Director: Sam Raimi
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 85 minutes
The Evil Dead (1981) (4K UHD) – Movie Review
We don’t know which has the biggest cult following; The Evil Dead films or Ash, the character played by Bruce Campbell. What initially started off as a B Horror film, turned out to become an entire franchise, with three feature films, and a follow-up series, Ash vs Evil Dead, where Bruce Campbell reprised his role as Ash. The series even had a small (not successful) remake in 2013, with Evil Dead. While too gritty for many viewers, and it falling in a certain niche genre, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a 4K UHD version of the film to enjoy this 1981 classic. As usual, for our short 4K UHD reviews, we will grade the quality of the actual physical release.
The Evil Dead is a movie that describes the first part of the trip to a cabin in the woods for some friends. What is supposed to be a nice vacation for some young adults, quickly turns out to be a ghoulish experience. Soon, certain members will be possessed, while others are fighting for their lives. Blood, gore and guts will ensue, and this is probably also what made this movie stand out. Add the likable character of Bruce Campbell’s ‘Ash’, and you’re in for a treat. Be warned though, the movie is very graphic.
Even though there is a huge increase in the actual movie quality, it’s somewhat annoying that nothing could be done when it comes to the aspect ratio. It’s hard for certain older (low budget) movies to be converted to our modern widescreen TV society, but it would have been nice to adjust this one to said aspect ratio. Nonetheless, the enhanced imagery already makes up for quite a bit.
We were somewhat disappointed that this 4K UHD release did not come with any extras. While it’s hard for a 1981 movie, especially a B-quality film, to have a lot of special content, some interviews, or background story, or something about the creative process would have been nice. We reckon it’s impossible to have additional footage of this film at the ready, we still expected more. We feel, for an expensive edition such as this, it’s a bit lacking in content.
Conclusion
While this 4K rendition of The Evil Dead is a nice addition to your collection, you’ll be settling for a premium price for only the movie. Sure, things look a bit crisper than they originally were, but this is also true for the Blu-ray version of this film. We suggest waiting for a small price drop on this one if it’s not that high up on your list. All-in-all, it’s still a proper cult classic, we just expected some more content on a 4K UHD version.
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[…] Dead is a franchise that started out as a series of B horror movies in the early 80s, ultimately gaining a cult status. Decades later the series spawned some interesting videogames, […]