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This UK based fansite represents years of hard work to assemble the the definitive online resource covering every aspect of the Evil Dead trilogy, from the early Super-8 days, through The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II & Army Of Darkness, and beyond. It pulls together a vast array of sources to present the most comprehensive reference ever, using many rare and never before seen images.
If you want to get in contact, have something to contribute, or have any contents suggestions, you can use the email link located at the bottom right of every page, send a direct message via Twitter, or head over to the forums to join in the discussion.
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You can stay up to date with all this site's latest news, additions & updates by following our Twitter feed, although posts relate strictly to this site. For general news in the wider Evil Dead world, I would highly recommend Ed's excellent blog EvilDeadNews.com, which is updated nearly every day with new posts. Find links to all three below.
February 3, 2012 - Further little Additions & Updates
Some more little additions and updates of note; The Evil Dead - Deleted Scenes page has been updated to add in The Evil Dead deleted scenes, which were edited for inclusion on the Book Of The Dead Fanmade DVD, along with a better 'Book Of The Dead Differences' comparison video, and some amended text covering that. Finally, thanks to Brazilian fan Victor's assistance, you can now read the few lines of previously un-translatable Spanish Dialogue on the Evil Dead II - Different Versions page.
February 1, 2012 - Some Small Additions & Updates
Drawing from the excellent and highly recommended 2011 US Lionsgate Evil Dead II Blu-Ray release, a number of little text/image additions and updates have been made on a number of pages; Evil Dead II - Production page, Evil Dead II - Special F/X, Evil Dead II - Locations page, Evil Dead II - Deleted Scenes page, and the Evil Dead Trilogy Props Reference Guide.
January 31, 2012 - Webmasters Collection Page Added
A new page has been added, detailing the various unofficial, non-retail & fanmade items the webmasters of this site have built up over the last 10 years of collecting; the Webmasters Collection Page. Please note that This page simply serves to inform fans of the material that's out there to find, in addition to purchasing the various official retail DVD releases.
January 12, 2011 - Shannon Shea Interview Online
You can now head over to the Features page to read an interview conducted with Shannon Shea. As well as working on a long list of Hollywood films; including Predator, Jurassic Park, Land of the Dead, Drag Me to Hell, and most recently Men in Black III, Shannon worked for Mark Shostrom on the Evil Dead II special makeup effects crew, creating among other things, the character of Evil Ed. You can also read Shannon's fantastic 'First Person Monster Blog' Here.
December 20, 2011 - Some Small Updates
Merry Christmas to all! Just some small updates, videos have been added to the The Evil Dead - Censorship page, and The Evil Dead - Retail DVDs page, a more complete version of the Evil Dead II trailer has been added to the Evil Dead II - Synopsis page, and there have been some small updates & additions to the
The Evil Dead - Book Of The Dead Fanmade DVD page, which after sitting on the back burner unfinished for many months, has been dusted off and should be finished in the next few weeks.
The forums are also open again to new members. They were completely dead for quite some time, and spam-bots were continually trying to sign up 6 or more per day, so registration was just disabled. After just looking into some anti-spam plug-ins, the forums have been re-opened, and hopefully the spam-bots will be kept at bay.
December 12, 2011 - Evil Dead II: "Severely Edited For Television"
Apologies for the lack of recent updates, other projects have been pressing. Worry not, we're back, and what an update we have for you!
We've just added comprehensive write up on the incredibly rare TV version of Evil Dead II, yes, the TV version! This was thought forever lost, until the long dismissed rumours of the Mexican TV airing with many additional scenes proved actually to be true, and boy were we wrong on that one! There's nearly 11 minutes of new and alternate material, including the burning of the Book of the Dead, Ash eating a squirrel, a new time vortex sequence, and a whole host of extended and alternate scenes!
Head over to the Evil Dead II - Different Versions page to read lots more.
August 4, 2011 - Bart Pierce Interview Online & Additions
You can now head over to the Features page to read an interview conducted with Bart Pierce. Bart worked with Tom Sullivan on creating the meltdown sequence at the end of The Evil Dead, but also created a number of the other optical effects, assisted Tom with some of the physical effects. Bart has a role as a zombie doctor in his two sons' new zombie-comedy-horror movie called Deadheads, currently touring various film festivals. You can find our more and see the trailer at DeadheadsTheMovie.com.
Also two more clips have been added to the Restored & Extended Book Of The Dead Fanedit page. Both are extended sequences using the various raw footage available; 'Dinner Table Conversation', and 'Looking Through The Book In The Cellar'. You can also see the other sequences which have been completed so far on the same page, although bear in mind that they may be incomplete and might still need some polishing!
