Evil Dead Trilogy [Blu-ray]

Product Information

As an added bonus, the filmmakers have decided, in their immense wisdom and genius, to give fans a choice between two aspect ratios. We jokingly refer to counting the kills with “gallons of blood” spilt in movies like these, but you’re LITERALLY taking measurements in “swimming pools of blood” here (and no, I’m not exaggerating).

Although much of the content is different, the widescreen transfer is identical to the Book Of The Dead DVD above, but the open matte transfer is new and also looks the same. They are all involved with the horror industry, and have all been mightily influenced by what Sam Raimi did.

On the whole, this is a distinct improvement over every other version released on home video, with a brighter, sharper and more detailed presentation that offers depth and a fine level of three-dimensionality - the logs being tossed into the fire, the beating on Linda with the wooden beam, Ash leaving Cheryl behind in the car to go and investigate the bridge, etc. The "Discovering The Evil Dead" featurette was previously included in both of the recent special editions released on DVD. Sadly, it is not … and, worse yet, it becomes a tedious and annoying affair that can be quite irritating to sit through.

The PC viewable DVD-ROM folder is packed with over a gigabyte of rare Evil Dead trilogy material painstakingly collected over many years, with major contributions by a number of die hard Evil Dead fans. Imaging is marvelously wide and immersive, showing terrific fidelity and resounding separation as movement between the channels is smooth and convincing.Not only the primaries - ie, the red blood - but the autumnal shades of the leaves and the trees and the distant mountains that we see at the start. Starring: Bruce Campbell , Ellen Sandweiss , Richard DeManincor , Betsy Baker , Theresa Tilly , Philip A. Nearly thirty years later, the film still holds up, providing plenty of frightening scares along with the comedy.

Two things of note; The Evil Dead disc in the 2005 R2 UK Anchor Bay 'Box Of The Banned' collection is identical to the bonus fourth disc here, and in both 'The Incredibly Strange Film Show' has been edited to remove all Super-8 shorts clips, along with some other material such as The Three Stooges, running at 34m 9s, down from an uncut running time of 37m 38s. Finite detail on wood - and there is a lot of examples of this on display, from floorboards and stairs to chairs and trapdoors - reveals levels of depth that make this seem like a new film at times.The bass is just pure punishment, dolling out wave after wave of LFE that just crushes the listening position with some of the most brutal assaults I've heard this year. The banging of the swing-seat outside the cabin is a touch more forceful, even sounding clearer during the gang's otherwise silent drive up to the place at the start.