Within the Woods

1978
6.3| 0h32m| NR| en
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The low budget film starring the young Bruce Campbell that influenced the Evil Dead films.

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Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
LouHomey From my favorite movies..
Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
The_Void Despite it's obvious low budget, un-professionalism and complete lack of intelligence: Within the Woods may well be the most important horror short ever filmed. For, if it were not for this little movie; the student team of Sam Raimi, Roger Tapert, Bruce Campbell et al may never have gone on to make the finest film in horror movie history; The Evil Dead. It's well documented by now that this film was the one that the team made in order to get funding for their first feature length movie, but funding wasn't all they would get from it. If you've seen this film, then it's a good bet that you've seen The Evil Dead too; and if you have, you wont be able to get away from the similarities of the techniques used and the sequences shown. Much of what happens in this film made it into the final cut, with things such as the conclusion to Ellen Sandweiss' chase sequence, the zombie at the door and the final monologue of the main character being lifted wholesale from this movie into The Evil Dead.It's not surprising why Sam Raimi and co ended up getting funded for this short. While, as mentioned, it's not great on the whole; we are shown quite clearly the prowess of the director. Raimi has implemented his trademark camera angles, along with the 'Raimi-cam', brilliantly and this is matched by the post-production, which sees the film being well edited and scored. As you might expect for this sort of film, the acting and script are, frankly, rubbish; but it hardly matters when the rest of the it is so inventive and well done. And 'Indian burial ground' aside; that's what the film is. The basic premise of the film wasn't changed for The Evil Dead, except that the actors have been swapped around. This time, we get to see the great Bruce Campbell as the main monster, and Ellen Sandweiss as the protagonist. While this works because Bruce's charisma allows him to excellently portray a possessed human; he makes for a better hero really, and Raimi and co ended up getting this right for the final cut. If you're not an Evil Dead fan (unlikely), you wont like Within the Woods...but if you are - make sure you track it down!
lonchaney20 This is a great effort for an amateur horror film, and I think a film like this could inspire many amateur filmmakers to fulfill their dreams of making a great film. The low quality got in the way, but I still enjoyed this movie quite a bit. The similarities between this and Evil Dead/II are obvious, and I think Evil Dead II especially because one of the stars of this film (Scott Speigel) co-wrote ED2. I love this movie, and I think that in a few ways it is superior to ED. Anyone who likes Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2(-Dead By Dawn) will probably enjoy this effort of Rob Tapert (who is credited as Rip Tapert), Sam Raimi, and Bruce Campbell. If you can get this movie, I suggest you do it as soon as possible.
HumanoidOfFlesh "Within the Woods" is largely known as the prequel to "The Evil Dead".This 30-minutes film was created to sell investors on the idea of "The Evil Dead".The film is extremely low-budget and the story is minimal.Still there is plenty of gore to satisfy fans of American horror.Bruce Cambell plays Bruce,who gets zombified.Ellen Sandweiss plays his girlfriend,Ellen.However she doesn't get raped by a tree in this film,though.The cinematography is grainy and the moving steady/shaky camera-a Raimi trademark-probably made it's debut here."Within the Woods" is rather tough to find,but if you get a chance watch it.Highly recommended.
iscream22 This is the short film from the filmakers that made "The Evil Dead". The film is kind of rough, and it doesn't come in that great, and about the only place to find it, is bootlegged on the internet.The story involves college students who take a picnic on an indian burial ground. One of them becomes possessed by a spirit and goes on a murder spree.Very dark and gory.Contains Strong Violence, no nudity though