The Evil Dead
Encyclopedia
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film
written and directed by Sam Raimi
, starring Bruce Campbell
, Ellen Sandweiss
, and Betsy Baker. The film is a story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area. Their vacation becomes gruesome when they find an audiotape that releases evil spirits.
In 1994 a heavily censored version was shown in US theaters and received an NC-17 rating. The film was a moderate success at the box office, grossing a total of $2,400,000 in the U.S upon its initial release, against a budget of probably no more than $400,000. Despite getting mixed reviews by critics at the time, it has since developed a cult following. The film has spawned two sequels, Evil Dead II
(1987) and Army of Darkness
(1992), and a stage musical; work on a script for a further film has started although it was announced on July 13, 2011 that Raimi and Campbell would now shift focus to a remake of the original film.
"). They also find and play a tape recording of demonic incantations from the book, unwittingly resurrecting malevolent demon
s and spirit
s. The demons start to isolate and kill them off, beginning with Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss
). Soon thereafter, Cheryl stabs Linda (Betsy Baker) in the ankle with a pencil. Scotty (Hal Delrich) fights with the possessed Cheryl and locks her in the cellar after she tauntingly moans "We're gonna get you!". Afterwards, Shelly (Theresa Tilly) enters her room and is killed and possessed by a demon; now a deadite, she becomes psychotic and attacks Scotty, who dismembers her with an axe. Disturbed by Shelly's death, Scotty proposes that he and Ash leave Linda behind to go find an alternate trail through the woods (because the bridge leading to the cabin was sabotaged by the evil force). Ash (Bruce Campbell
) refuses to abandon Linda, and Scotty departs into the woods.
Ash goes to check on Linda, but finds that she too has become possessed and proceeds to taunt him. Scotty returns, but has suffered massive injuries inflicted upon him by the possessed trees. Before losing consciousness he tells Ash there is a trail in the woods. Cheryl and Linda laugh at their predicament, and Ash tries to shoot Linda, but hesitates. Linda suddenly revives momentarily from the possession and the same thing appears to happen to Cheryl. Ash almost frees her, but finds that she is still possessed when she attempts to strangle Ash through the cellar door. When Linda becomes possessed again, Ash drags her outside and locks her out of the cabin. He goes back to check on Scotty, but finds that he died from his injuries. Linda later sneaks in through the backdoor and attacks Ash with a dagger, but Ash manages to kill her with her own dagger. Ash buries Linda outside but she rises from the grave and Ash beheads her with a shovel. Ash returns inside and enters the cellar, to find shotgun ammunition. Hearing a noise from above, Ash goes to investigate. Cheryl appears from the window a demon had broken earlier and tries to take the shotgun from Ash, who shoots her in the shoulder. Cheryl tries to attack Ash through the door, but he shoots her in the face and barricades the door.
Scotty's corpse revives to reveal that he has been possessed and advances on Ash, who tries to stop him by pelting him with furniture but to no avail. Scotty starts to throttle Ash, only to have his eyes gouged out. Ash notices that the Necronomicon has fallen near the fireplace and is starting to burn. Ash sees that Scotty's body is starting to burn as well, suggesting that burning the book will also destroy the demons. Before he can reach it, Cheryl successfully breaks through the front door and knocks him down. Scotty pins Ash to the floor while Cheryl grabs a fireplace poker and repeatedly hits Ash in the back with it. Ash manages to grab the book after several attempts, using the necklace he had given to Linda earlier in the film, and throws it directly into the blazing flames just as Cheryl raises the fireplace poker to impale
him. This prompts demons to leave the bodies of Cheryl and Scotty, and their corpses become inanimate and fall apart. Ash heads outside and stands in front of the cabin as an unseen evil speeds through the forest, breaks its way through the cabin doors, and descends upon Ash, who turns around and screams in terror.
Actors Richard DeManincor (Scott) and Theresa Tilly (Shelly) both went under different "stage names" during the shoot, since they were members of the Screen Actors Guild
and wanted to avoid being penalized for participating in a non-union production. They are credited in the credits as "Hal Delrich" for DeManincor and "Sarah York" for Tilly. 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 and Del.
and Ellen Sandweiss
.
Raimi and Co. managed to secure a shooting budget of less than $375,000 and with the cast and crew, headed for a wilderness cabin in the woods near Morristown, Tennessee
. The movie was shot over a period of about 1.5 years. Raimi used 'Fake Shemp
s' 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 (also a producer of the film and Raimi's childhood filmmaking partner), 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, as he was usually covered in fake blood made from a mixture of corn syrup
, food coloring
, and non-dairy coffee creamer.
