On second thought, put that book down and watch TV instead: "The Evil Dead"

Not any movie can claim to be the film that launched a thousand chins. "The Evil Dead" can't, either, but it did give one big chin his start on the big screen, and for that I and many others are eternally grateful.

I speak, of course, of Bruce Campbell, a self-proclaimed B-movie actor whose first significant role was in "The Evil Dead." Note that I said "significant," since "The Evil Dead" certainly wasn't a major movie -- not with a budget of $350,000. But as most men between 30 and 50 know, "The Evil Dead" was the first full-length feature directed by the great Sam Raimi, and the low-budget gore they unleashed on unsuspecting audiences has become a landmark in the annals of horror films.

I'll confess, the first movie in the "Evil Dead" trilogy I saw was the last, "Army of Darkness," which remains one of the funniest, silliest movies I've ever seen. "The Evil Dead" doesn't have the same nonstop laughs, and it takes a little longer to get going -- even for an 85-minute movie. But considering it was made more than 25 years ago, Raimi and Campbell's little film really is a decent and fun fright flick, complete with corn syrup, 2% milk, creamed corn starring as various bodily fluids.

The plot isn't exactly Hitchcockian: five college kids head to a remote cabin, where they find an old book and tape recording with ancient incantations. Fortunately, they ignore the book and tape, spend the night drinking and screwing, then go home the next morning. The end.

Oh, all right. As you can guess, they play the tape, which awakens "evil" -- in the form of a swooping camera barrelling through the woods, around corners and through windows -- that claims the kids one by one, turning them into rejects from "The Exorcist." Like I said, low budget stuff, but pretty balls-out when it comes to blood and gore, and that camera work is pretty effective in creating a sense of dread for these poor saps.

Campbell is more the straight man than the supreme wiseass he would be in "Army of Darkness" more than a dozen years later. Still, as the violence escalates, we get hints of what's to come once he becomes a veteran of battling evil. For now, though, you just feel for him as his friends turn into zombies and try to get him to join their club. C'mon, buddy ... keep that chin up!