WITHIN THE WOODS

Four friends on vacation in a cabin in the woods recklessly awaken a mysterious entity that turns some of them into bloodthirsty zombies. First horror short film by Sam Raimi shot on Super8 and produced by Bruce Campbell, who also stars, is a sort of prequel to "The Evil Dead" and contains elements later reused in that film and its sequel. Characterized by Raimi's typical style - perhaps still a bit raw here - the film starts a bit slow, with not very interesting dialogues, to become more intense with the arrival of the living dead. The special effects, though economical, do their job, as do the actors who are quite well cast in their roles (in addition to Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, also in the future cast of "The Evil Dead" and Scott Spiegel, co-screenwriter of "The Evil Dead 2", actor in "The Dead Next Door" and director of the second "From Dusk Till Dawn"). A curiosity is that in this short there is no trace of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis: evil is invoked in a very simple way, see for yourself.