No man can be a real movie buff without having watched Sam Raimi's 1981 cult horror film "The Evil Dead" -- or at least "The Evil Dead 2," the 1987 big-budget sequel.

In both, the timeless story of Ash Williams' never-ending fight to the death against an army of the undead has everything that makes movies worth watching: a rich yet ridiculous story, a dashing leading man (Bruce Campbell), inventive special effects and of course, zombies, zombies, zombies.

But if you're pressed for time, we urge you to watch the one-minute version of "The Evil Dead" put together by animator and filmmaker Lee Hardcastle.

Hardcastle created the Cliffs Notes version for the the Jameson Empire Done in 60 Seconds short film contest. Since then, Hardcastle's clay animation video has not only become a viral hit, but it's also one of the contest's 20 finalists. Winners will be announced on March 26.

Keep reading to watch Hardcastle's short movie and read about all the hard work that went into making this bloody mess of awesomeness.

Hardcastle tells Asylum that he has had an infatuation with stop-motion animation ever since "Wallace and Gromit" entertained him as a child. But he didn't realize its power until film school.


"I had a go at using some old action figures, and it turned out pretty well," says the British filmmaker, via email. "I was like, Cool, I did that by myself.' Through this, a couple of my own projects were funded and made, forcing me to specialize in stop-motion animation as a means to make the films I wanted to make."

Since then, he's done stop-motion films in his spare time, earning himself attention at festivals such as the G.I. Joe Stop Motion Film Fest as well as the "Done in 60 Seconds" contest.

"I was going to enter the contest in 2008 with a live-action remake of 'Jaws' but my friends with their respectively busy lives couldn't pull through, and that was that," says Hardcastle.

"Back to 2010, I'm reading Empire magazine, and they're showing off the entries so far -- and someone had entered a 'Star Wars' stop-motion," he continues. "My heart stopped [and I said], 'I can make an animation! I can pull something off!' I didn't know that stop-motion animation was something they'd accept.

"There were exactly 10 days to plan it, shoot it, do sound and send it. But I was determined to do it."

Hardcastle fashioned together four clay figures, constructed the sets from cardboard, and asked his girlfriend, Joséphine Barat, to make the costumes out of some of his old shirts. He toiled on the film as soon as he got home from his day job, working into the wee hours of the night -- even on his 25th birthday.

Even if his video doesn't make the final cut, Hardcastle says that the Internet's response alone has astounded him.

"I can't even believe I'm being asked to do an interview," he says. "I mean, I'm completely flattered in a really uncool and giddy sort of way."