Joel Coen
served as an assistant editor on the film.
; the site's consensus states "This classic low budget horror film combines just the right amount of gore and black humor, giving The Evil Dead an equal amount of thrills and laughs." The film was selected by the American Film Institute
as one of the 400 candidates for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills
, a list of America's most heart-pounding films.
The tree rape scene has been described by some as being misogynistic
. Raimi has since stated he regrets putting it in the film.
, Germany
, Iceland
and Ireland
. 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 successful on the black market video circuit with pirated copies abounding. Several well-known 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 available legally during 1992. In 2001, an uncut German DVD version was released, but the Berlin-Tiergarten Court ordered seizure of the DVD in April 2002 (Case Number 351 Gs 1749/02). In Finland
, The Evil Dead was later released uncut on DVD by Future Film, and rated K-18. In the United Kingdom
, the film was one of the first to be labeled a video nasty
during the mid-1980s controversy over such movies and was finally released uncut in 2001.
When the film was re-submitted in the US for a rating in 1994, the MPAA classified it with an NC-17 rating. When the distribution company Elite Entertainment released the film on DVD in 1999, they retained the NC-17 version. Anchor Bay Entertainment
has since acquired the DVD rights to the film, and their subsequent releases have surrendered the rating to allow them to release the film unrated.
with a newly restored picture was released on August 31, 2010 in the United States, featuring two discs with audio commentary with writer/director Sam Raimi
, producer Robert Tapert
and star Bruce Campbell
.
s and tie-in
s including a musical and comic mini-series.
The themes of this movie have become a cult favorite among tattoo clientele. The images and catch phrases adorn a wide range of people from the rank and file to tattoo artists like Dan Henk
.
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 first 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. On August 4, it was announced that the show has now been extended for a final time until September 8, 2007, excepting its further extensions to May 3, June 14, and August 2, 2008.
A production opened at the Campbell Theatre in Martinez, CA on June 13, 2008. A second Canadian production by the Sock 'n Buskin Theatre Company opened on March 12, 2009 for a short run in Ottawa at Kailash Mital Theatre at Carleton University. This version created quite a buzz and was well-received on opening night.
Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth Productions will be staging the next production at the Playhouse at Vertigo Theatre Centre in Calgary, Alberta, running May 26, 2009 to June 15, 2009, extended to July 12, 2009.
began releasing a four-part monthly comic book
mini-series
based on Evil Dead, written by Mark Verheiden
, with art by John Bolton, who provided art for the Dark Horse Army of Darkness comic
. The comic miniseries has several noticeable differences from the film, such as Cheryl being only a friend of Linda, and not Ash's sister.
Dynamite Entertainment has an ongoing "Army of Darkness" series and several mini-series and cross-over mini-series, featuring horror characters such as Darkman
, the Marvel Zombies
and Herbert West
.
and right away struck up a blind deal with him to produce their remake. The script was co-written by Alvarez's partner, Rodo Sayagues although Academy Award winning screenwriter, Diablo Cody
was brought in to revise the script. In a statement released by Raimi, Campbell and Tapert the producers said "We are committed to making this movie and are inspired by the enduring popularity and enthusiasm for the ‘Evil Dead’ series. We can't wait to scare a new generation of moviegoers using filmmaking techniques that were not available to us thirty years ago as well as Fede bringing a fresh eye to the film’s original elements."
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
written and directed by Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
, starring Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
, Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss is an American B-movie actress. She has also performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music....
, and Betsy Baker. The film is a story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area. Their vacation becomes gruesome when they find an audiotape that releases evil spirits.
In 1994 a heavily censored version was shown in US theaters and received an NC-17 rating. The film was a moderate success at the box office, grossing a total of $2,400,000 in the U.S upon its initial release, against a budget of probably no more than $400,000. Despite getting mixed reviews by critics at the time, it has since developed a cult following. The film has spawned two sequels, Evil Dead II
Evil Dead II
Evil Dead II, also known as Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, is a 1987 horror comedy film directed by Sam Raimi. It is a retcon sequel to the 1981 film The Evil Dead. The film was written by Raimi and Scott Spiegel, produced by Rob Tapert and starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams...
(1987) and Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness, also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness or simply Evil Dead III, is a 1992 horror comedy fantasy action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is the third and final installment in The Evil Dead trilogy. The film was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Robert Tapert,...
