I fully intended to present you with a review of a movie worse than Evil Laugh, but I just happened to stumble upon this:

Within The Woods

Yes, the 30 minute short that Sam Raimi and pals used to generate money for Evil Dead.

So, why the funky title for this post?

This is basically just a collection of all the ingredients for the actual movie. And it works. Even without making a whole lot of sense.

Before I begin, have I mentioned how much in love I am with Ellen Sandweiss? She's supposed to be the geek in Evil Dead, but I want her much more than Shelly.

Oh, Ellen. Why did you have to go and get married and have kids and all that? Didn't you know I was out here?

Anyway, the copy of Within The Woods is pretty piss-poor. But I suppose all of them are. And because of the poor quality, I won't be putting up any screen-caps.

There's no character developement, here. 4 kids are at a house (that's right, a house) in the woods for a good time of Monopoly™ and picknicing. Sounds like fun.

Bruce Campbell plays "Bruce". He and Ellen (Who plays "Ellen". Damn creative, if you ask me.) are gonna picnic while Scott and Shelly play the most boring board game in the world. Monopoly™.

Bruce knows all about Indians and shit, 'cuz he grew up in the area. They'll be fine as long as..... THEY DON'T VIOLATE ANY INDIAN GRAVES!!!!

So, Bruce goes to dig a pit to cook hotdogs for him and Ellen (god, I love you, Ellen) and unearths a bunch of crap I can't see and a dagger. They both fall asleep and when Ellen (You're beautiful, Ellen) wakes, she's alone.

Ellen (Goddess of film) finds Bruce's mangled body and is menaced by the "unseen force". (If you touch Ellen, "unseen force", I'll kill you.)

Look, it's a simple plot for a 30 minute promo. Everything you see in EDI and II is there:

The banging swing, hand gnawed off, Raimi-cam, trying to get the keys into the door, "Join Us", accidentally stabbing someone.....shit, it's all here. Hence the title of this post.

Damn, these guys were talented before they even got started.

Sure, the Indian shit doesn't really make for gripping storytelling, but all of this works and I can see why people would throw money at them to make their little horror film.

Ellen.....my sweet Ellen.

Sorry, got distracted.

If you can find this, and you're an ED fan, I suggest you throw down the cash and get it. For Ellen, alone.