Siskel and Ebert. The EVIL DEAD.

[@joanbecenti8938]

When I first saw this movie, I was shocked. What did I just watch? I couldn't believe a movie could get away with so much gore and insanity. Instantly a classic.

[@mosesnebogipfel3960]

You're welcome!

[@squamish4244]

@russellcollier8202 It is hilarious. As Bruce Campbell says, "The Evil Dead was supposed to be a serious horror film. But what you had was inexperienced actors saying bad dialogue, and the move became an unintentional horror-comedy."

[@xxcrysad3000xx]

I never heard a horror movie called "a ghoulie", I'm gonna have to steal that. Thanks Gene.

[@guitarguru.3572]

Siskel and Ebert used to piss me off so badly, but I loved to watch them.

[@destinypifer5772]

This movie made me never want to vacation at a cabin deep in the woods. lol It's one of my favorite horror movies!

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

Read the autobiography "If Chins Could Kill", by Bruce Campbell. He goes into detail about the filming of this movie (more detail than you thought possible). This so-called "vacation cottage" was a decaying death-trap that was more dangerous to film in for the actors and cameramen than the actual movie was to the characters! One hard way to break into the movies....

[@suttercane6]

There are very few horror films Siskel liked ... But I still love him!

[@ericfelds6291]

He got The Thing right when Roger didn't

[@dr.juerdotitsgo5119]

Pretentious, perverted, anti-Christianity european arthouse films, that's what he likes.

[@dootuss83]

This is one of those moments where film critics can take a hike. This film is fucking awesome.

[@ericsilva-gomez2481]

CryptKeeper83 even the critics that liked it?

[@Danimal77]

I can't believe how Gene blatantly ignores the new use of camera and how it literally chased people as a first person in the woods. It was highly revolutionary for its time and had he done any research on this movie, he'd have known that it was YEARS in the making and had been inspired by an underground horror movie called Equinox. The Evil Dead was a genuinely SCARY movie and far more creative and artistic than Friday the 13th (of which I love as well), in terms of camera usage, music and overall dread. Gene always looked down on horror movies.

[@BackyardPix]

The camera work is insane. I honestly think it's more impressive than in Evil Dead II.

[@mrnocal]

Gene didn't always look down on horror movies, just the blood and guts slasher type movies. He had very high praise for Halloween and some other horror movies that were well done. He just never liked the movies that relied on blood and guts.

[@meeisterwalken7656]

@@mrnocal Completely biased against horror movies. Very unprofessional.

[@NovaFeedback1979]

Sam Raimi had not seen Equinox when he made Evil Dead at the time.

[@GregorasProject]

@@meeisterwalken7656 I actually kinda agree with Siskel that the movie gets repetitive. But I did like the gore in the movie more than Siskel did.

[@DarkFortressPictures_Official]

Despite the B movie storyline, the craftsmanship was definitely what grab my attention.

[@Jmetclaf7053]

These two were pretty infamously hard on genre films. Gene Siskel especially. Roger Ebert would come around when Evil Dead II released six years later.

[@JamesWVanFleet]

They can't nail it every time. Luckily they'd come to their senses in time for "Evil Dead II."

[@plasticweapon]

evil dead 2 sucked. the three scenes from it everybody talks about are the only good ones in it.

[@JamesWVanFleet]

@@plasticweapon I'd have to narrow down the 20 great scenes in my head to take a bad guess at which three you're talking about.

[@JamesWVanFleet]

[Shack attack.] [Zip through the forest.] [Ash saved by the sun.] [The race back to the cabin.] [Moonlight dance.] Five great scenes already, and that's in, like, the first twenty minutes.

[@staggerlee1869]

@@plasticweapon and with one sentence you prove that you’re not worth listening to.

[@jakebiomask]

@@plasticweapon fuck you

[@ThomasGallagher55]

I think the remakes were awesome too and i cant wait for the next one

[@SanFran51]

Also this was classed as a "Video Nasty"...... the uncut version didn't get released in the UK until 2000.

[@trentwalters9826]

BEST MOVIE EVER MADE!

[@wallybazoum]

I'd love to see their review of a Serbian film.

[@bryanmckinney1098]

It's original... Gotta give it at least that. I give it much more of course.

[@questionauthority9418]

Great movie

[@movieman104]

great horoor film my second fav ever after halloween

[@SanFran51]

By the way The Evil Dead trilogy is very popular in the UK. Mainly because the British love dark humour and it was heavily promoted.

[@brandonhooey9006]

I honestly cannot understand how both of them can give Evil Dead a thumbs down for being too gory,yet give praise a few years later to "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond".

[@babybird871]

yeah..good pont..Gene liked "The Thing".. and that was really really bloody

[@judsongaiden9878]

0:32 So GLaD that he said "young people" and not "kids." They're all in their 20s (the actors and the characters). Cheryl's the youngest and she's 20. 1:50 They're not teenagers! Doggone it! Even when someone gets it right, someone else gets it wrong!

[@gregoryjames174]

The first time I saw this movie was while I was literally smoking crack for the first time. When people ask me if I was smoking crack for loving this movie I can honestly say, "Why yes,yes I was...😁

[@macabre_matinee]

What a great film. I’m learning to love when these guys thumbs up, but get ecstatic when they thumbs down classics.

[@sha11235]

This is from 1982, since they are on At the Movies, which they started then.

[@RUEMORGUEMAGAZINE]

1983, actually. EVIL DEAD had its local premiere in '81 but wasn't actually released to theaters until two years later.

[@noahstewart5054]

It's 1981.

[@Danimal77]

The movie premiered in October 1981, but wasn't officially released in theaters until April 1983, which is when this review was done.

[@Danimal77]

1983 (April to be precise).

