"You have violated the ancient ways, and so must DIE!!"
And so it came to pass that in that little corner of the globe known as Michigan in the late 1970s a group of college buddies decided to follow the home-made Three Stooges-inspired slapstick movies they'd made with an exploratory expedition into the realm of grueling terror. This triumvirate of teen terrors consisted of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert (credited in the film's opening legend as 'RIP TAPERT PRESENTS'), and they were following their feature length (70 minutes) movie debut of the previous year It's Murder! with a 30 minute short horror movie which they hoped to use as a showcase for prospective investors in order to gain the funding to make a full length feature version (which, of course, would be 1981's epoch-making The Evil Dead).
Made for a grand budget of $1600 secured mostly from friends and family, Within the Woods is very much the prototypical Sam Raimi film, debuting many of the tricks and tics that would define his filmmaking style, as well as being the ur-Evil Dead, or Evil Dead 0 if you will. Featuring co-producer Campbell alongside friend and co-star in the trio's earlier shorts Ellen Sandweiss in the not-the-most-imaginatively-named roles of 'Bruce' and 'Ellen', the story unfolds in a manner broadly familiar to any audience acquainted with its cinematic consequent as two couples take a vacation in a remote cabin in the woods. The 'cabin' of Within the Woods is a more substantial structure than that of Evil Dead, more of a small farmhouse than the shanty shack to follow. Bruce and Ellen are joined on this ill-fated trip by their friends Scotty (Scott Spiegel, who would later gain co-writing credit on 1987's Evil Dead II and make his directorial debut with 1989's supermarket slasher Intruder) and Shelly (Mary Valenti in her sole credited role, which isn't much of a surprise as she's absolutely fucking chronic).
Ellen and Bruce decide to spend the warm summer day outdoors having a picnic, leaving Scott and Shelly inside indulging in a game of Monopoly. After finding some flint arrowheads in the grass, Bruce chooses this moment to announce that their selected holiday destination is built on an old Indian burial ground (typical - isn't that just always the way?) which bears a medicine man's curse. He does continually say 'Indian' as well, rather than 'Native American', which is a bit non-PC this side of the Seventies. Deciding to build a fire to heat up their hot dogs, he uncovers yet more arrowheads and some potsherds. This impromptu edition of Tony Robinson's Time Team results in the discovery of a dagger which Bruce proclaims to be the property of the powerful shaman buried beneath them, which is almost enough to put Ellen off her wieners.
Waking from a postprandial nap a short time later, Ellen finds herself alone and ventures into the woods to search for the missing Bruce. It was at this point that the Nth-generation dub that i'm reviewing (the film having never been commercially released for reasons of copyright) skipped and glitched so badly that when Ellen stumbles upon something lying in the undergrowth and screams, i had absolutely no idea what she - or I - was supposed to be looking at. I must say, a pirated who knows how many times copy of a film shot on 8mm film before being blown up to 16mm is not the easiest viewing experience i've ever had. I think if it was longer than half an hour it may have induced glaucoma. Anyway, a terrified Ellen is chased through the trees by an unseen presence in a sequence that sees the debut of the soon to be famous 'Sam cam' technique (the camera secured to a wooden plank held between two running people), and reaches the supposed safety of the house only to find the door locked. Here we get a routine that would be replicated shot for shot in The Evil Dead as Ellen frantically scrabbles at the door lock with a series of keys on a keyring as the presence looms in ever closer behind her, only to drop the keys and have her hand grabbed by an occupant coming to her rescue (in this case Spiegel's Scotty).
Either not believing or not comprehending the hysterical Ellen (given Spiegel and Valenti's 'performances' it's hard to tell), Scotty leaves Shelly to look after her while he goes outside to search for Bruce. After growing anxious waiting for either of the boys to return, Shelly decides to ignore Ellen's frantic pleas and investigate ("I'm just going to step outside. And shine a light into the woods" she intones non-grammatically) but barely makes it onto the porch when she opens the door to be confronted by a lurker at the threshold. This particular thing on the doorstep is a demonically cadaverous Bruce, possessed by the vengeful Indian's spirit. Boy is his face red. He stabs Shelly in the neck with the dagger, ending her reign of thespian terror forever, and a relieved bereaved Ellen barricades the door and arms herself with kitchen knives. This new Rambo attitude leads to a bit of a misunderstanding as a figure enters the back door to be greeted with a knife to the gut, only for it to be revealed as a returning Scotty - a gag that Raimi repeated with Dan Hicks' Jake in Evil Dead II). Choking on his own corn syrup, Scotty uses his dying gurgles to tell Ellen to go into the cellar where the gun is. Obvious place, really.
In another eerily familiar sequence, Ellen braves the rickety steps down into the cellar and probes its dark depths to arm herself (with a handgun, rather than the Evil Dead shotgun) and thankfully there's nobody buried in this fruit cellar but zom-Bruce decides to enter 'intruder window' (arf!) and for some reason instead of shooting him Ellen manages to partially sever his dagger-wielding hand which he then chews through to remove completely in a scene that would be transferred to the possessed Shelly in the movie. Stabbed with the enchanted Amerind blade (still gripped by his own disembodied hand), Bruce departs this plane of existence with a series of echoing moans - but not before grasping Ellen's ankle in a fake out "Psyche!" moment which provokes her into taking the advice of Richard E. Grant's Withnail and take the bastard axe to him! The act of bodily dismemberment dutifully done, Ellen sits shattered amidst the entrails and remains as a victorious final girl until the last second "Gotcha!" as Scotty's reanimated cadaver suddenly sits up into shot - another shot that would be recycled.
As a fan of The Evil Dead and its subsequent sequels and series for most of my life, i'm not sure why i left it so long before actually getting round to watching Within the Woods. Sure it's very rough around the edges, but it's fascinating to see so much that is familiar actually being incepted and i'd eagerly urge any fellow fans to set aside a half hour and give it a go. Come into the woods.
Join us.
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