20 Best Cult Movies Of The 1980s
11. The Evil Dead
1981 was a great year for horror fans: in addition to An American Werewolf In London and Possession, Sam Raimi's second feature length movie The Evil Dead (following his little discussed debut It's Murder!) was also released; an ultra low budget film which introduced the "college students visit a remote cabin in the woods" trope.
The Evil Dead introduced cult horror fans to Sam Raimi's typically hectic directorial style, swooping cameras flying through misty woods, taking a demon's eye view as the undead prowls for fresh teenagers to possess. It's also one of the most inventive low budget horror movies of all time, notable for the controversial sequence in which a woman is raped by a tree.
Shot through with a surrealistic undertone (critics at the time compared the film favourably to the works of surrealist directors such as Georges Franju and Jean Cocteau), it's also the debut movie for perhaps the most iconic cult hero of all time - the inimitable Ash, played by legend Bruce Campbell.