The Evil Dead (1981)

Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writer:

Sam Raimi

Stars:

Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Campbell	...	Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams
Ellen Sandweiss	...	Cheryl
Richard DeManincor	...	Scott (as Hal Delrich)
Betsy Baker	...	Linda
Theresa Tilly	...	Shelly (as Sarah York)
Philip A. Gillis	...	Fake Shemp (as Phil Gillis)
Dorothy Tapert	...	Fake Shemp
Cheryl Guttridge	...	Fake Shemp
Barbara Carey	...	Fake Shemp
David Horton	...	Fake Shemp
Wendall Thomas	...	Fake Shemp
Don Long	...	Fake Shemp
Stu Smith	...	Fake Shemp
Kurt Rauf	...	Fake Shemp
Ted Raimi	...	Fake Shemp

Storyline

Five college students take time off to spend a peaceful vacation in a remote cabin. A book and audio tape is discovered, and its evil is found to be powerful once the incantations are read out loud. The friends find themselves helpless to stop the evil as it takes them one by one, with only one survivor left with the evil dead and desperately tries to fight to live until morning.

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | evil dead | necronomicon | supernatural rape | book of the dead | 

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Taglines:

They got up on the wrong side of the grave.

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for substantial graphic horror violence and gore

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead

Filming Locations:

Michigan, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Renaissance Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 70 min (FSK 16)

Sound Mix:

Mono DTS (re-mastered version) Dolby (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the end of a 'normal' day of shooting, Bruce Campbell would return home in the back of a pickup truck because he was covered in fake blood from head to toe.

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Goofs

At one point in the movie, Ash's feet are shown walking across a blood-covered floor. Near the end of the movie, his feet are shown walking down the steps to the cellar, and he is obviously wearing different shoes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Scotty: Hey, Ash, where are we?
Ash: Well we just crossed the Tennessee border...

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Crazy Credits

The opening credit for The Evil Dead shimmers like a ghost.

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Alternate Versions

Forty-eight seconds are missing from the German version. There are 2 German versions on the market:

• Tanz der Teufel (banned/uncut)
• Tanz der Teufel 1 (heavily cut)

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Connections

Featured in Deadheads (2011)

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Soundtracks

Westminster Quarters
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

A marvel what some college film students can do on a shoestring budget

SPOILER(S) POSSIBLE

The first ever full-on film project by budding filmmakers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert(then called Bobby Tapert)would prove to be a work of endurance and love and also one of the more entertaining horror films made in the eighties.

The plot is painfully simple: Five young adults from Michigan drive off into the woods for a camping vacation,using a seldom-used cabin as their haunt. They uncover a tape recorder and a crusty,dusty and blood-and-flesh-coated "Book of the Dead" or "Necromonicon",inadvertently incant the chant that awakes a limitless supply of malevolent spirits in the woods,and then one by one get picked off until a lone survivor is left to fight to escape. The story isn't much of an accomplishment:it's the whole physical undertaking that's the real accomplishment.

On a small budget that was probably getting smaller as the shoot continued(I don't know the exact amount of time of filming,but it probably lasted at least a year),the filmmakers and stars(all of 'em,most famously budding star Bruce Campbell as the conflicted but can-do Ash)had to make the most of a limited set,claustrophobic settings,gallons of viscous fluids,endless supplies of cakey make-up,a limited amount of lighting(probably NOT an accident,there) and probably a mass-produced amount of fog to create something that has both the feel of a creepily eerie film about the undead and yet had the effects to back up the type of slasher horror pic that the producers were aiming for.

The first of an intriguing trio of horror/comedy films that Raimi,Tapert,Campbell and company would crank out over a period of just under fifteen years(and,after seeing this film in full,I'm not sure if anyone involved originally intended to make any sequels),the atmosphere and noticeably cheap effects may turn-off your pickier horror film snobs,but anyone with a sense of adventure and high tolerance for gore will be reasonably pleased--if not greatly impressed--by this first effort film. A keeper,not a renter,not only for repeated viewing but also for the extras.