History Film / TheEvilDead1981

* TookALevelInBadass: Although Ash doesn't transform into the legendary demon slayer we come to know him as, the scared college kid clearly takes a more confident turn towards ActionSurvivor when the Deadite Scotty tries to strangle him. Instead of panicking, Ash in turn inserts his thumbs in the Deadite's eyes and pulls out a shard embedded in it, making it bleed out.

* UnexpectedlyRealMagic: The main characters accidentally summon the evil dead by jokingly reading out from ''The Book of the Dead''.

* NothingIsScarier: The film makes extensive use of the classic version with a dash of the third version, especially during the climax. An incredibly paranoid Ash is all alone, slowly wondering around the cabin with nothing but a single shot shotgun to defend himself. It becomes difficult to tell what's real anymore as Ash is assaulted by bizarre noises and visions.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evil_dead_1981poster_5808.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"'''YOU WILL DIE!''' Like the others before you.... one by one, we will ''take'' you!"]]

* AllJustADream: The ComicBookAdaptation ends with Ash waking up in the car pulling up to the cabin with only Linda to explain the discrepancies between the first two movies.

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:After everything he goes through, and having seemingly defeated the evil, the last shot of the movie sees Ash aggressively ambushed by the same Evil Force that possessed all of the other characters. Thankfully, we know from the sequels that he lives, but you'd have no reason to guess that from here.]]

** When Ash and Scotty enter the basement a totn poster for Film/TheHillsHaveEyes1977 can be seen on the wall. This sparked a RunningGag of Creator/WesCraven and Creator/SamRaimi referencing each others films in their movies with quick sight gags.

* DaylightHorror: The twist ending and a few scares at the beginning too all take place in broad daylight.

* TakeThat: A fun, non-malicious example. When Ash and Scotty are in the cellar discovering the Naturom Demonto, there’s a torn up poster of Creator/WesCraven's ''Film/TheHillsHaveEyes1977'', as if to suggest that this movie is much scarier than that one. Also doubles as a ShoutOut as Wes Craven did a similar thing in ''Hills Have Eyes'' with a ripped up ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' poster. Craven would later fire back in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', when characters watch ''Evil Dead'' to stave off falling asleep.

* SweaterGirl: Linda spends the movie wearing a tight white sweater, very fitting as the protagonist's girlfriend.

* ActionSurvivor: In contrast to the sequels establishing him as a RatedMForManly badass, Ash here is a normal young man who is not MadeOfIron, a OneManArmy or GadgeteerGenius and has to suddenly fight off his friends being demonically possessed.

** When Ash and Scotty enter the basement a totn poster for Film/TheHillsHaveEyes can be seen on the wall. This sparked a RunningGag of Creator/WesCraven and Creator/SamRaimi referencing each others films in their movies with quick sight gags.

The first film's story follows five Michigan State University students (Creator/BruceCampbell, Creator/EllenSandweiss, Creator/RichDeManincor, Creator/BetsyBaker and Creator/TheresaTilly) who decide to spend a weekend at a very dilapidated cabin in rural Tennessee. While they goof around, they find and play a tape, where an old professor recites parts of a demonic book of the dead (the "Naturom Demonto" also known as the "[[{{Necronomicon}} Necronomicon Ex-Mortis]]" in the sequels), a recitation that leads to members of the group becoming possessed and attacking the others.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: The British Board of Film Classification would not approve the release of the film without some of the goriest moments being edited out, and after it became public enemy number-one of the VideoNasties controversy anyway, they demanded further cuts in order to allow it to return. While the censored version was still incredibly gory (there wasn't really any way around that), the impact of the violence was lessened somewhat by removing all moments where one character stabs or strikes another repeatedly, and all shots of [[HighPressureBlood blood gushing from wounds]] were edited out.

* CreatorCameo: Hinted at by ''the tape'': "''Saman sa'rob dar ees haikar dande roza''", this being derived from "Sam [Raimi] and Rob [Tapert] are hitchhikers on the road." Sure enough, if you paid attention five minutes into the film, Scott drove the Olds past a pair of idiotic-looking hitchhikers in fishing gear, both of whom turn to wave as the car sped by.

* DisproportionateRetribution: All Ash and Scott did was find the book and a tape deck and played it. Because of that they summoned demons from Hell to possess everyone and everyone dies.

* EndingFatigue: Invoked in this movie. The book is destroyed, the deadites are disintegrated and Ash is bloodied up, traumatized and exhausted from all the things he went through. The music even crescendos to the point where we think it's all over, but then the unseen evil finally gets to Ash paving the way for ''Film/EvilDead2''.

* FlyAtTheCameraEnding: Inverted. The camera flies at Creator/BruceCampbell at the end.

* HappyEnding: Subverted. All appears to be well for Ash at the end, until he's suddenly attacked by an evil presence. See EndingFatigue[[invoked]] above.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Twice; jazz music from a possessed record player when Ash is in the cellar where blood starts leaking from everything. Cheerful, big-band music also begins playing over the end credits, and then begins to... [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand slow]].

''The Evil Dead'' is a [[HorrorFilms horror film]] that marks the [[WhereItAllBegan first chapter]] of the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' franchise. It was written and directed by Creator/SamRaimi, and released on October 15th, 1981.

The first film's story follows five Michigan State University students (Creator/BruceCampbell, Creator/EllenSandweiss, Creator/HalDelrich, Creator/BetsyBaker and Creator/TheresaTilly) who decide to spend a weekend at a very dilapidated cabin in rural Tennessee. While they goof around, they find and play a tape, where an old professor recites parts of a demonic book of the dead (the "Naturom Demonto" also known as the "[[{{Necronomicon}} Necronomicon Ex-Mortis]]" in the sequels), a recitation that leads to members of the group becoming possessed and attacking the others.

The first film's story follows five Michigan State University students (Creator/BruceCampbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich, Betsy Baker and Theresa Tilly) who decide to spend a weekend at a very dilapidated cabin in rural Tennessee. While they goof around, they find and play a tape, where an old professor recites parts of a demonic book of the dead (the "Naturom Demonto" also known as the "[[{{Necronomicon}} Necronomicon Ex-Mortis]]" in the sequels), a recitation that leads to members of the group becoming possessed and attacking the others.

* GunsAreWorthless: Shots from a rifle due little more than bother the demons, forcing characters to rely on axes and blades that can dismember the demons until they can't fight back.