Within the Woods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Within the Woods | |
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| Directed by | Sam Raimi |
| Produced by | Sam Raimi Bruce Campbell Robert Tapert |
| Written by | Sam Raimi |
| Starring | Bruce Campbell Ellen Sandweiss Scott Spiegel Mary Valenti |
| Distributed by | None |
| Release date(s) | 1979 (USA) |
| Running time | 32 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,600 |
| Followed by | The Evil Dead |
| IMDb profile | |
Within the Woods (1978) is a short film written and directed by Sam Raimi.
Raimi, longtime friend Bruce Campbell, and other associates shot this movie on Super 8 mm film in an effort to raise money to produce a feature-length version of it, which would later be released to some critical acclaim as The Evil Dead.
[edit] Plot
Within the Woods is very similar to The Evil Dead in terms of plot devices, pacing, and effects. A group of four friends, Bruce (Bruce Campbell), Ellen (Ellen Sandweiss), Shelly (Mary Valenti) and Scotty (Scott Spiegel) rent a cabin in the woods.
While on a picnic with Ellen, Bruce digs a fire pit nearby. He finds a strange dagger and becomes possessed by a vengeful Native American spirit. Bruce chases and attacks Ellen and later kills Shelly and Scotty before being taken down by Ellen.
The final shot of the film has Scotty sitting up quickly behind Ellen as she is crying about what just happened, revealing to the audience that he is the new host of the evil and that the ordeal is not over yet.
[edit] Connections to The Evil Dead series
Within the Woods contains many scenes that were later used in The Evil Dead, and even a shot that was eventually used almost a decade later in Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn.
The name of Mary Valenti's character, Shelly, and Scott Speigel's character, Scotty, were re-used for The Evil Dead.
[edit] Release
The film was shown as a double billing with The Rocky Horror Picture Show when a critic saw it and gave it a very good review. This critique was one of the things that Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, and producer Robert Tapert used to prove they could make a quality horror film. They eventually secured their funding for the feature-length version of the film, The Evil Dead, which was released soon after to massive success.
The film is now widely available in a bootleg format, though most copies are very poor and extremely blurry. It has been long-suggested by fans to include it as an "extra" on one of the various DVD releases of The Evil Dead, but due to copyright issues of music used in the film, it has not been possible. In response to a direct question from a preview audience in Austin in July of 2005, Campbell asserted an alternative reason for withholding Woods from DVD; he said that Raimi does not want to "show his pimply ass to the world." According to Campbell's remarks, Raimi considers the film amateurish and unsuitable for release.
The film has no copyright, and is available from numerous sellers on online markets such as Ebay.
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