this Ultimate Edition might be the final time I have to pick up a standard-definition DVD release of The Evil Dead
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"The Evil Dead" is the 1981 film that launched the careers of both director Sam Rami and its star Bruce Campbell. While both men would return six years later for the superior "Evil Dead 2," the original, more serious, and seriously low-budget "video nasty" has a special place in the hearts of horror fans worldwide. Proof of this film´s fan base is the ridiculous amount of merchandise it´s spawned and the multiple times the film has been released to the home market. Just for myself, this three-disc set marks the eighth incarnation of the film that´s found a place in my home. This "Ultimate Edition" is the fourth "Evil Dead" DVD I´ve owned, following on the heels of three different VHS releases and one laser disc. And while Anchor Bay´s prior "Book of the Dead" edition may look cooler on my shelf, this "Ultimate Edition" might be the final time I have to pick up a standard-definition DVD release of "The Evil Dead."
For the two people that read this who are unfamiliar with the plot line of "The Evil Dead," here´s a quick recap. A group of friends go to a cabin in the woods, find the Necronomicon (ya know, that pesky book of the dead), and unleash (un)holy hell on themselves until only one of them, Ash (Bruce Campbell), is left alive to return for two sequels and countless comic books. Now that we´ve gotten that formality out of the way, let´s get down to the real reason anyone is reading this--to see if this release is better than the one (or eight) they already own. Here´s a quick hint…it is!
Video:
The anamorphic widescreen featuring a 1.85:1 aspect ratio used on disc one of this set is the same transfer that Anchor Bay has used on its prior Twentieth Anniversary and Book of the Dead editions. It looked great then and still looks great now. The second disc has the full-screen version of the film that was used on Anchor Bay´s initial "Evil Dead" DVD from 1999. While it looks fine, why anyone would want to view this version of the film is beyond me.
Audio:
Anchor Bay keeps recycling alive by not letting their prior-used audio tracks go to waste. All three of the English-language audio tracks (Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS ES 6.1, and DD-EX Surround) have appeared on prior "Evil Dead" discs and still sound great.
Extras:
This is where the rubber meets the road, the real reason for shelling out thirty-five bucks for a movie most fans have already purchased multiple times: the special features! This set has been made a part of the prestigious "Anchor Bay Collection" and joins other genre-defining films like "Re-Animator" and "Phantasm" by getting the five-star treatment rarely given to horror films by most studios. In addition, this release of "Evil Dead" has been dubbed "The Ultimate Edition," and Anchor Bay capitalizes on this by cramming all three discs with as much goodies as they can hold.
The set includes two full-length commentaries, nine featurettes totaling almost four hours, and all the trailers, TV spots, and stills/posters/merchandise galleries a fan could want. While both of the commentaries are recycled from previous DVD releases, of the nine features a whopping seven of them are new to DVD. Only the hour-long collection of extra footage entitled "The Evil Dead: Treasures from the Cutting Room Floor" and the thirteen-minute, British-centered "Discovering the Evil Dead" have been brought over from past discs.
Of all the cool, never-before-seen stuff Anchor Bay put on this "Ultimate" set, the brand new fifty-four-minute documentary, "One by One We Will Take You: The Untold Saga of The Evil Dead," is easily the most interesting, but not necessarily for the all the right reasons. "One by One" essentially rehashes everything that even the most casual "Evil Dead" fan is aware of--the lack of funds, the grueling conditions--all of this has been reiterated a thousand times in magazine articles, documentaries, and message boards since the film´s release over twenty-five years ago. Not much new information is provided here. The interesting thing about "One by One" is even though they managed to get people like Joe Bob Briggs, Eli Roth, and Edgar Wright to gush their adoration for the film on camera, neither the star nor the director of "Evil Dead" is anywhere to be seen. In fact, the way people who are interviewed discuss Rami and Campbell makes the documentary feel as if it were filmed after their deaths.
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[release]22417[/release]