The Evil Dead
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| The Evil Dead | |
|---|---|
| Image:Evil Dead poster.jpg Poster for The Evil Dead | |
| Directed by | Sam Raimi |
| Produced by | Sam Raimi Bruce Campbell Robert Tapert |
| Written by | Sam Raimi |
| Starring | Bruce Campbell Ellen Sandweiss Betsy Baker Hal Delrich Teresa Tilly |
| Music by | Joseph LoDuca |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 1981 April 15, 1983 |
| Running time | 85 min. |
| Country | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $375,000 |
| Gross revenue | $29,400,000 (est.) (As of July 26, 2006) |
| Followed by | Evil Dead II |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Evil Dead (also known as Evil Dead, The Book of The Dead, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and The Evil Dead: The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror) is a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss and Betsy Baker. The film depicts five college students and their vacation in an isolated cabin in the woods, which turns into a nightmare when they find an audiotape that is a key to unlocking evil spirits.
The film was extremely controversial for its graphic violence and gore, being initially turned down by almost all U.S. distributors, until a European company picked it up. It finally premiered on October 15, 1981. Although its budget was just $375,000, it was a moderate success at the box office, grossing a total of $2,400,000 in the U.S. upon its initial release. [1]. Despite getting mixed reviews by critics at the time, it is now widely accepted as a classic of the horror genre and has a worldwide cult following.
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[edit] Plot
Five Michigan State college students venture into the woods to spend a weekend in an isolated cabin. There they find the Book of the Dead (in the film a Babylonian text, unrelated to the Egyptian Book of the Dead), otherwise known as the Morturom Demonto. (In the sequels, the book was renamed Necronomicon, in reference to the work of H. P. Lovecraft.)
While searching the basement of the cabin, the students find and play a tape recording of demonic incantations from the book, unwittingly resurrecting slumbering demons that thirst for revenge. The characters are then possessed one by one, beginning with Cheryl (Sandweiss) after she is brutally raped by the trees, by the evil force in sequences of intense, bloody violence and horrifying voice-overs. Cheryl makes it home to the cabin but nobody believes her. Ash then decides to drive her into town where she can stay the night. Upon nearing the bridge they discover it is completely destroyed and the supports are bent into the shape of a hand. Soon after, Cheryl becomes a demon and stabs Linda in the ankle with a pencil. They lock her in the cellar, but soon after Shelly becomes possessed and attacks Scotty who dismembers her with an axe. They wrap the dismembered body-parts in a blanket and bury them, after which Scotty leaves to find a trail out of the woods.
Ash goes to check on Linda, but also finds her to be possessed. Scotty returns but he is mutilated by trees, but before losing consciousness he tells Ash there is a trail in the woods. After Linda and Cheryl trick Ash by returning to normal, Ash is forced to drag her outside. He goes back to check in on Scotty, but he dies. Linda later returns and tries to stab Ash, but she falls on the dagger. Ash drags her outside to cut her up with a chainsaw, but seeing the necklace stops him from doing it, so he buries her. Unfortunately, she arises from the grave and Ash cuts her head off with a shovel. The head soon comes back to life and taunts him, and the body gets up to chase Ash back to the cabin. Ash returns to find the cellar door flown open. Cheryl jumps at the window and tries to break in. Ash shoots her, but she doesn't die. Ash then proceeds to barricade both the front and back doors. Ash then runs back into the cellar to find a box of shotgun shells and experiences a strange series of events including the cellar filling with blood and hearing things in his mind. Cheryl tries to attack Ash through the door, but he shoots her and then slides a bookshelf in front of the door and Scotty's body leaps up. The two then begin to viciously attack Ash. Suddenly, they begin to scream, and smoke starts to rise from their bodies, as Ash realizes that The Book of the Dead has fallen into the fireplace. He grabs it and throws it into the flames. The demons stop and begin to rot away as dawn breaks, finding Ash to be the only survivor. He heads outside and stands there for a while, thinking he has survived the ordeal; but the evil "force" runs him down. The screen goes black as Ash turns around with a look of fear on his face as the force catches him.