[@NovaFeedback1979]

Yep. April of 1983 when New Line released it.

[@ShmuckOnWheels]

They reviewed the movie in 1983 and Jeffrey Lyons picked it as his Dog of The Week on his and Gabler's version of Sneak Previews in the same year.

[@thefineartofexploitation4103]

They can't appreciate horror. Gene Siskel can't even appreciate violent movies. He'll never live down his thumb down for Taxi Driver in the 70's.

[@NovaFeedback1979]

The Fine Art of Exploitation Uh. Taxi Driver was on his top ten for 1976. Look it up. He sometimes had a problem with violence but would still recommend it. Case in point The Thing.

[@ericsilva-gomez2481]

The Fine Art of Exploitation can’t appreciate horror? all film is subjective and he had a different opinion.

[@PaulSmith-qs1es]

I don't think you should say "they" Ebert often likes horror movies.

[@GregorasProject]

@@PaulSmith-qs1es Ebert didn't like The Thing, but Siskel liked it.

[@andthensome512]

They completely fail to see the humor of it.

[@ravingrays248]

If they only lived to see ash vs evil dead.

[@braziliantvhd2768]

I don't think they got it that this was a spoof of horror movies from the beginning.

[@JamesWVanFleet]

It wasn't a spoof. Raimi is on record as saying that the camp was accidental, and they were trying in good faith to make a genuinely horrifying movie.

[@Danimal77]

You couldn't be more wrong of the original. The spoofs came with part II and more so with part III. The original was an all out HORROR movie.

[@otakurocklee]

@@JamesWVanFleet Regardless of Raimi's intention, the first movie plays like a horror-comedy. Maybe not as much as 2... but it's a hilarious film.

[@TA-by9wv]

​@@JamesWVanFleet The first one is legitimately horrifying.

[@genejordan6248]

siskel certainly lacked some intestinal fortitude

[@lunartat77]

Ironically, though, he defended John Carpenter's "The Thing".

[@ShmuckOnWheels]

The Evil Dead is fucking awesome but referring to the cabin as "a vacation cottage in the woods" is like calling your local homeless shelter "a quaint little B n B".

[@movieman104]

evil dead is a great horoor film i think they r wrong on this at least roger gave 2 thumbs up

[@Marvindorfler1]

Barfing at the kids play dough in the evil dead. How innocent was the 80s in movie terms

[@gregorypatton4706]

it's not Cisco neighborhood like they said above it's Cisco and Ebert fools love them though I miss them

[@gregorypatton4706]

everyone knows Cisco neighborhood most horror movies this one scared the crap out of me so bad I saw it twice now I own three or four copies of it on d DVD including the special editions this is a classic movie evil Dead 2 was boring as hell but army of darkness was pretty good but still this is the best of the evil Dead shows I miss Cisco neighbor they wear the best it's funny and entertaining and kind of way the way they hate horror movies and review them but overall they are a great team and I miss them sorry they're both dead now

[@PaulSmith-qs1es]

Well, I thought Evil Dead was terribly boring, but if it weren't for it we wouldn't have the delightful sequels and TV series.

[@campinatorxbox1610]

Wasn't really a fan of the first two but three and the TV series where awesome.

[@mrspicolli]

Great movie. How do I become a critic ? Cuz I have little moral hang ups and nothing offends me but political non involving garbage. So yea I get it... bad time to get into this. But I would be great at this

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

These two were humorless prudes back then, midwestern squares. This movie is nearly a laugh-a-minute affair.

[@Nathan-gd7xq]

Why do you care what other people think? Are you that insecure?

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

@Nathan-gd7xq Consider the full implications of your question: why bother to comment on or engage with anything at all? Why not avoid all criticism and commentary in life, and just stay trapped in your own private conscience? I'm a Siskel & Ebert fan by the way. That doesn't preclude me from criticizing them.

[@debgibsonfan]

Ignorance.

[@majestyk3337]

OPINION (And by the way, Ebert was a big fan of Evil Dead 2)

[@marcoslaureano5562]

This is why I can't stand critics. People who have no talent other than picking apart and judging other people's creations. If they'd been born with any actual talent - they wouldn't be critics.

[@ThyAsianMan]

You must’ve not been born with any talent too then because you’re being a critic of the critic!

[@geupelboi]

@@ThyAsianMan and you're being a critic of a critic of a critic... your turn!

[@movieman104]

2 thumbs down on of the best horror films ever made least roger liked 2. gene never seemed to get horror films

[@movieman104]

@Bill Kennedy kinda n liked 2

[@redadamearth]

Oh, boomers. lol

[@noahstewart5054]

I absolutely agree with Siskel and Ebert. I didn't like "The Evil Dead" that much. It was was way too gross like that scene dropping blood inside the light bulb spraying some blood in front of a camera, that's too much. Turning someone's friends into zombies was too scary as I remember. I was not a huge fan of horror movies like, "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Friday the 13th", especially sequels, remakes, and other films, so boring. Or any of the other horror films. "The Evil Dead" is the greatest horror film though, but thumbs down for me. The Evil Dead (1981) 2/4 👎👎

[@maxthepupp]

Whelp, boys..ya got this one wrong! 😁

[@Englishmatt-i2p]

Wrong, wrong and wrong

[@gabeobrien6889]

In total agreement. I have always hated Evil Dead. All gratuitous style and NO substance. It's a crap film. Exorcist is better.

[@campinatorxbox1610]

What about Army of Darkness or Ash versus the evil dead?

[@jlobiafra]

You are comparing a movie made and financed by inexperienced college students with no budget and no studio behind them to a movie with unlimited resources, a established director, established actors, with studio backing.

[@KarstensCreationsKC]

They didn't LIKE it??? How....expected.