August 1, 2011 - Twitter and Book Of The Dead
Firstly, the interview mentioned in the last update is just awaiting final approval, so expect that to be added shortly. Next, as you can see above, you can now follow this site's latest news & updates via Twitter. Any new updates posted on this page, will also be posted on the @BookOfTheDead Twitter Feed too.
Finally, anyone who was interested in the uncompleted Book Of The Dead fanedit restoration which was added to the The Evil Dead DVD section a few weeks back, might want to check out this new project; a Restored & Extended Book Of The Dead Fanedit. The original project fell by the wayside about a year ago, but it's recently been semi-resurrected in the guise of both a restored and extended The Evil Dead fanedit. It's really just a pointless hobby/pet project which has been moving very slowly along for the past few months, and it may or may not ever come to anything. The intention is to restore The Evil Dead to the original Book Of The Dead version, and extend it using the various raw footage featurettes. You can see the sequences which have been completed so far, although bear in mind that they may be incomplete and might still need some polishing!
July 27, 2011 - The Site's Second Anniversary Approaching
BookOfTheDead.ws is fast approaching it's second anniversary, and there are still new updates & additions every few weeks. The internet has a long list of defunct, long abandoned, and offline Evil Dead Trilogy fansites, a fate which is not intended for this site! This website is a labour of love, and a huge amount of hard work has been put in to make this the definitive online resource covering every aspect of the Evil Dead trilogy, more comprehensive than any other current or past website. This site is still going growing and this will not be changing in the future.
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The above aside this entire website was created and is run by one person, myself, and all expenses come out of my own pocket. Between yearly hosting & domain name costs, continuing interview phone calls from the UK to the USA, the couple of pieces of commercial software which have been needed in the course of adding new features to this site, and the fact I don't display any paid advertising whatsoever, the costs are mounting up.
So, for anyone who enjoys reading my site and feels they'd like to, a donation button has been added here, to allow people to make a small contribution to the site's running costs via PayPal. It's worth adding that while the site will obviously keep going strong anyway, your assistance will help to expand this site over and above my limited personal means.
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In other news, I've just conducted a new interview which should be online in the next week or two. I will reveal all as it's added to the site. Further interviews are still being sought, so expect more soon. The Site Design & Content Credits page has been updated to add in some new names to the Thank You list. This site would be quite bare without people willing to contribute in one way or another, so thanks again to everyone! Finally, the Within The Woods Score section has finally been updated. Again thanks to Scott Spiegel, another gap has been filled, leaving only two tracks left to identify.
July 10, 2011 - General News & Updates
Since opening on October 31, 2009, 'Book Of The Dead' has now had over 10,000 visitors! The site is still expanding and there are regular updates & additions. Among the latest; the fanmade DVDs The Evil Dead - The Treasures Collection, and Book Of The Dead, in The Evil Dead DVD section now have some sample videos to give you a better idea of the projects. On July 7, 2011 our second of the two new interviews was completed. It's currently being formatted, and will be online soon.
July 7, 2011 - Super-8 Shorts DVD Section
The Super-8 Origins section now has a DVD sub-section, which contains information about the various shorts which are legally available to buy online or in stores (mostly just migrated from the Releases & Bootlegs page), as well as highly detailed pages on two fanmade DVD projects; Sam Raimi's Super-8 Shorts, and Josh Becker's Super-8 Shorts. There have also been a number of little alterations made to the Within the Woods DVD page.
July 6, 2011 - The Evil Dead DVD Section Updates
The Evil Dead DVD section has been expanded to add highly detailed pages on two fanmade DVD projects; The Evil Dead - The Treasures Collection, and and Book Of The Dead. Those looking at aquiring a Blu-ray release may be interested to read through the Book Of The Dead page, part of which details the catalogue of directorial tweaks & alterations to the Blu-ray transfer of the film, from the original theatrical version.
July 5, 2011 - Angela Featherstone Interview Online & Updates
You can now head over to the Features page to read an interview conducted with Angela Featherstone. She played Ash's love interest in the 'S-Mart' US theatrical ending of Army Of Darkness, and has since appeared in a list of subsequent film & TV roles including The Wedding Singer, Friends, Seinfeld, and The Twilight Zone. Angela has only recently come to the Sci-Fi & horror convention circuit and will be appearing at a number of US events later in the year, and possibly coming to the UK too.
Also, the Within The Woods Score section has finally been updated. Thanks to Scott Spiegel, some of the gaps have been filled, although three tracks are still unidentified. Expect another interview shortly, and further updates soon.
