Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is one of the most infamous films of the eighties, and like with Godzilla, it's the only serious entry in a very fun franchise. Technically from 1981, it crept across the globe at a snail's pace, creating a grassroots following, and many countries only got the film years later. We in the Netherlands actually had to wait until 1983, but at least we were among the lucky ones who got to see it uncut. Surrounding countries were ready with scissors, snipping its fleshy bits away with the same violent eagerness as the film's demons.
Take Germany, where the film got gutted with over 14 minutes of cuts (meaning only 69 remained). Later versions inserted the odd minute back in, but it's only now, in April 2017, that The Evil Dead is allowed an uncensored release. And with Germany being a proud member of the disc-pimping group of countries, this meant loads of new editions. Ha!
There are regular editions, mediabook editions with four different covers, a Vintage Edition and an Ultimate Collector's Edition. I missed out on that last one (it is now only available for astronomic prices) but the Vintage Edition actually has more discs and an extra booklet, so I happily went with that one.
It's a beauty so here is a gallery of shots. Click on the arrows at the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the centre of each to see a bigger version!
And here it is: the "Vintage Edition" of The Evil Dead (or Tanz der Teufel as the franchise is called in Germany). The rating is on a separate outer slipcase and can easily be disposed of, as is only fitting.
Also fitting is the general design: the packaging looks like an old VHS cassette.
The contents: a digipak which looks like a videotape, and a booklet about the film's tumultuous history in German courts.
All contents opened. The digipak contains four disks and an additional booklet about the film itself.
The disks have the uncut original version on open-matted 4:3 HD, the uncut remastered version (cropped to 16:9 by Sam Raimi himself) on HD and SD, and a Blu-ray with a slew of extras. Note that not all editions have the open-matted version of the film, but the Vintage Edition has it!
That digipak sure is a thing of glory. It's the best fake videotape since Criterion's DVD of Videodrome.
Backsides of the digipak, all beautiful.
The film booklet is 40 pages, and an insert of the digipak.
It's a great view on the film and very informative, with a focus on text rather than pictures. Language-wise it's German-only though!
The second booklet is 76 pages (!!) and details the many legal battles German distributors faced when they tried to release the film in the past 35 years. Courts, censorship boards, you name it.
Obviously this is a hoot to read through, but the booklet dives quite deep into its subject matter and contains copies of many official documents, some of which still had to be redacted before being published.
Again, you need to be able to read German but if you do, this is a great extra.
Note that Sony Home Entertainment has an edition out which is even MORE pimped: the Ultimate Collector's Edition. It basically has the same items as this one (bar one disc and the court history booklet), but adds a poster, a T-shirt and a big resin statue of the classic poster image.
I'm not one for statues generally (my house is small enough as it is...) and it costs a fortune, so I went with the Vintage Edition, but I'd be remiss in not mentioning this über-edition.
The (back)end of a great edition!