Is The Evil Dead Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 7 out of 10. It's a cabin, a cursed book and a great deal of gore, with jump scares along the way.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
7 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
The cabin stays with you for a night, and the woods around it for a bit longer.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: Great with friends and a strong stomach, and a poor idea right before a cabin weekend.
The Evil Dead runs eighty-five minutes. Five college students go to a remote cabin in Tennessee, and the cabin has a cellar with a book in it. There is also a tape recorder, and somebody is going to press play.
The premise, briefly
Five college students vacationing at a remote cabin in Tennessee find a Sumerian book and a tape recorder in the cellar, and they press play.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Ash is the last one left after his friends are taken over one by one. He throws the book into the fireplace, which stops the possessed bodies, and walks outside at dawn. The Kandarian Demon rushes through the forest at him as he screams.
The scene you're dreading
Early on, the evening they find the book: Cheryl goes into the woods to check a noise and is sexually assaulted by possessed trees. She makes it back to the cabin bruised and distressed.
The dog
No dog dies in The Evil Dead.
It is a cabin full of friends being taken over one at a time, and the fear comes from the gore and from waiting to see who is next.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A porch swing with its own schedule
Ash Williams, his girlfriend Linda, his sister Cheryl, their friend Scott and Scott's girlfriend Shelly are all Michigan State University students, and they spend their vacation at a cabin in the hills of Tennessee. Nothing about the place is welcoming. The porch swing moves by itself as they walk up, and it only stops when Scott picks up the door key. Later Cheryl sketches an antique clock. The clock stops, a faint voice tells her to join us, and her hand takes over the pencil, turns pale and draws a book with a face on the cover. Cheryl is shaken and tells nobody.
During dinner the cellar trapdoor flies open. Ash and Scott go down and find the Naturom Demonto, a Sumerian counterpart to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, plus a tape recorder an archaeologist left behind. Scott plays the tape, and the incantations on it bring back the Kandarian Demon. Later that evening, Cheryl goes into the woods to look into strange noises and is sexually assaulted by possessed trees. This is the scene people dread most, and it happens early. She gets back to the cabin bruised and distressed, and Ash agrees to take her into town, only to find the bridge destroyed. The tape also says the only way to stop the entity is to dismember its host. Over a card game Cheryl names every card without looking, her eyes go white and she begins to float. Scott knocks her into the cellar and keeps her there.
Everyone has opinions about the cellar
The group fights about what to do. Shelly goes to her room, looks out the window, and the demon comes through it and takes her over. Scott pushes her into the fireplace and stabs her with a Sumerian dagger, and when she gets up again he dismembers her with an axe and buries what is left. He then goes off to look for a route back to town and returns badly hurt by the trees. He warns Ash that they will not let anyone leave and dies. Ash finds that Linda has been taken over too. He stabs her with the dagger, cannot bring himself to dismember her, and buries her instead. She comes back, and he has to use a shovel. He returns to the cabin as she dies.
The ending, explained
Back inside, Ash finds that Cheryl has escaped the cellar, and Scott's body gets up as well. Scott knocks the book near the fireplace during the fight, and Ash grabs it and throws it in. While it burns, both bodies freeze and fall apart fast, and Ash is covered in blood. At dawn he stumbles outside and starts walking away from the cabin. Then the Kandarian Demon comes tearing out of the forest and goes for him while he screams. Ash is the only one of the five left when the movie ends.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Evil Dead scary?
Yes, The Evil Dead is a 7 out of 10. It has jump scares and a lot of gore, and the dread stays for about a night.
How does The Evil Dead end?
Ash burns the book and his possessed friends fall apart, but he is the only one of the five left. At dawn the Kandarian Demon comes out of the forest and goes after him.
Does the dog die in The Evil Dead?
No dog dies in The Evil Dead. A mounted deer head and other taxidermy hang on the cabin walls.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Evil Dead?
No. The Evil Dead has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What is the Naturom Demonto in The Evil Dead?
It is a Sumerian relative of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and Ash and Scott find it in the cabin cellar. The tape recorder beside it plays incantations that bring back the Kandarian Demon.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of The Evil Dead is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to stay in the cabin for eighty-five minutes to know how The Evil Dead goes. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.
