The Evil Dead (1981) - The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror


The Evil Dead
The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror
( Action / Comedy / Fantasy / Horror / Thriller)

Bruce Campbell as Ashley J. Williams Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl Hal Delrich as Scotty Betsy Baker as Linda Sarah York as Shelly Phil Gillis as Fake Shemp Dorothy Tapert as Fake Shemp Cheryl Guttridge as Fake Shemp Barbara Carey as Fake Shemp David Horton as Fake Shemp Wendall Thomas as Fake Shemp Don Long as Fake Shemp Stu Smith as Fake Shemp Kurt Rauf as Fake Shemp		Ted Raimi as Fake Shemp Ivan Raimi as Fake Shemp Bill Vincent as Fake Shemp Mary Beth Tapert as Fake Shemp Scott Spiegel as Fake Shemp John Cameron as Fake Shemp Joanne Kruse as Fake Shemp Gwen Cochanski as Fake Shemp Debie Jarczewski as Fake Shemp Bob Dorian as Voice on Recorder (uncredited) Sam Raimi as Fisherman/Voice of Evil Spirit (uncredited) Robert G. Tapert as Local Yokel (uncredited)

David Goodman transportation captain Joe LoDuca conductor Josh Becker lighting technician: second unit Don Campbell production assistant Joel Coen assistant film editor Mike Ditz still photographer		Simon Nuchtern special thanks Tim Philo lighting Sheila Roberts special thanks Carol Valenti special thanks Ed Wolfrum music engineer

Filming Locations:

Tech Info:

Camera: Arriflex 16 BL
Arriflex 16 S
Budget: $150,000 (USA)
Color Info: Color
Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Film Negative Format: 16 mm
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
Shooting Dates: 01 Nov 1980 - 24 Dec 1980

Plot Summary:

Five friends go to a cabin in the woods for a vacation. They discover The Book of the Dead and a tape recorder belonging to a professor, who also owns the cabin. One of them plays back what is recorded on the tape--which just happens to be Candarian resurrection passages translated from the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead) by the professor, which unleashes an evil force from the woods. The people start turning into evil deadites, and the others soon learn from the tape that the only way to kill a person who is turned into a deadite is by total body dismemberment. People are dying left and right; one girl early in the film loses control and runs off into the woods, only to be raped and killed by the trees.

Trivia:

Sam Raimi originally wanted to title this film "Book of the Dead," but producer Irvin Shapiro changed the title to "The Evil Dead" for fear that kids would be turned off seeing a movie with a literary reference.
After completing principal photography in the winter of 1979-1980, most of the actors left the production. However, there was still much of the film to be completed. Most of the second half of the film features Bruce Campbell and various stand-ins (or "shemps") to replace the actors who left.
Filmed in a real-life abandoned cabin.
Creamed corn dyed green was used as zombie guts.
There is a ripped poster of THE HILLS HAVE EYES visible.
Director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell were friends from high-school, where they made many super-8 films together. They would often collaborate with Sam's brother Ted Raimi. Campbell became the "actor" of the group, as "he was the one that girls wanted to look at."
Some of the book translates as "Sam and Rob are the hitchhikers on the road", a reference to Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert playing the two men on the side of the road at the beginning of the film.
The voice of the professor on the tape recording is that of American Movie Classics host Bob Dorian.
As the car is driving up to the cabin at the beginning of the movie, instead of Teresa Seyferth, it's Sam Raimi you see from "Shelly's" window.
The cabin used for filming The Evil Dead was located in Morristown, TN. The cabin mysteriously burned down years later.
The cabin did not actually have a cellar. The cellar scenes were filmed in Raimi's garage. For the scene where the students descend into the cellar, a hole was cut into the floor, a shallow hole was dug, and a ladder was placed into the pit.
On the tape, in which the daemon resurrection passages are read aloud. The words are in a form of Arabic, which actually mean Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi are the men on the side of the road".
The first opening sequence of the evil moving over the pond, is actually Bruce Campbell pushing Sam Raimi in a dingy whilst he films the shot.
Ash's last name is never mentioned throughout the entire Evil Dead trilogy, though Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell did toy around with calling him "Ashley J Williams" and "Ash Holt," the latter revealing how Sam viewed the character...
Was one of the first films to be labeled as a "Video Nasty" in England.
The scream of Bruce Campbell at the end of the movie is genuine. Sam Raimi actually crashed into Bruce with the bike he used to create the "Evil Camera" effect.