(1992), and a stage musical; work on a script for a further film has started although it was announced on July 13, 2011 that Raimi and Campbell would now shift focus to a remake of the original film.
Plot
Michigan State students, Ash, Scotty, Linda, Cheryl and Shelly, venture into the hills and mountains of Tennessee to spend a weekend in an isolated cabin. There they find The Book of the Dead (a fictional Sumerian text), otherwise known as "Naturan Demanto" (referred to in the sequels as the "Necronomicon Ex-MortisNecronomicon
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
"). They also find and play a tape recording of demonic incantations from the book, unwittingly resurrecting malevolent demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s and spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
s. The demons start to isolate and kill them off, beginning with Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss is an American B-movie actress. She has also performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music....
). Soon thereafter, Cheryl stabs Linda (Betsy Baker) in the ankle with a pencil. Scotty (Hal Delrich) fights with the possessed Cheryl and locks her in the cellar after she tauntingly moans "We're gonna get you!". Afterwards, Shelly (Theresa Tilly) enters her room and is killed and possessed by a demon; now a deadite, she becomes psychotic and attacks Scotty, who dismembers her with an axe. Disturbed by Shelly's death, Scotty proposes that he and Ash leave Linda behind to go find an alternate trail through the woods (because the bridge leading to the cabin was sabotaged by the evil force). Ash (Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
) refuses to abandon Linda, and Scotty departs into the woods.
Ash goes to check on Linda, but finds that she too has become possessed and proceeds to taunt him. Scotty returns, but has suffered massive injuries inflicted upon him by the possessed trees. Before losing consciousness he tells Ash there is a trail in the woods. Cheryl and Linda laugh at their predicament, and Ash tries to shoot Linda, but hesitates. Linda suddenly revives momentarily from the possession and the same thing appears to happen to Cheryl. Ash almost frees her, but finds that she is still possessed when she attempts to strangle Ash through the cellar door. When Linda becomes possessed again, Ash drags her outside and locks her out of the cabin. He goes back to check on Scotty, but finds that he died from his injuries. Linda later sneaks in through the backdoor and attacks Ash with a dagger, but Ash manages to kill her with her own dagger. Ash buries Linda outside but she rises from the grave and Ash beheads her with a shovel. Ash returns inside and enters the cellar, to find shotgun ammunition. Hearing a noise from above, Ash goes to investigate. Cheryl appears from the window a demon had broken earlier and tries to take the shotgun from Ash, who shoots her in the shoulder. Cheryl tries to attack Ash through the door, but he shoots her in the face and barricades the door.
Scotty's corpse revives to reveal that he has been possessed and advances on Ash, who tries to stop him by pelting him with furniture but to no avail. Scotty starts to throttle Ash, only to have his eyes gouged out. Ash notices that the Necronomicon has fallen near the fireplace and is starting to burn. Ash sees that Scotty's body is starting to burn as well, suggesting that burning the book will also destroy the demons. Before he can reach it, Cheryl successfully breaks through the front door and knocks him down. Scotty pins Ash to the floor while Cheryl grabs a fireplace poker and repeatedly hits Ash in the back with it. Ash manages to grab the book after several attempts, using the necklace he had given to Linda earlier in the film, and throws it directly into the blazing flames just as Cheryl raises the fireplace poker to impale
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
him. This prompts demons to leave the bodies of Cheryl and Scotty, and their corpses become inanimate and fall apart. Ash heads outside and stands in front of the cabin as an unseen evil speeds through the forest, breaks its way through the cabin doors, and descends upon Ash, who turns around and screams in terror.
Cast
- Bruce CampbellBruce CampbellBruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
as Ashley "Ash" WilliamsAsh WilliamsAshley J. "Ash" Williams is the protagonist in the Evil Dead horror film franchise, played by Bruce Campbell, and created by director Sam Raimi. Throughout the series, Ash has to face off against his loved ones inside an abandoned cabin as they are possessed by "deadites", the evil souls of the dead...
: Ash is the last survivor of the group and the main protagonist of the film. Ash is a young man who only wanted to take his friends on a trip into the woods, unaware of what to expect. - Ellen SandweissEllen SandweissEllen Sandweiss is an American B-movie actress. She has also performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music....
as Cheryl Williams: Ash's younger sister and the odd woman out of the group. She is the first to suspect the danger surrounding the cabin and the first to be possessed. Her deadite serves as the main antagonist. - Betsy Baker as Linda: Linda is Ash's girlfriend who he is very much in love with. She keeps a necklace that Ash gave to her early in the film.