June 30, 2011 - More Interviews & Updates
I've just conducted a new interview which should be online in the next week or two, and have a separate interview penciled in next week, which should subsequently be added in the week following. I will reveal all as each one is completed. Also expect those minor additions to the Within The Woods Score section next week too. Keep checking back for further additions & updates!
June 9, 2011 - Scott Spiegel Interview Online
You can finally read the huge Scott Spiegel interview mentioned a few weeks back, via the Features page, again sorry it's all taken so long!.
The interview spans much of his career, covering everything from his early Super-8 days, to his present work. Scott acted, directed, and assisted with numerous Super-8 productions, with title roles in It's Murder, Clockwork, and Within The Woods among many others, then assisting during post production on The Evil Dead, and taking larger production roles in Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except & Evil Dead II, then directing Intruder, and going on to forge a career in Hollywood, initially more as a writer, then moving further in to big-budget producing & directing. He is presently producer on the popular & lucrative Hostel franchise, and is fast becoming one of Hollywood's big hitters.
May 8, 2011 - General Site Upgrades & Additions
I have added a number of site upgrades & additions. You'll now be able to see various streaming MP4 video files dotted around. I'm using the excellent free browser plug-in JW Player (much like YouTube pages). Currently there are the three trilogy trailers on each respective 'synopsis' page, the Book Of The Dead workprint trailer, a Book Of The Dead differences sequence, the Palace Pictures VHS ident, the Palace Pictures Evil Dead II Television Spots, an Evil Dead II workprint differences sequence, and a number of personal videos on the 'About Us' page. It goes without saying that I have not and will not be adding any of the Super-8 shorts or the movies, either as clips or in full, unless expressed permission is given by the copyright holders. You'll need JavaScript enabled, and the latest version of Flash installed in order to view them. Congratulations of you're using FireFox, as you'll see a little blend effect on the video titlebar text. Internet Explorer users won't get this as even the latest version still hasn't implemented the CSS drop shadow effect. So there you go.
I have also embedded a number of the various PDF files (in addition to the existing download links) so they can be read easily inline on the page, and may be adding a few new PDF items too. Both the PDF and video files, use a new snazzy page-space-saving sliding effect, so they remain hidden until you click on each banner.
The long awaited Scott Spiegel interview should be up within a week, just needs some polishing and a final clearance. Watch this space!
May 2, 2011 - Danny Hicks Interview Online
You can now view our Danny Hicks interview in the 'Features' section, sorry it's taken so long!
Danny's probably most famous for playing the role of Jake in Evil Dead II, and Bill Roberts in Scott Spiegel's slasher Intruder, along with a cameo role alongside Tim Quill in My Name Is Bruce, but has also appeared in numerous other feature films spanning the last 25 years, along with a whole host of US theatrical productions and commercials.
April 13, 2011 - Further Update
A further quick update; the second interview has just been completed, Danny Hicks kindly made time in his busy schedule for a phone conversation covering Evil Dead II, Intruder, and My Name Is Bruce, along with some exciting new projects on the horizon. It will take a few weeks to work through the audio, transcribing and formatting it into the final article, but expect this excellent read online soon!
April 9, 2011 - New Updates
This is just a quick status update, the first of the two long promised interviews has just been conducted. Scott Speigel graciously lent his time for a two hour phone interview covering his earliest Super-8 days up to Hostel III (currently in production), and everything in between. It will take a few weeks to work through the audio, transcribing and formatting it into the final article, but it will be worth the wait!
The second interview is scheduled for next week, more will be revealed once it's done. In other prospective new additions, thanks to Scott's assistance, the Within The Woods score section can finally be completed, expect that over the next few weeks too, and I have recently taught myself the intricate coding needed to stream hosted MP4 files using the excellent free browser plug-in JW Player (much like YouTube pages) while working on an entirely unrelated website, so expect tweaks of videos which are already available, and maybe some new files too, although just to note; due to the respective copyright holders wishes, this will certainly not include any of the Super-8 shorts themselves.
Lastly, well done to Evil Dead superfan Elise Holmes from Quebec in Canada, who was the extremely difficult 20 question quiz prize winner, but you're still welcome to have a go at the quiz and see if you can get them all right.
January 30, 2011 - New Additions
Two new pages have now been added to the 'Features' section. Firstly a piece about the real Egyptian 'Book of the Dead', the inspiration behind the trilogy's namesake. A sizable number of the surviving Egyptian 'Books of the Dead' were part of a one-off exhibition at the the British Museum in London, England, between November 4, 2010 to March 6, 2011. Many examples had never been seen before, drawn from the British Museum’s unparalleled collection, with the oldest examples over 3,500 years old!
