Five Michigan State University students venture into the hills to spend a weekend in an isolated cabin. There they find the Book of the Dead (a Babylonian and Sumerian text, unrelated to the Egyptian Book of the Dead), otherwise known as the Morturom Demonto. They also find a tape recording by a professor translating the ancient text and reading it aloud. An amateur book-on-tape if you will. Much to the protest of one of the students they play the tape which unleashes demonic forces that take them down one by one. Are you annoyed by the lack of a more in-depth plot summary? To be honest the above paragraph is all I am really able to tell you and still keep this review spoiler free.
The film, written and directed by Sam Raimi, is easily one of the scariest low-budget films I have ever seen. Once the horror scenes begin they don't let up until the credits roll and by the end of the film I was genuinely upset by what all had occurred. Not because it's gruesome or needlessly filled with sex but because I wanted things to work out for the characters in the film. It is one of those films where you are happy it is over.
Perhaps the best scene in the film is when the first character is possessed. She gains an ability to guess the cards in a deck and she turns to reveal hollowed out eyes, a scarred face and a much deeper voice. As if she had inhaled Sulfur Hexafluoride. She contorts her body while the demon inside her reveals its intentions. Many of you are aware that I don't generally care for splatter movies unless they can bring something to it besides blood and guts. What the film brings is false leading. There's several moments where you expect the monster to jump out and when it doesn't you can't relax.
An interesting, cheap and classic way to not have to reveal your villain is to run the camera across the ground in the spirit's point of view. I know I have discussed the trend where, because of a POV shot, we are unable to sympathize with the main characters and eventual victims. However if you never show what happens when your monster attacks you are never really put in the eyes of the villain. Sure the effects are dated and the acting is a bit cheesy but what is the most basic purpose of a horror film? It's to scare you. I have to ask myself did the film fail at its intentions. After a night of uneven sleep, I say without a doubt most certainly.
★★★★
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