So much average

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This half hour is an 1978 horror movie written and directed by Sam Raimi. You will find quite a few parallels to the filmmaker's "Evil Dead" movies which came out shortly later. The most astonishing thing about this short film is probably that Raimi was only 18 or 19 when he made it. A really good effort for that age. Today, he is mostly known for the "Spider Man" trilogy, but there is a lot more to his body of work and it looks like he is going to stay faithful to his early works with a new "Evil Dead" television serious about to be released. Anyway, back to this short movie. Many of the actors in here also appeared in the "Evil Dead" series and Campbell is going to be in Raimi's new series as well. But it's not just brainless horror. There is actually a feeling of loss when the girl in here in the last scene fights against the evil zombie who once was somebody very close to her. I quite enjoyed watching this one and recommend it and this is even higher to acknowledge as I am usually not too big on horror films. Thumbs up for "Within the Woods".

Remarkable for a Super 8 short (and I've seen more than my share over the years), WITHIN THE WOODS proves that Sam Raimi had "The Fright Stuff" from the very beginning. Leading man Bruce Campbell, looking not unlike Clark Kent in a pair of glasses, demonstrates that he's already fully capable of carrying a film. Like THE RESURRECTION OF BRONCHO BILLY (co-written by John Carpenter), A TIME OUT FOR WAR (with Barry Atwater, who would go on to infamy as the vampire in THE NIGHTSTALKER), COMES A TIME (with Ally Sheedy), SOME FOLKS CALL IT A SLING BLADE (the impetus for the feature, with Billy Bob), and AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE (the French short that turned up on THE TWILIGHT ZONE), to rattle off but a few, WITHIN THE WOODS warrants a look. Raimi and Company manage to generate some genuine suspense and the makeup fx and the music and sound fx are all outstanding for a short (the totem pole was a nice touch and one can't help but smile when the normally scene-chewing Bruce Campbell gnaws off his own hand). Special thanks to the good folks at SubCin.com for the copy I saw; it was definitely worth seeing.

Within the Woods (1978) *** (out of 4) Early Sam Raimi short has Bruce Campbell and three friends going to the woods for the weekend when they disturb an Indian burial ground. When the sun falls demons and other ghouls go on the attack. Does this sound familiar? If you said it sounded like The Evil Dead then you're correct because this is the film Raimi shot to show investors to try and get money for the feature, which would eventually be released three years later. Needless to say, this doesn't hold a candle to the feature but fans will certainly want to check this out just to see how much Raimi kept from this movie and put into the future film and its sequel. I was really surprised to see Raimi using many of the same techniques but many of them, like the point of view shots of the creature going over the ground, work very well here. I think the film gets a little long winded as it runs just over 30-minutes but there's still a lot to enjoy here. Campbell turns in a charming performance as does Scott Spiegel. I've read the film had the budget of $1,600 and with that in mind it's amazing how much they were able to put into the short.

Before director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell would team together for their Evil Dead films (thus generating a strong cult following for this series of "funny" zombie films), they wanted to create a mini movie using a Super 8mm camera to demonstrate their artistic vision. This film was shown in theaters only once due to copyright issues and was also shown to potential investors. It must have worked because only a short time later they had enough to make the low-budget classic, THE EVIL DEAD--a film that went on to make millions and led to sequels, of sorts, such as EVIL DEAD II and ARMY OF DARKNESS (and even an off-Broadway musical). This review is for that cheapie short, WITHIN THE WOODS.So what's the film like? Well, it's cheap, crappy but also amazingly scary for film with minimal production values, an annoyingly dark and fuzzy print and a cast with no training or skill. The problem is that YES it is scary and well-made in some ways, but unlike the EVIL DEAD films which bear a strong similarity to this film, it lacks the sense of humor that made the Evil Dead franchise work so well. An amazing film in many ways, but probably only of interest to HUGE fans of the genre.