Secondly, an extremely difficult 20 question quiz, which covers production and details on both Within The Woods & The Evil Dead. All the answers are out there to be found, with many on this site, and some questions are easier than others, so have a go and see how you do. The first person to get them all wins a secret prize!
Homefully more additions will be along shortly, so keep checking back!
January 28, 2011 - General Updates & Additions
It has been around 6 months since any new updates or additions to this site. Beyond general daily related news (which you can follow at the excellent blog EvilDeadNews.com), coming up with completely new, innovative & truly worthy ideas over and above to the huge amount of material already present here, isn't all that easy.
There are two interviews in the works, along with a page about the real Egyptian 'Book of the Dead', currently on display in the British Museum up to March 6, 2011, plus a stupidly difficult Evil Dead quiz! If anyone out there has ideas or requests for material they'd like to see added to the website, please do get in contact via the email address at the bottom of this page.
June 6, 2010 - Trilogy Props Reference Guide
Head over to the 'Features' page to see a new page, an Evil Dead trilogy props reference guide, which draws together the various memorable props from The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, & Army Of Darkness, along with their possible availability as originals & replicas.
Some among you reading it, may know alot about subjects such as firearms, cars, or antique clocks, so if you have any additional information or corrections about the items listed, or you want to request an additional item be researched and added to the list, please get in touch.
May 29, 2010 - Tom Sullivan interview
Head over to the 'Features' page to read an email interview conducted with Tom Sullivan. It covers his involvement in the early Super-8 days, as well as his work on Within The Woods, the Evil Dead trilogy, and beyond. We're still actively seeking other interviews, so expect further updates in the future.
May 2, 2010 - Super-8 Origins section & Josh Becker's Super-8 Shorts
Having now recieved the five Josh Becker Super-8 shorts DVDs, there are a number of new additions; If you head on over to the 'Super-8 Origins' section, in the 'Full Shorts List' page a number of the entries for Josh Becker shorts have been expanded upon, and with screenshots added or replaced, the 'Releases & Bootlegs' page has a number of similar related additions, along with the 'Photos & Artwork' page, and a couple of updated screenshots here & there across the rest of the site.
For anyone who owns the French DVD of Alien Apocalypse containing the stunning transfers of Oedipus Rex & The Blind Waiter as extras, the rest of these new shorts are similar in quality and well worth buying.
April 8, 2010 - About Us section and other Additions
An entirely new section; 'About Us', has now been added, and some little additions have been made to a number of pages including the 'Super-8 Origins' section; 'Releases & Bootlegs', 'Full shorts List' and 'Photos & Artwork' pages, the 'Within The Woods' section; 'Releases & Bootlegs' page, as well as a couple of new items on the collectables page.
While not strictly related to this site, there is one other major piece of news really worthy of mention. Josh Becker has begun selling excellent quality professional DVD transfers of a number of the Super-8 shorts through his website. Currently there are five shorts discs available; disc one has Stryker's War, disc two has The Blind Waiter & Oedipus Rex, disc three has Holding It, disc four has Acting And Reacting & The Final Round, and disc five has Cleveland Smith Bounty Hunter, The Case of the Topanga Pearl, Super Student, and Public Enemy Revisited.
Here is a direct link to the DVD purchase page on Josh's website. All five DVDs are already in the mail to us, so expect some interesting additions & updates to the site once they arrive.
March 21, 2010 - EvilDeadChainsaws section Additions
Since closing down EvilDeadChainsaws.com, a fair number of people have made contact asking for advice or help with their own chainsaw projects, Rather than continuing to reply to each individual request, I have decided to share some of the information & experience built up over the years, online for everyone. Head over to the 'Features' section to read more.
February 10, 2010 - Collectables Section Updated
The 'Collectables' index page has had it's first big update, with around 50 additions; there are now 816 individual items listed. We have to say a big thank you to everyone who contacted us with new suggestions & additions. Even so, the section will never be 100% complete, so if you see that we've missed anything, or want to point out any corrections, please do get in contact.
January 19, 2010 - Collectables Section
The main 'Collectables' index page is now online. It aims to be the ultimate comprehensive reference list of all the the official and unofficial Evil Dead trilogy related merchandise available in the past or present. The material listed, ranges from mass produced items down to one-off fan made items, and everything in between. Rather than spilt the items down in to sub-page after sub-page, we've decided to have everything together on one huge page, so it might take a minute or so to to load as there are nearly 800 individual items listed, all with pictures.
