GamerTab That was an excellent one.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

hungerartist given the budget, and terrible quality in which i viewed this, i gave it a generous 7. either way, sam raimi already showed great skill with a very minimal approach at creating suspense, and terror in this short.. the camera moving through the woods towards the character, ala evil dead, and the minimal soundtrack enhance it all. not giving a long detailed review here, but if you are a big fan of the evil dead, and horror in general, this is WELL worth a look.. for all its "amateurness" this really shows some fantastic promise, which is obviously why raimi is where he is today. it goes to show how even with a minimal approach in both plot, and dialogue, through effective use of music, and incredibly inventive camera work, you can create the atmosphere you are going for. really an inspiring piece for anyone who likes the idea of going into the horror genre.. fun stuff.

Paul Andrews Within the Woods starts as Ellen (Ellen Sandweiss) & her boyfriend Bruce (Bruce Campbell) take a walk in the woods near the cottage that they & two of their friends Scott (Scott Speigel) & Shelly (Mary Valenti) have hired for a weekend. They plan on having a picnic & Bruce warns Ellen about the ancient Indian burial ground nearby & not to disturb it, however Bruce takes a sacred knife buried in the ground & ends up possessed by an evil spirit who wants to take revenge on the rest of his friends...Written & directed by Sam Raimi Within the Woods is a curious little film, it was made for the bargain basement sum of $1,600 specifically by Raimi to show to potential investors who might put up some cash so the full length Book of the Dead later renamed The Evil Dead (1982) could be made & I guess it worked. Many scenes in Within the Woods are mirrored & perfected in The Evil Dead, from the spirits point-of-view shots to the general story to the same actor's although here Campbell plays the bad guy where as in The Evil dead he became the hero. It is also different in some respects in particular instead of an ancient Book of the Dead the reason behind the evil spirits is an ancient Indian burial ground being violated. It lasts for a few seconds over 30 minutes & to be honest isn't a bad little horror flick with some understandably rough edges. Even though this is fairly impressive everything considered if Raimi had shown me this I still wouldn't have given him any money but then again I'm a tight git...Director Raimi is already showing a panache for style & visual flair even on a none existent budget, Within the Woods is technically more impressive & stylish than many legally released horror flicks! Within the Woods was never meant to be released anywhere & it never has, legally that is so it's hard to rate it as it was never meant to be seen by the public. To be honest I wouldn't say it's even finished, there are obviously sound effects & music cues missing, some of the editing is choppy & it's a touch dark at times but when all said & done it does look pretty good & is watchable. There's some gore here, a man is stabbed in the stomach, someone is stabbed in the neck, someone is stabbed in the back, someone is dismembered with an axe & have their hand sliced off. The special effects are alright actually & again put some legit horror films to shame!Within the Woods is really only of interest to fans of The Evil Dead & want to see a virtual carbon copy of it, since it was never meant to be released to the public I can't say it was even a finished film but it ain't too bad. Considered to be pretty rare which I doubt taking into account the number of comments on the IMDb, it has more reviews than say Carry On Columbus (1992)!

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.