- Hal Delrich as Scott: Ash's college roommate. In the first half of the film, Scott is more of a joker and does not take anything seriously, but after Shelly's death, he starts to comprehend the evil that the group is up against.
- Theresa Tilly as Shelly: Scott's girlfriend and the least developed member of the group. She does not understand what's going on around the cabin and is not alive long enough to figure it out.
Actors Richard DeManincor (Scott) and Theresa Tilly (Shelly) both went under different "stage names" during the shoot, since they were members of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
and wanted to avoid being penalized for participating in a non-union production. They are credited in the credits as "Hal Delrich" for DeManincor and "Sarah York" for Tilly. According to Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
's autobiography, If Chins Could Kill, Richard acquired his stage name by combining his short name with his roommates' names, Hal and Del.
Production
The short film Within the Woods (1978) was made as a prototype to help convince possible investors to fund The Evil Dead. In it, the filmmakers experimented with techniques they would use in the feature. It shares plot elements with The Evil Dead and also stars Bruce CampbellBruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
and Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss is an American B-movie actress. She has also performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music....
.
Raimi and Co. managed to secure a shooting budget of less than $375,000 and with the cast and crew, headed for a wilderness cabin in the woods near Morristown, Tennessee
Morristown, Tennessee
Morristown is a city in, and the county seat of, Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 29,137 at the 2010 United States Census. It is the principal city of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Grainger, Hamblen and Jefferson counties...
. The movie was shot over a period of about 1.5 years. Raimi used 'Fake Shemp
Fake shemp
Fake Shemp or simply, "Shemp," is the term for someone who appears in a film under heavy make-up, filmed from the back, or perhaps only showing an arm or a foot.-Origin:...
s' 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 (also a producer of the film and Raimi's childhood filmmaking partner), 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, as he was usually covered in fake blood made from a mixture of corn syrup
Corn syrup
Corn syrup is a food syrup, which is made from the starch of maize and contains varying amounts of maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor...
, food coloring
Food coloring
Food coloring is a substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking...
, and non-dairy coffee creamer.
Joel Coen
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
served as an assistant editor on the film.
Release
The film premiered on October 15, 1981, and was released in 128 theaters on April 15, 1983. The film was re-released in March 2010 as part of The Evil Dead Cross Country Tour, which began in the NuArt Theatre in West Los Angeles.Critical reception
The Evil Dead received mixed reviews upon its release but over the years its critical reputation has grown considerably. Based on 45 reviews, the film holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
; the site's consensus states "This classic low budget horror film combines just the right amount of gore and black humor, giving The Evil Dead an equal amount of thrills and laughs." The film was selected by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as one of the 400 candidates for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills is a list of the top 100 heart-pounding movies in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 12, 2001, during a CBS special hosted by Harrison Ford....
, a list of America's most heart-pounding films.
The tree rape scene has been described by some as being misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
. Raimi has since stated he regrets putting it in the film.
- Beyond Hollywood
- Nick Schager (A-)
- Analog Medium
Censorship
Because of its graphic violence and terror, the original version of the movie was banned in several countries, including FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. In Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, 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 successful on the black market video circuit with pirated copies abounding. Several well-known horror enthusiasts publicly criticized the German ban on the movie, including author Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
(who gave it a rave review in the November 1982 issue of Twilight Zone). A heavily edited version was made available legally during 1992. In 2001, an uncut German DVD version was released, but the Berlin-Tiergarten Court ordered seizure of the DVD in April 2002 (Case Number 351 Gs 1749/02). In Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, The Evil Dead was later released uncut on DVD by Future Film, and rated K-18. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the film was one of the first to be labeled a video nasty
Video nasty
"Video nasty" was a colloquial term coined in the United Kingdom by 1982 which originally applied to a number of films distributed on video cassette that were criticized for their violent content by the press, commentators such as Mary Whitehouse and various religious organizations.While violence...
during the mid-1980s controversy over such movies and was finally released uncut in 2001.
When the film was re-submitted in the US for a rating in 1994, the MPAA classified it with an NC-17 rating. When the distribution company Elite Entertainment released the film on DVD in 1999, they retained the NC-17 version. Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
has since acquired the DVD rights to the film, and their subsequent releases have surrendered the rating to allow them to release the film unrated.
