The Evil Dead

Sam Raimi (1982, USA)

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich, Betsy Baker, Sarah York

Plot:
5 college students are out in the woods vacationing at an old shack, when they accidentally discover the "Book of the dead", aka the Necronomicon, as well as a tape from an archaeologist doing research on the subject. Little do they know, playing the tape wakes up the evil demon forces bound by the book. Not only does the forest become possessed by the spirits, but one by one they start turning into zombies, while those still alive grow brainless every passing minute..

Appreciation: 10/10
A classic among classics! First off, if you haven’t seen this movie yet (well, the whole serie), all I can say is: What the hell are you waiting for!!??
I remember seeing this movie back when i was a kid, around 10 or something. All i can remember from back then is that it scared the shit out of me. And it still manages to do a good job so many years later (you didn't think i'd tell you my age did you? :)
This movie has the gore and cheeziness of a Troma, the artistic quality of an Argento, yet managing to be scary, all with a budget ridiculous enough to make Battlefield Earth look like a blockbuster (oh wait, that was a blockbuster, wastn't it?).
Basically, they used pretty much every camera tricks conceivable at that time with great success. The camera movement in the intro alone is worth more than most multi-billion $ Hollywood flicks. The camera rushing through woods, stop-motion animation, some cleaver angle of views and wonderful usage of lenses and colors (at least, in the re-mastered version I saw the last time) all add up for a dense atmosphere. I don’t usually take much notice of all this but I think it is well worth mentioning here. In some pursuits, you don't ever get to see any monsters/demons, and it makes it all the more scary.
Now for the characters, I just can’t get enough of Bruce Campbell being thrown everywhere and having every kind of substances splashing right in his face (if not flooding him). I mean, poor man, I dunno how he managed to endure all that stuff.. But he's the man! He managed to give us 2 sequels, and you can actually see that his character evolves from one to the other. What starts off as a whimpy weakling ends up being a kick-ass hero with an attitude.
And what to say of the other actors, especially his girlfriend, who is probably the most annoying character to ever be filmed (except maybe for Jar Jar in Star Wars). Everyone is just plain delicious and downright scary as zombies :)
Throughout the movie you have all manners of decapitation, mutilation, the whole palette of colours squirting from people or things. Needless say more, if you like it, you’ll like the sequels, though the 3rd one is more of a comedy (and a little inferior IMHO).

Other suggestions: Braindead, Evil Dead 2, Re-animator, Slashers