, this isn't just any 30 minute student film... This is Sam Rami's, Bruce Campbell staring, student film, about 4 friends who head off to a cabin in the woods, where they disturb an ancient evil; in other words this is Evil Dead 0: The Prototype.

Sadly, no good quality copies of this exist (even Rami doesn't have one) so the grainy, poorly tracked, fuzzy copy that you'll find on YouTube is pretty much as good as it gets - and the image quality alone renders it almost unwatchable.

It's a relief then, that the short itself is no masterpiece; we have, thankfully, lost no more than a curiosity to the ravages of time and VHS dubbing.

The only real way to look at this film; indeed, the only reason it is ever watched, I'd to compare and contrast with Evil Dead.

The makeup effects here are even poorer and more low-budget than in Evil Dead; but that's to be expected. Bruce Campbell is surprisingly interchangeable here, and the story hasn't been refined yet; here it's an Indian burial ground that's to blame (cliche much?).

On the plus side though, the cinematography and sound design has Rami's thumb print all over it - we get manic edits, lots of close shots and low, sweeping POVs, all accompanied by creaking and whooshing. Every blow and stab is brought right to the front of the song mix and, even though we've seen (or heard) this done throughout the Evil Dead trilogy here, against the backdrop of an inferior movie, we can really appreciate how great that sound design is.

All in all I really can't recommend this on its own merits, but it's an amateur film, and you wouldn't expect great things; as a curiosity for Evil Dead fans, yes, it's worth a quick look on YouTube as a novelty; if you can put up with the poor picture quality.

Within The Woods - Lisa's Review

A novel one this week.  A mere 32 minutes long and a short movie by Sam Raimi that went on to be remade with a significantly larger budget as Evil Dead.

It starred mostly Mr Raimi's friends, but he was lucky enough to have Bruce Campbell in it also!!  (not that you would know... he shows none of his characteristic massive persona in this offering).

This movie was released in 1978 and any surviving copies are very difficult to watch due to the quality of the recording.  It is available on Youtube if you want a nosey.

What can I say?  I thought that mostly it was gawd awful.  Dated in a way that is difficult to get past (for me at least) and with a budget soooo low, you wonder how on earth he managed to get funding for Evil Dead.


I can't say I enjoyed watching it at all and if it weren't for the blog reviews, I would have turned off within 5 to 10 minutes.

One positive I will give to this movie however is its sound effects.  Yes, you heard me right.  Whether it be stab noises, gurglings, possessed voices or various other noises surrounding deaths.  They were delightfully eerie and realistic.  For me, any moments of feeling impressed end there.

Maybe bigger fans of the actual Evil Dead movie will enjoy it more than I did as a piece of movie nostalgia, but it's certainly not one I will watch again.

week 118 - Within The Woods (bootleg)

Year: 1978

Reviews / Author Comments due: 24/08/2013

Reason for Inclusion: Short movie version of DPP classic The Evil Dead, made before the original.

BBFC Status: Never Submitted

More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB

DVD: No official release 

FULL MOVIE:

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