Home media
The limited edition Blu-rayBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
with a newly restored picture was released on August 31, 2010 in the United States, featuring two discs with audio commentary with writer/director Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
, producer Robert Tapert
Robert Tapert
Robert Gerard Tapert , sometimes credited as Rob Tapert, Robert G. Tapert, or Rip Tapert, is an American film producer, best known for his co-founding of, and his subsequent work with, the Renaissance Pictures company....
and star Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
.
Spin-offs
There have been a variety of spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
s and tie-in
Tie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
s including a musical and comic mini-series.
The themes of this movie have become a cult favorite among tattoo clientele. The images and catch phrases adorn a wide range of people from the rank and file to tattoo artists like Dan Henk
Dan Henk
Daniel Jonathan Henk is an American artist and writer, noted for his work in tattooing and painting. He has produced record-album covers, political cartoons, controversial articles, and a variety of other media....
.
Stage musical
With the approval of both Sam RaimiSam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
and Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
, a musical version of the film was staged, enjoying a successful workshop in Toronto and performances at the Just for Laughs Festival
Just for Laughs
Just for Laughs is a comedy festival held each July in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1983. It is the largest international comedy festival in the world.- Information :...
in Montreal in 2004. The New York off-Broadway production started previews on October 2, 2006. The official first 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. On August 4, it was announced that the show has now been extended for a final time until September 8, 2007, excepting its further extensions to May 3, June 14, and August 2, 2008.
A production opened at the Campbell Theatre in Martinez, CA on June 13, 2008. A second Canadian production by the Sock 'n Buskin Theatre Company opened on March 12, 2009 for a short run in Ottawa at Kailash Mital Theatre at Carleton University. This version created quite a buzz and was well-received on opening night.
Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth Productions will be staging the next production at the Playhouse at Vertigo Theatre Centre in Calgary, Alberta, running May 26, 2009 to June 15, 2009, extended to July 12, 2009.
Comic book
In January 2008, Dark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
began releasing a four-part monthly comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
based on Evil Dead, written by Mark Verheiden
Mark Verheiden
Mark Verheiden is an American television, movie, and comic book writer. He is a co-executive producer for the television series Falling Skies for DreamWorks Television and the TNT Network.-Career:...
, with art by John Bolton, who provided art for the Dark Horse Army of Darkness comic
Army of Darkness (comics)
Army of Darkness comics are based on the film of the same name published originally by Dark Horse Comics, and later by Dynamite Entertainment who initially published them through Devil's Due Publishing....
. The comic miniseries has several noticeable differences from the film, such as Cheryl being only a friend of Linda, and not Ash's sister.
Dynamite Entertainment has an ongoing "Army of Darkness" series and several mini-series and cross-over mini-series, featuring horror characters such as Darkman
Darkman
Darkman is a 1990 superhero action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is based on a short story Raimi wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s...
, the Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies is a five-issue limited series published from December 2005 to April 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam. It was the first series in the Marvel Zombies series of related stories...
and Herbert West
Herbert West
Herbert West is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "Herbert West—Reanimator", first published in 1922. There have been several adaptations of the story including Herbert West as played by Jeffrey Combs in the 1985 Re-Animator movie and its two sequels, Bride...
.
Remake
On July 13, 2011 it was announced that The Evil Dead was being remade and that Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert would produce the film which will be released by Ghost House Pictures and Lionsgate. The remake will be written and directed by first-time feature film maker, Fede Alvarez with Ghost House Pictures partners Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane executive producing the film. Raimi and Tapert said that they saw Alvarez's short film, Ataque de Pánico!Ataque de Pánico!
Ataque de Pánico! is a 2009 Uruguayan science fiction short film, directed by independent filmmaker Fede Álvarez.-Plot:Giant robots appear out of the mist and attack Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Accompanied by a squadron of spacecraft, they fire weapons at the city and destroy key...
and right away struck up a blind deal with him to produce their remake. The script was co-written by Alvarez's partner, Rodo Sayagues although Academy Award winning screenwriter, Diablo Cody
Diablo Cody
Brook Busey , better known by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American screenwriter, writer, blogger, journalist, and author. She was first known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her Pussy Ranch blog and her 2006 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper...
was brought in to revise the script. In a statement released by Raimi, Campbell and Tapert the producers said "We are committed to making this movie and are inspired by the enduring popularity and enthusiasm for the ‘Evil Dead’ series. We can't wait to scare a new generation of moviegoers using filmmaking techniques that were not available to us thirty years ago as well as Fede bringing a fresh eye to the film’s original elements."