Image via Complex Original
This weekend, there will be two sects of moviegoers anxiously buying tickets to see the new balls-out horror flick Evil Dead. On one side, you'll have the hardcore genre fans who pledge allegiance to all things Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, the writer-director and star, respectively, of the 1982 cult classic The Evil Dead. In addition to spawning a pair of similarly cherished sequels (Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness), Raimi's feature-length directorial debut revolutionized the way unknown, horror-loving filmmakers could make professionally staged and endlessly inventive films with little to no money.
As for the other crew of Evil Dead viewers, which promises to be around 21 and under, mentions of "Ash," "Deadites," and "Naturon Demonto" mean nothing—after all, it's been over 20 years since the last part of Raimi's original trilogy, Army of Darkness, opened in theaters. For them, first-time writer-director Fede Alvarez's take on the film's age-old conceit—five kids encounters all kinds of nightmarish mayhem while spending time inside a cabin in the woods—will be their first time seeing someone get raped by a tree or hearing passages from the flesh-strewn "Book of the Dead."
Thus, the following list of 30 things you didn't know about the Evil Dead franchise serves a twofold purpose: to provide the initiated with a thorough refresher course and give a primer to everyone who's about to have his or her cherry demonically popped.
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Compiled by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
Before The Evil Dead was first conceived, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and other friends were regularly making non-horror short films on Super-8 cameras, including The James Hoffa Story (a Three Stooges-esque slapstick comedy), James Bombed (a 007 spoof), and The Happy Valley Kid (a dark comedy about a college outcast who wears a cowboy outfit and starts shooting people).
The Evil Dead wasn't the first Renaissance Pictures (the production company started by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Rob Tapert) horror project set around trees. In spring 1979, to drum up investors' interest in funding what would become The Evil Dead, Raimi made the $1,600, 32-minute short Within the Woods, shot in Super 8 on Tapert's family farm.
The original title for 1981's The Evil Dead was Book of the Dead.
The Evil Dead wasn't the only option for a new title. Other possibilities included: The Evil Dead Men and the Evil Dead Women, Fe-Monsters, Blood Flood, and These Bitches Are Witches.
During the scene in which characters listen to an old recording, the original plan was for them to be smoking marijuana. When the actors smoked pot for real, though, their stoned, unruly behavior ruined the scene, leading to the removal of all sticky icky from the script and ultimately the film.
While shooting The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi, dressed in a suit, randomly met makeup effects legend Tom Savini outside of a movie theater. Raimi excitedly asked Savini if he would take a look at the unfinished movie in their editing room. The scene they showed him: the dead body melting down into gooey clay, the film's big effects shot.
Beginning with The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi's first car, a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88, has appeared in all of his films. In Army of Darkness, it's decked out in all kinds of medieval weaponry.
Stephen King was so blown away by his first time seeing The Evil Dead at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival that he wrote a glowing review of the film in the November '82 issue of Twilight Zone magazine.
Peter Jackson—Oscar-nominated director of The Lords of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey—cites The Evil Dead as a major influence. "It made me think, God, I could do that," says Jackson. "I was old enough, I had a 16mm camera, and here comes a horror movie that somebody of similar age made with a 16mm camera."
In 1985, censors in the United Kingdom banned The Evil Dead, turning it into one of the most infamous "video nasties"—low-budget horror flicks deemed unsuitable for most audiences by the British Board of Film Censors—of all time. This came two years after 49 seconds had to be cut in order to secure an X-rating for its UK theatrical release.
Joel Coen—one-half of the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers directing team—was an assistant editor on The Evil Dead.
Film producer Irvin Shapiro was the first person to suggest a sequel, complete with a working title: Evil Dead II: Army of Darkness.
Evil Dead II exists primarily due to Sam Raimi and producer Rob Tapert's bad experience making the dark comedy Crimewave (1985), co-written by Raimi and Joel and Ethan Coen. That film's commercial failure, coupled with the distributor's call to not use Bruce Campbell as the lead, made a Campbell-starring Evil Dead sequel that much more appealing.
