Within the Woods (1978)

"You know this place we're staying? Used to be part of an old Indian burial ground. It's very sacred and holy."

- Bruce

Within the Woods is a 32-minute film short directed by Sam Raimi and marks Raimi's second foray into the horror genre. As with his first film short, 1977's It's Murder!, Raimi teams up with actor friend Bruce Campbell in this $1,600 zombie-thriller, which serves as a prototype for what would become his popular cult hit Evil Dead franchise. Though similar in terms of characters and theme, Within the Woods is not part of the Evil Dead continuity, although the film was used to help raise funds for Raimi's first Evil Dead project.

Plot
Four friends are hanging out at an old farmhouse near a swamp. Bruce and Ellen decide to have a picnic nearby while Scotty and Shelly stay behind to play Monopoly.

As Bruce and Ellen are picking a "groovy" spot to set up their picnic, Bruce remarks about how he grew up in the area. The surrounding lands used to be the territory of Native American tribes many years ago. Bruce finds a couple of old arrowheads and begins digging for more. He eventually comes upon an ancient ceremonial medicine man dagger. He tells Ellen that traditionally whenever a medicine man died, one of his possessions would be buried with him.

Now while Ellen is sunning herself, Bruce gets back up to check out the spot where he was digging. The spirit of the dead native takes control of his body. Ellen falls asleep and awakens later into the early evening. She begins to wonder where Bruce is. She gets up and searches the spot where he was last seen. Confronted by her zombified boy friend, she runs screaming in terror throughout the woods. The zombie chases across a section of swamp, but Ellen eventually gets back to the farmhouse. She bangs relentlessly on the door, but Scott and Shelly are too busy arguing over their Monopoly game. Shelly fumbles about until finally finding her keys. Seconds later, she makes it into the farmhouse, locking the door behind her.

Scotty goes out into the woods to look for Bruce, leaving Ellen alone with Shelly. Some time passes and Scotty doesn't return. Shelly goes out to look for him, much to Ellen's chagrin. Eventually though, Bruce the zombie makes it to the front door. He confronts Shelly before she even gets two steps out of the house. Raising her off her feet with one hand, he uses the other to stab her in the neck with the ceremonial dagger.

Ellen screams and retreats to a back bedroom. Scurrying about for a weapon of any kind, she sees someone trying to break through the door. The door bursts open wide and Ellen leaps forward with the knife, accidentally stabbing Scotty.

Ellen steps over him and races into the other room, but unfortunately, that's where Bruce is. She runs back into the anterior room and closes the door over Bruce's fingers. She discovers that Scotty is still alive, albeit barely. Scotty tells her to go to the cellar to find a gun.

She does so, but only manages to acquire another really large knife. She frantically runs back upstairs where she meets Bruce the zombie again. Bruce grabs her about the throat and begins strangling her. Ellen uses the knife and cuts off Bruce's hand.

Ellen tries to squirm out the front window, but Bruce drags her back inside. They punch each other about a bit and Bruce tosses her into the Monopoly table, spilling everything over. Bruce gets her down on the floor, but Ellen reaches over and grabs the severed hand holding on to the dagger. She stabs the dagger into Bruce's back and this seems to put him down. Bruce springs back up for one final hurrah, so Ellen picks up an axe and whacks off Bruce’s arm and head. This kills him dead.

The camera begins to pull away as Ellen is left crouched on the end of the sofa crying. In the foreground, we see Scotty rise straight up. He is a zombie now.

Notes & Trivia

 * Sometimes referred to as an Evil Dead prequel though it has nothing to do with the other films.