[edit] Production
Raimi and Co. managed to secure a budget of $375,000, and with the cast and crew, headed for an abandoned cabin in the woods near Morristown, Tennessee. The movie was shot over a period of about 4 years, during which many of the cast and crew abandoned the production. Because of this, Raimi used 'shemps' or 'stand-ins' to replace the actors who had left. One of the only actors loyal to the project from the beginning was Bruce Campbell, who went through torturous circumstances as the character 'Ash.' According to the Evil Dead DVD commentary, he would often return home after a night of shooting in the back of a pick-up truck, due to the fact that he was usually covered in corn syrup, which the crew used as fake blood.
Actors Richard DeManincor (Scott) and Theresa Tilly (Shelly) both went under different "stage names" during the shoot. They are credited in the credits as "Hal Delrich" for Richard and "Sarah York" for Theresa.
According to Bruce Campbell's autobiography, "If Chins Could Kill", Richard acquired his stage name by combining his short name with his roommates' names, Hal & Del.
[edit] In other media
| Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In the movie Donnie Darko during the scene where Donnie is in the theatre and sees Frank, the film they are watching is The Evil Dead.
- The comic book Marvel Zombies versus the Army of Darkness includes the Deadites and the main character of the movies.
- In the Happy Tree Friends episode "Read 'em and Weep", the book Pop reads to Cub strongly resembles The Necronomicon.
- The enemy in an episode of the computer animated series ReBoot is clearly modeled on Bruce Campbell's Ash, as well as the episode taking place in a haunted cabin.
- In the animated television show The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, the character Hoss Delgado has a chainsaw-crossbow for an arm, in a direct reference to Ash's chainsaw arm.
- In a recent story line in the web comic Ugly Hill the man character's arm gets cut off, and he replaces it with a weed whacker, and then gives a speech about it similar to Ash's about his boomstick
- In a Western New York comic novella created by the Boogeyman's Closet called "Ooh Pie",one of the characters created his own Book of the the Dead to get even with his son,right after watching Evil Dead, thus releasing demon in their country home, a direct reference to Evil dead
[edit] Censorship
Because of its graphic violence, the original version of the movie was banned in several countries, including Finland, Germany, Iceland and Ireland. The "tree rape" scene in the movie was also described by some as being misogynistic.[citation needed] In Germany, the movie's release was hindered by public authorities for almost 10 years. Original 1982 cinema and video releases of the movie had been seized, making the movie a hit on the black market video circuit with pirated copies abounding. Several high-profile horror enthusiasts publicly criticized the German ban on the movie, including author Stephen King (who gave it a rave review in the November 1982 issue of Twilight Zone). A heavily edited version was made legally available in 1992, but the first legal, uncut version of the movie did not enter the German DVD market until 2001. In Finland, The Evil Dead was later released uncut on DVD by Future Film, and rated K-18. In the United Kingdom, the movie was one of the first to be labeled a video nasty in the mid-1980s and was finally released uncut in 2001.
[edit] Spin-offs
There have been a variety of spin-offs and tie-ins including a musical and comic mini-series.
[edit] Evil Dead: The Musical
With the approval of both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, a musical version of the film was staged, enjoying a successful workshop in Toronto and performances at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal in 2004. The New York off-Broadway production started previews on October 2, 2006. The official Opening Night performance was November 1, 2006. The show continued with 8 performances per week at the New World Stages until closing February 17, 2007. Evil Dead: The Musical has recently started production in Toronto starting from May 1, 2007 with the run extended from June 23, 2007 to August 4, 2007. On August 4, 2007 it was announced that the show has now been extended for a final time until September 8, 2007
[edit] Comic book
Starting in January 2008, Dark Horse Comics will be releasing a comic book mini-series based on Evil Dead, which will be written by Mark Verheiden, with art by John Bolton (who provided art for the Dark Horse Army of Darkness comic).[2]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series |
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| Films: The Evil Dead • Evil Dead II • Army of Darkness Other films: Within the Woods • My Name Is Bruce La Casa films: La Casa 3 • La Casa 4 • La Casa 5 Video games: The Evil Dead • Evil Dead: Hail to the King • Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick • Evil Dead: Regeneration Comic books: Ashes 2 Ashes • Shop Till You Drop Dead • Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness • Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Other topics: Ash Williams • Characters and locations • Bruce Campbell • Robert Tapert • Evil Dead: The Musical |
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Categories: Articles with trivia sections from December 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | 1981 films | American films | B movies | 1980s horror films | Haunted house films | Supernatural horror films | Evil Dead | New Line Cinema films