We've decided to restrict the 'Collectables' section to just the main index page for the time being, with a long term goal of expanding it to include 'More Details' sub-pages linked from the main list, with additional photos, specs & information about each item.
Because of the vast array of official and unofficial items which have been made over the years, knowing about & cataloguing every single past present & future item ever produced is virtually impossible, and the section can never really be certified 100% complete. It will simply remain 'in progress' for the foreseeable future, with periodic updates of new items from time to time. If you have anything we don't, please get in contact and let us know so we can add it to this list.
January 2, 2010 - Army Of Darkness Version Differences
Seasons greetings and a happy new year to everyone out there!
We have just added a new page; 'Different Versions', to the Army Of Darkness section, giving a highly detailed breakdown of the differences between the various retail Army Of Darkness versions/cuts. It compares the US Theatrical Cut, the Director's Cut, the International Cut and the US Television Version.
We're still working away on the 'Collectables' section, and currently have around 600 individual Evil Dead trilogy related items, and rising! Expect the vast main indexing page to be online soon, with the huge number of 'more details' pages to be added over the next few months.
December 22, 2009 - Evil Dead 4 and Collectables additions
The Evil Dead 4 page is now online. It explores the various prospects of a new Evil Dead film, either as a further instalment to the existing series, a complete Remake, or a Freddy vs Jason vs Ash movie.
Also, the bare skeleton of the last section still under construction; 'Collectables', is online, although it currently has no items listed. As this section will be huge, it will likely be updated as each batch of items is catalogued. Given the vast array of past, present and as yet unknown future Evil Dead Trilogy related items, this section can never be certified 100% complete. It will simply remain 'in progress' for the foreseeable future, with periodic updates of new items from time to time.
One other little addition; As someone emailed us and asked about it, I have added a short piece to The Evil Dead section 'Score' page about the song Shelly & Scott sing while driving to the cabin.
December 11, 2009 - Army Of Darkness Section Now Complete
We have just added the Army Of Darkness section 'Deleted Scenes' page, which means the Army Of Darkness section is now complete. Although quite comprehensive, we may still expand it yet further to include the differences between each of the retail DVD versions, rather than just the differences & omissions from the shooting script. Lookout of the Evil Dead 4 section next.
December 6, 2009 - Cheryl Guttridge Interview & Army Of Darkness section
Head over to the [newly re-ordered] 'Features' page to read an email interview conducted with Cheryl Guttridge. She acted in numerous Super-8 productions, had a leading role in Josh Becker's feature film; Thou Shalt No Kill... Except, as well as appearing as a Fake Shemp in The Evil Dead. We're still actively seeking other interviews, so expect further updates in the future.
Eight of the nine pages for the Army Of Darkness section are complete, but the 'Deleted Scenes' page is taking a little longer to work through than planned. As everything else is done, we have opened the other eight pages rather than keep it all offline. The remaining page should be online shortly, and the Evil Dead 4 section is next on the list.
November 26, 2009 - Josh Becker Interview
We have just added an interview with director Josh Becker to the 'Features' page. He directed & assisted with numerous Super-8 productions, along with writing & directing a list of feature films including Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except & Running Time, and was also a crew member on The Evil Dead managing a large portion of the lighting and sound, along with cameo roles in Evil Dead II & Army Of Darkness, and publishing a number of interesting books about the world of film making.
Expect further interviews to be added over the next few weeks.
November 19, 2009 - Tim Quill Interview
We have recently conducted an interview with Actor Tim Quill. He had roles in numerous Super-8 productions, along with many of Sam's later feature films, including an appearance in each of the Spiderman films, and perhaps most famously playing the Blacksmith in Army Of Darkness. To read it, please see the features page.
On the subject of general site updates; further interesting interviews are in the pipeline, and we're currently working through the large Army Of Darkness section which is about 50% complete, and should be online in the next few weeks.
October 31, 2009 - Site Online
The site & forums are now open. The 'News & Updates', 'Super-8 Origins', 'Within The Woods', 'Features' & 'Links' sections are all complete, along with the 'The Evil Dead' and 'Evil Dead 2' pages of the 'Trilogy' section. The 'Army Of Darkness', 'Evil Dead 4' and 'Collectables' sections are still in progress, but given the amount of detail covered, it may be quite some time before everything is 100% finished. The three pages in the 'Features' section are complete, but keep an eye out for further additions in the future. It's worth noting that we have made a deliberate decision not to cover the next generation computer games or 'Evil Dead: The Musical' at the moment.
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