Quotes:

[Cheryl has been hacked into several pieces]
Ash: We can't bury Cheryl. She's our friend.
Linda: [singing] We're going to get you, we're going to get you, not another peep, now we go to sleep.
Ash: Oh You bastards! Why are you torturing me like this? WHY!?!?!
[Cheryl has become possessed]
Cheryl: Why have you disturbed our sleep? Awakened us from our ancient slumber? YOU WILL DIE!!
Voice: Join us...

Alternate Versions:

German version misses 48 seconds. There are 2 German versions on the market:
1. Tanz der Teufel (banned/uncut)
2. Tanz der Teufel 1 (heavily cut)
The Swedish version, originally cut by several minutes was re-released in 1997 completely uncut, including the infamous tree-rape scene.
When originally released to cinemas in Britain, the UK censors removed around 18 seconds of footage, and it was this version which was released on video originally. Despite the cuts, it became one of the most notorious of the UK video nasties, and was subject to many obscenity trials before being withdrawn on video in 1984, when mandatory video censorship was introduced to the UK. It was not until 1990 that the film surfaced on video in the UK again, due to wrangles between the distributors and the BBFC over how much footage should be cut from a legal video release. In the end, a further 1m 6s was removed, in addition to the previous cinema version cuts. Most of the gore scenes were shortened or removed, with the tree rape scene being particularly targetted for cuts. The full uncut version has never been released in the UK.
The 1998 Anchor Bay video releases, "Collector's Edition" and "Limited Edition" (35,000) have a stereo soundtrack.
In March 2001, the BBFC decided to release it completely uncut in the UK.
The Anchor Bay releases are complete and uncut.
A small scene was cut from the U.S. release:
1. After all of Ash's friends have turned into demons, he goes outside and begins to panic. Frustrated and angry, he kicks in one of the front windows. Eventually settling down, he re-enters the cabins and again confronts the monsters.
The uncut UK Anchor Bay DVD release in 2001 had a Dolby Digital 5.1 and a 6.1 DTS-ES remix. The image is also matted to 1.85:1 aspect ratio from the original 1.33:1 frame.

Film Gaffs:

CONT: Ash's legs have been grabbed at, clawed and bitten into yet when he stands up at the end of the film, his trousers are intact although we've seen them ripped at least twice.
CONT: Characters' hairstyles, as well as the amount of blood on them, change drastically from shot to shot - a result of shooting the film sporadically over several years. Note that seconds after Ash is completely covered in Linda's blood, he is clean again.
CONT: Scotty is shown being scratched by the demon on the right side of his face, however, later the scratches appear on his left side.
CONT: The amount of blood on Ash's face as he watches the demons disintegrate at the end.
CONT: The shotgun wound on Cheryl's face goes from the left side to the right side then back to the left.
CONT: When Scotty first enters the cabin, it is clearly dark out, despite it being daylight outside when he approached the house.
CREW: A crewperson is visible outside the window when the white shutters keep on banging.
CREW: Lights are visible everywhere: on the forest floor when Cheryl is being chased, mounted on the corners of the roof above the front porch, etc.
CREW: Producer Rob Tapert can be seen hiding in the bushes when the car starts to cross the bridge.
CREW: Visible tube spraying blood out of Cheryl's face after she is shot by Ash.
FACT: When Ash goes into the basement for shotgun shells, the shells he grabs are "spent" shells, and therefore, would not work.
MISC: Linda's pendant as Ash is getting ready to use the chainsaw.
SYNC: Tires screeching on a dirt road at the beginning.

DVD Easter Eggs: (Hidden So You Don't See Anything You Don't Want To See)

Book of the Dead Limited Edition

2 eggs

Elite Entertainment

Demonic Voice