Stephen King was also instrumental in getting Evil Dead II made. The author had a multi-movie deal with producer Dino De Laurentiis, and when he found out that Raimi wasn't able to finance the sequel, King told De Laurentiis that he should get into the Evil Dead business.
Since Raimi and company weren't able to secure the rights to show scenes from The Evil Dead, their plan to include a brief recap at the beginning of Evil Dead II had to be rethought. The solution: Recreate the scenes, which has caused some people to think the sequel is a remake. It's not.
Holly Hunter—who lived in the same Silver Lake, Los Angeles, house with Sam Raimi, Joel Coen, Kathy Bates, and Frances McDormand in the early '80s—inspired the Evil Dead II character of Bobby Joe, the film's resident sexpot. Raimi wanted her to play the role too, but Hunter focused on films like Raising Arizona, not horror.
Setting Army of Darkness, the final film in the trilogy, during the medieval times enabled Raimi and company the chance to see an old idea through. Originally, they wanted to set Evil Dead II in the year 1300, but budgetary restraints made that impossible.
Oddly enough, Hannibal Lecter was a nuisance for everyone involved with Army of Darkness. Raimi's film was done and ready for release, but news that Thomas Harris, author and Lecter creator, was writing a third novel sent Army of Darkness producer Dino De Laurentiis and distributor Universal Pictures into a legal battle over the rights to Lecter. Which, sadly, meant Army of Darkness became a bargaining chip and sat on the shelf for more than six months.
Though fans love it now, Army of Darkness wasn't met with much enthusiasm when it opened in January 1993. The combination of a completely altered tone (from horror to comedy-adventure) and a less likeable Ash bothered many of the franchise's biggest fans, and the film's box office performance was underwhelming.
Yes, there is a connection shared between Tina Fey and The Evil Dead. George Reinblatt—the writer and creator of the successful off-Broadway show Evil Dead: The Musical (for which Raimi and Campbell gave their blessings)—once wrote jokes for the comedian at Montreal's Just For Laughs comedy festival.
There have been three Evil Dead console video games so far: Evil Dead: Hail to the King (2000, Playstation and Dreamcast), Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick (2003, Playstation 2 and Xbox) and Evil Dead: Regeneration (2005, Playstation 2 and Xbox).
Thanks to the success of the Evil Dead films, co-producer Rob Tapert made the transition into television production. Among other shows, he has produced Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and Spartacus: War of the Damned.
Unless you're a die-hard horror movie fan, you might not be aware that, in 2007, Bruce Campbell produced, starred in, and directed the independent meta-horror-comedy My Name is Bruce. He plays a fictionalized version of himself who, thanks to fans thinking he's really Ash, has to battle real-life monsters.
A native of Uruguay, Evil Dead (2013) director Fede Alvarez first made waves in Hollywood with his 2009 short Panic Attack!, self-made for only $300. After Alvarez spread it online via YouTube, it became a sensation, even getting linked on Kanye West's blog.
Lily Collins (Mirror, Mirror) was originally close to playing Mia in the remake, but she got nervous about the movie's extreme nature, which led to the casting of Suburgatory star Jane Levy.
The new Evil Dead was initially given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA.
The new Evil Dead is full of hidden Easter eggs for the franchise's biggets fans. One example: In one scene, there's a deck of cards spread across the ground inside the cabin, and each card facing up represents one that Cheryl—the first character to get possessed in the original film—says before going full-on demonic: "Two of Spades! Jack of Diamonds! Jack of Clubs!"
The remake's characters weren't given names arbitrarily. Put the first letters of each name (David, Eric, Mia, Olivia, Natalie) together and it spells "DEMON."
Per reports, Fede Alvarez shot a post-credits scene featuring Bruce Campbell as Ash, but it was ultimately cut from the theatrical release. In the scene, Ash, driving in a truck, pulls up alongside the film's lone survivor, who's stumbling down an open road, covered in blood.
At Wondercon 2013 last week, Fede Alvarez and Bruce Campbell announced that their ultimate plan is to eventually make—depending on the success of the new Evil Dead, of course—Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness 2, and then merge the two worlds for seventh and ultimate Evil Dead movie.
