Innovative start to the wildly popular cult series was shot by director/writer Sam Raimi on a shoestring budget while still in college and though it may show at times (some of the stop motion effects are weak) this is a fun ride.

A bunch of friends (led by genre favourite Bruce Campbell whos career will never live down the three films in this series) head off to a remote cabin in the woods only to start getting possessed by demons and being murdered in gruesome ways when they find a tape that contains a demon ressurrection passage.

Of the three films this one is the most outright a horror movie and contains some good shock moments (such as the "pencil in ankle" scene), the effective use of a flowing camera and sound effects and an outrageous finale that trots out all sorts of grue (with our unlucky Bruce being splattered with all kinds of things to add insult to injury).

While some of the effects haven't aged too well (though most are still good) and the "tree rape" sequence almost borders on offensive; this is an entertaining time and an above average start to a series I count among my favourites.

Followed by two sequels.

Directed By: Sam Raimi.
Written By: Sam Raimi.

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Sarah York.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Anchor Bay finally releases this in widescreen and it's a solid transfer for the most part despite a bit of grain and some oddly matched shots.

Extras: Fans of this film won't be disappointed (especially if they picked up the cool "Book Of The Dead" packaged DVD like I did) as they get a trailer, 4 TV spots, extensive still/art galleries, well-written bios on Campbell, Raimi and producer Robert Tapert, Campbell's extremely amusing short "Fanalyasis", a featurette on the United Kingdom distributors and planned banning of the film, almost 20 minutes of behind the scenes/outtakes and 2 commentary tracks (one by Raimi/Tapert, the other Campbell).