Book Of The Dead - The Definitive Evil Dead Website

This page details a January 2013 project to make a replica of the clock seen in The Evil Dead & Evil Dead II, started in mid January 2013. Knowing the exact make & model of the original clock, hasn't helped in finding one as it's quite a rare antique (made around 1910). Only two of these are known to have come up for sale in the last few years, and both of those sold for a substantial sum.

Using the few real clock photos available, along with various screenshots, the five 'known' dimensions could be used to calculate everything else. These were; 37" overall height, 17.5" wide, 5" deep, 11.25" across the dial, and a 4.5" pendulum. Microsoft Publisher was used to draw up scale plans, and detail the parts needed. Although it would have been pefectly possible to source a real chiming clockwork original movement (since many clock makers use the same generic internals across their range of clocks), a modern quartz plastic AA battery clock mechanism was chosen to run the hands & pendulum instead. This was because it was much cheaper (£10 vs £50-£100 for a working movement), far easier to maintain, and most importantly, totally silent. Living in a small open-plan flat with a clock ticking & loudly chiming 24 hours a day for 365 days a year just doesn't appeal. Further, the internals are completely hidden from view so from the outside it would look identical to an original antique clock.

It took three weeks to make, and cost around £125, which sounds overly expensive but the costs mount up. The paint finish for example, uses three types of wood dye layered (at £5.78 each) overlaid with a black paint sheen (at £7.99), then a gloss varnish (another £7.54), totalling £32.87 just for the wood finish alone. Here is a breakdown of the full costs;

2 x (6" x 1" x 5.1m) prepared pine lengths - £15.00
1 x Sheet Of Plywood (3.2mm x 8ft x 4ft) - £7.00
1 x 10ft Picture Rail length (Style 1) - £15.00
1 x 10ft Picture Rail length (Style 2) - £7.00
1 x 25 Wooden Dowels (10mm x 36mm) - £0.99
1 x Balsa Sheet (3mm x 100mm x 457mm) - £4.20
1 x Vac Formed Dome - £3.00
1 x Sheet Of Glass (605mm x 318mm) - £7.50
2 x 50mm Brass Plated Butt Hinges - £1.49
1 x UTS Pendulum Clock Movement (25mm Shaft) - £11.38
1 x Regulator 'A' American Clock Hands (H-361S) - £5.43
1 x Satin Black Emulsion Paint - £7.99
1 x Rustins 250ml Wood Dye (Ebony) - £5.78
1 x Rustins 250ml Wood Dye (Dark Teak) - £5.78
1 x Rustins 250ml Wood Dye (Mahogany) - £5.78
1 x Rustins Polyurethane Clear Gloss Varnish - £7.54
1 x Hycote 400ml Grey Primer Spray Paint - £4.94
1 x Plasti-Kote 400ml Brilliant Metallic Gold - £8.86

The hands, mechanism & pendulum will all need a little adjusting to get their assembly, amount of swing, right. The hands are not made to fit this mechanism, so the holes will need a little work to fit. The pendulum you make needs to be the right weight. If it's too heavy, won't swing enough, or at all. I originally bought a 'Quartex' Quartz Pendulum Clock Movement (long shaft model), with a 1-1/4" overall shaft length, and a shaft diameter of 5/16", from a US eBay seller, but this struggled to swing even my lightweight balsa/plastic 40g pendulum. I later switched to a German made UTS Pendulum Clock Movement, with euro eye shaft, extra long 25mm stem length and brass closed nut. This worked perfectly, and still runs as of 2020.

In-Progress Project Photos

Below you can see a gallery of in-progress and completed replica clock photos, which you can click to enlarge. Once this project was completed, a number of further later modifications were made, which included re-making & replacing the gold coloured skin-plywood dial backing disc with sheet metal (although keeping the hardboard outer ring), and using a hole/hook system to hold the whole dial assembly onto the frame, rather than double-sided carpet tape as was originally designed.

Clicking any of the below images will display a larger version in a 'Lightbox' window. Use the arrow icons or your keyboard's left/right arrows to navigate to the next photos. You can also middle-click an image to open the larger version in a new window.

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Completed Clock Project Photos

Below you can see a gallery of photos of the finished clock, which you can click to enlarge. There are still a few little points which aren't 100% ideal, such as the varnish finish being a little too shiny (although the two real clocks up for sale in the few years, had both been stripped & re-painted/varnished with a glossy finish, so neither of these would match the clock shown on screen either), That aside, overall it's a decent enough replica.

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If anyone out there wants to make their own clock replica, you should be able to source all the materials I used from either eBay or local stores, and you can download all the high resolution The Evil Dead & Evil Dead II Blu-Ray screenshots and misc photos & plans I worked from, within the ZIP file below.

Download - features_replica_clock_project_plans_&_photos.zip
(35 screenshots & 77 photos, with scale PDF/PUB plans @ 177mb)

If anyone has photos of their own clock replica, or any Evil Dead related replica items, please email them over so they can be added to this site's Collectables - Props & Replicas Section.