The Evil Dead (1981)
Most people wouldn’t consider Sam Raimi’s cult classic, The Evil Dead, to be da part of the zombie genre … and they wouldn’t be totally wrong. The film is much more about evil spirits possessing people rather than the dead rising up from the ground. However, most probably don’t realize that the designs of The Evil Dead monsters are very zombie-inspired. The decaying skin and teeth, the blood dripping from their jaws, even the glowing white eyes of Scott’s re-animated corpse are totally meant to resemble the look of a zombie.
These demonic creatures, known as the Deadites, are even considered to be a zombie-hybrid and this can even be seen in Fede Alvarez’s 2013 remake. Both films also use practical effects over CGI and it makes a huge difference in seeing blood pouring out of every creature and flesh slowly falling off of bones.
