More than 35 years after the release of its low-budget, outrageous first installment in
1981, Evil Dead is still alive.
With four movies and a TV series under its banner, the franchise just can't beaten.
Here's how this crazy, campy, chainsaw-happy movie about one guy taking on demons in a
remote forest cabin went from the backwoods of Michigan to the delirious nightmares of
horror fans worldwide.
Three schmoes
The film was willed into existence by one essential trio: actor Bruce Campbell, director
Sam Raimi, and producer Robert Tapert, though none of the three had those titles when they
came together to start their project.
They were instead, in the words of Bruce Campbell, "three schmoes in search of a clue."
Unbeknownst to all of them, they were destined for a long future together, and it all started
with a series of low-budget Super 8 films they made together in college.
After cobbling together a catalog of shorts, the three started thinking about producing
a full-fledged feature, and in 1979, Raimi came up with a story about some kids who accidentally
summon evil spirits from a sacred burial ground.
Within the Woods
To make their horror project, which they wanted to name The Book of the Dead, the trio first
finished a short film as a proof of concept, calling it "Within the Woods."
With a budget of $1,600, they shot the half-hour movie over the course of a three-day weekend.
Then, they set out to find investors to make the full-length film.
The only problem was that nobody knew who they were.
To make up for their lack of credibility, they staged what Campbell estimated were hundreds
of screenings of "Within the Woods," picking up a dollar here and there.
After months of work the trio came up with $85,000 — not nearly enough to finish the
movie, but enough to get started.
Pain and celluloid
Knowing money was tight, the trio was merciless when it came to keeping costs contained.
To get a shot of the camera breaking through a window, they just shoved the camera through
a real window, while another guy smashed the window with a two-by-four to break the glass
before the lens touched it.
According to Campbell:
"When all else failed, we just taped the damn camera to Sam's hand.
The opening shot of Evil Dead consisted of me pushing Sam in a rubber raft across a swamp
while he leaned out, skimming the camera across the water and swooping over decaying branches."
That wasn't the only time the actors had to suffer indignities for the film — not by
a long shot.
One actress lost her eyelashes while making a plaster mold of her face.
Others were mercilessly scratched up by branches in the woods.
Mosquitoes swarmed to the Karo corn syrup that the crew used for blood.
At one point, Campbell sprained his ankle on set, and Raimi took to whacking the busted
ankle with a stick before takes to get a better performance out of him.
Wild success
An "overnight success" is rarely as simple as it sounds, but that's exactly what the
movie's producers had their hands on.
The finished film became a sensation thanks in large part to some well-timed support from
horror author Stephen King, who wrote a review for the movie in Twilight Zone magazine.
There, he called it "the most ferociously original horror film of the year."
The filmmakers eagerly capitalized on this, getting permission to use the quote on every
advertisement they could.
Raimi can't overstate how important this was for their success, saying that King's endorsement
"opened the doorway for the film to be seen."
Dead by Dawn
Sam Raimi's next film was 1985's Crimewave, a goofy crime comedy that completely failed
to make a dent at the box office.
After that failure, the trio decided to return to their roots and make a sequel to their
first feature: Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn.
A bigger budget and the backing of a studio didn't alter the filmmakers' DIY methods.
Most effects were made with the same low-budget approach, and there was no shortage of suffering
on the set this time around, either — though a lot of the burden fell on one unfortunate
performer: the director's brother, Ted Raimi.
In a foam body suit, Ted portrayed the possessed old lady, and he was so hot inside all the
foam and latex that he was constantly sweating.
As Bruce Campbell pointed out, in one scene you can see a stream of sweat pouring out
of the suit.
Army of Darkness
In the five years between Evil Dead II and its sequel, Sam Raimi filmed his first major
studio movie, Darkman, which was successful enough to get him enough funding from Universal
to bring life to the third installment in the franchise, Army of Darkness.
This time, instead of sticking with the cabin-based shenanigans of the first two movies, our hero
Ash travels back to medieval times to fight, well, the Army of Darkness.
Unfortunately, creative differences plagued the movie's long road to a theatrical release.
Thanks to a dispute between Universal and one of the film's producers, the film sat
on the shelf for a year.
Afterward, the studio decided to do a major recut of the movie.
According to editor Bob Murawski, "They didn't really understand it, they thought it was
too long, and didn't respond to a lot of the funnier stuff."
The ending in particular was a point of contention, with the studio wanting something more optimistic.
One intended ending had the series hero, Ash, accidentally waking up in a post-apocalyptic
future, but it was axed for being too sad.
This resulted in the filming of a new ending sequence, set in the present-day S-Mart after
Ash makes it back to his own time and dispatches one final demon.
Which was still pretty awesome.
Modern-day Ash
In 2013, all three of the original schmoes — Campbell, Raimi, and Tapert — produced
the Evil Dead remake, with newcomer Fede Alvarez directing.
Although fans and critics alike were mostly pleased with the remake, there was still one
thing everyone wanted: more Ash.
As Sam Raimi described it: "[Fans] really loved [the 2013 remake], and I loved it.
But afterwards, I still heard that, 'Now we want your Evil Dead with Bruce' [...] I didn't
know if I had much to gain, but they were so insistent we finally said, 'All right,
let's just do it.'"
Along with his brother Ivan, Raimi finally began work on another, Ash-centric installment
of the franchise, eventually landing on the idea to do a TV show.
It was a natural fit, with the Evil Dead crew having worked extensively in TV on the fantasy
show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
The future
Since it debuted in 2015, Ash vs. Evil Dead has been a hit with both audiences and critics.
In a lot of ways, there's never been a better time to be a fan of this series.
So what's next for the franchise?
In the wake of Alvarez's remake, there was some talk about doing a crossover movie that
would collide the two franchise universes, bringing Ash into the orbit of the remake's
characters.
Plans for such a project are apparently on hold, although when asked about the crossover's
chances on Twitter in 2016, Campbell stated that it's still "entirely possible."
And it's true — when it comes to this enduring horror show, the sky's the limit.
To think that such a little film, originating out of the deep woods of middle America through
sheer force of will, would continue to have such an impact is pretty remarkable — or,
as Ash would put it…
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