Something's Wrong - Ash

"Join Us"

By now, protagonist Ash is certainly aware that something's wrong, but given the relentlessness of Evil Dead, he'd be forgiven taking a moment to let it all sink in.

With an ominous start to his and his college friend's break at a secluded cabin in the woods, the terror ensues almost immediately. From a near miss car accident, where an inexplicable force causes Scotty to lose control of the wheel, character Cheryl's hand uncontrollably scribbles a picture of a mysterious looking book, to Ash's discovery of odd findings in the basement, including a bizarre tape recording and what looks like said mysterious book Cheryl sketched; it isn't long before Ash is faced with an unexpected first night fighting off zombies.

Cheryl, Ash's sister, is the more sensitive of the group to what is about to unfold, feeling an unnerving chill in the gusts of wind blowing through the cabin windows, a susceptability to those strange latin laden recordings and faint voices she swears she hears outside in the trees. When curiosity (or maybe possession) gets the better of her, she'll be captured by unseen forces and violated, able to escape back to the cabin distraught and report her assault, before demanding that Ash get her the hell out. Unable to escape the vacinity of the cabin, she is returned and left to sit alone in the corner, quietly recovering when the show really begins.

From then on, each member of the group is slowly picked off, the possession carrying through until Ash is the last man standing. He's having to wing this, with the advantage of a footballer's build and a natural with weaponry, he wades through his poor zombified friends and loved ones, battling with his conscience over destroying them brutally with his choice of a shotgun, a blade, or a chainsaw. Much like the possession, he has no choice in doing the necessary.

Evil Dead is not only unrelenting with gore, but with the incessant whining, giggling and screeching eminating from the zombies. An assault on the senses, it makes the experience of watching the film almost an ordeal. This further raises Ash to hero status, a final boy who became a horror icon, where we are with him throughout just hoping he'll defeat the zombyfying curse and make it out alive. Sure he will eventually, but prior to becoming a hit franchise, Evil Dead was a standalone film offering no mercy, and despite his best efforts, Ash still isn't able to escape this havoc wreaking spirit.

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