Within the Woods is the
first work of legendary Sam Raimi.
Within the Woods was created to
win funding for the now-classic The Evil Dead. Oh,
and be sure and read this review to the end for a special surprise.
Review by: The Zombie Master Lee
Roberts November 7, 2006
Release:
1979 Written and Directed by:
Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce
Campbell as Bruce Ellen Sandweiss
as Ellen Scott Spiegel as Scotty Mary
Valenti as Shelly
Before there was The
Evil Dead
, there was a need to fund Evil Dead.
With $1600 and a Super 8 camera, a group of college students led by Sam
Raimi and Bruce Campbell filmed a 32 minute synopsis of what would
later become one of the classic horror films of all time.
Within the Woods begins with four students
vacationing at a
farmhouse. Bruce (Bruce Campbell) and Ellen (Ellen Sandweiss) decide to
go out and find a place to have a picnic. Scotty (Scott Spiegel) and
Shelly (Mary Valenti) think that it would be more fun to stay at the
farmhouse and play Monopoly so Bruce and Ellen start out by themselves.
Along the
way, Bruce starts to tell Ellen about the history of the area. It seems
that they are walking on ancient Indian burial grounds.
After disturbing the grounds of a medicine man and taking an ancient
knife Bruce eats lunch with Ellen and they fall asleep.
Upon awakening, Ellen finds that Bruce is missing
and begins to search for him. When she finds him, he has been murdered
and mutilated. Ellen starts to scream and run back to the farmhouse.
Bruce, by the way, has been possessed by the evil spirit of the
medicine man and proceeds to try to kill everyone in the house.
I was going to let the cat out of the bag and tell the ending but,
after much thought (about 30 seconds worth) I decided to just wet the
proverbial whistle of the “Discerning Horror Freak”
and
make you go try to find Within the Woods for
yourself.
Within the Woods is a great film for the Evil
Dead fan.
It shows that Sam Raimi knew what he wanted and was serious about his
work. It also shows that Raimi has not changed his style but has
instead allowed his style to grow throughout his directing career. Many
aspects of Within the Woods can be seen as classic
Raimi.
Another interesting thing about Within the Woods
is Bruce Campbell. It was refreshing to see him play the demon
possessed zombie. He did a great job. Not that I thought he
wouldn’t mind you, I am just used to seeing him in a
different
light (you know, wimpy or cocky depending on the film).
Surprisingly, the special effects and gore are really impressive for
the lack of funds available.
Within the Woods will not be appreciated by the
casual horror viewer, but Evil Dead fans, Bruce
Campbell fans, and Sam Raimi fans will cherish this early work by great
men.
Editor’s note: The
chances that one will come
across a copy of Within the Woods, as the Zombie Master has, are slim.
This film was never released and shot for next to nothing on Super-8.
But…
Best-Horror-Movies.com visitors are a privileged bunch
indeed…
The following is a full-length video of The Evil Dead prequel.
The
quality is terrible, so if you do not fall into the group that will, as
The Zombie Master put it, “cherish this early work”
then
you might want to skip it. For the rest of us, as my friend Cindy says,
“special kind of nerds”, enjoy!
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