The Evil Dead
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| The Evil Dead | |
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| Directed by | Sam Raimi |
| Produced by | Sam Raimi Bruce Campbell Robert Tapert |
| Written by | Sam Raimi |
| Starring | Bruce Campbell Ellen Sandweiss Betsy Baker Hal Delrich Teresa Tilly |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 1981 (USA) |
| Running time | 85 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $350,000 |
| Followed by | Evil Dead II |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Evil Dead (also known as Evil Dead, The Book of The Dead , Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and The Evil Dead: The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror) is a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell. It is considered a classic of the genre.
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[edit] Plot
Five college students venture into the Tennessee woods to spend a weekend in an isolated cabin. Instead, the teenagers find grief in the form of the Book of the Dead otherwise known as the Morturom Demonto (or Necronomicon in the sequels). They find and play a tape recording of demonic incantations from the book, unwittingly resurrecting the slumbering demons that thirst for revenge. The characters are then possessed by the evil force in sequences of intense, bloody violence. The ensuing events consist mainly of the last survivor, Ash Williams, being tortured by the powers of the spirits -- with blood spontaneously dripping from the walls and ceiling, and clocks going berserk. The film ends with a graphic but dramatic disintegration of the possessed ones as the book is thrown into the fireplace. The final scene of the film, which takes place at the break of dawn, shows an evil spirit bearing down on Ash. At that moment, the frame blacks out for the closing titles.
[edit] Trivia
- The movie was filmed in Morristown, Tennessee off Kidwells Ridge Road, and was screened at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.
- Shooting began on November 14, 1979. The original cast left on schedule after six weeks, and the remainder of the filming used family and friends dressed like the actors for rear or side shots. This became known as "shemping"; the person participating is known as a "Fake shemp", paying homage to the Three Stooges.
- The two fishermen on the side of the road at the beginning are writer / director Sam Raimi and producer Robert Tapert. In the film, Professor Knoby's recorded recitation of the Book of the Dead is actually a distortion of the words, "Sam and Rob are the hikers down the road." Tapert can also be seen when the car enters the wooden bridge, hiding in the shrubbery to the right. Terminology used in reference to the demonic book shows that Raimi's version of the notorious faux-occult book is influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's work.
- The cabin used for filming in Tennessee had no basement, so a trap door was cut in the floor, and a five foot hole was dug beneath it. The actors pretended to descend into the basement by squatting down lower and lower. The scenes in the basement were filmed in Marshall, Michigan, months later.
- At one point in early January, 1980, filming was interrupted by a shortage of Karo syrup, red food coloring and marshmallows, the components of the film's guts. All of the stores in a 20 mile radius had been bought out of these ingredients.
- Footage from the film's climax was used in the opening sequence of Adam Curtis's The Power of Nightmares.
- In the scene when Ash first finds the Necronomicon, a torn poster of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes can be seen in the background. In response, a scene from Evil Dead is visible on a television screen in Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street. An Evil Dead poster can also be seen in a closet containing a chainsaw in the horror film Dead & Breakfast.
- The film plays when Donnie and Gretchen go to the cinema in Donnie Darko. The filmmakers originally wanted to use C.H.U.D., but could not obtain permission. Director Sam Raimi allowed them to use the footage from The Evil Dead for free.
- To make Campbell's terrified screams sound more realistic, he was poked off-camera with a sharp stick to make him scream.
- In the original shooting script, Ash survives and walks off into the dawning day. The film crew objected strenuously to the notion of a survivor, not believing Sam could even consider a "happy" ending. The ending of the film was conceived in a breakfast brainstorming session.
[edit] Censorship
Because of its graphic violence, the original version of the movie was banned in several countries, including Finland, Iceland, Ireland, UK and Germany. The "tree rape" scene was also accused by some as being misogynist.
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 a hit on the black market video circuit with pirated copies abounding. Several high-profile 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 legally available in 1992, but the first legal, uncut version of the movie did not enter the German DVD market until 2001. In Finland, The Evil Dead was later released uncut on DVD by Future Film, and rated K-18. In the United Kingdom, the movie was one of the first to be labeled a video nasty in the mid-1980s and was finally released uncut in 2001.
In one scene early in the film, the characters appeared to be smoking marijuana. In an example of "self-censorship", the shot was abandoned because the actors used real cannabis which made them unpredictable. However, in the initial shot of the group in the cabin, smoke from the cannabis scene is still visible.
[edit] Evil Dead the Musical
[edit] Production
With the go-ahead from Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, the inevitable stage musical was created, enjoying a successful workshop in Toronto and performances at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal in 2004. The New York off-Broadway production had its previews on October 2, 2006 at the New World Stages
Fans enjoyed the "splatter zone" -- the first two rows of the theater where patrons can count on a good blood-soaking. This feature is transferring to the Off-Broadway production and ticket buyers are being advised to dress down. In fact, Toronto fans began wearing white t-shirts to take home later as bloody souvenirs.
In an interview with HoboTrashcan.com, Ryan Ward, who stars as Ash in the musical, said, "It's unlike any theater show you've ever been to. One word I would describe it as is 'raucous.' It's like a rock concert."
Helen O'Hara of Empire Magazine said "This may be the best idea in the entire history of the world. Rocky Horror, eat your heart out." Read the whole article from Empire Magazineincluding comments, or see the increasingly popular myspace site
[edit] Creative Team
Created by Canuck team of George Reinblatt, Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla and Melissa Morris, the show is co-directed by Bond and Tony winner and "Buffy" alum, Hinton Battle.
Make-up and Special FX are created by Louis Zakarian, whose film credits include Requiem for a Dream, Dogma and Romeo & Juliet.
Cast members include Jennifer Byrne, Jenna Coker [1], Renee Klapmeyer, Tom Walker, Ryan Ward, Brandon Wardell [2], and Darryl Winslow.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Evil Dead at the Internet Movie Database
- Evil Dead Interactive - Contains scripts, trailers, art, sound clips, and everything else Evil Dead.
- Deadites Online - Internet site with information regarding the trilogy
- Evil Dead Soundboard - Evil Dead Movie Soundboard (1981)
- Evil Dead: The Musical - A fan-made stage production of Evil Dead I and II.
- Hanging Around Evil Dead: The Musical - A review of Evil Dead: The Musical with interviews from the cast.
| Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series |
|---|
| Films: The Evil Dead | Evil Dead II | Army of Darkness |
| Video games: The Evil Dead | Evil Dead: Hail to the King | Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick | Evil Dead: Regeneration |
| Comic books: Army of Darkness: Ashes to Ashes | Army of Darkness: Shop Till You Drop Dead |
| Other topics: Ash Williams | Within the Woods | Bruce Campbell | Robert Tapert |
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