As we prepare for the release of the years most highly anticipated horror movie, Evil Dead, we take a trip down memory lane to the original movie, here’s a few facts you may not have known:
Facts about the Original Evil Dead Films
Evil Dead (1981)
1. Had a production budget of $375,000 and ended up grossing more than $11 million. When Raimi made Spider-Man 3, it was filmed on a $350,000,000 budget.
2. Was initially perceived as a a low-budget, non-humorous B-grade gore-fest horror film, before reaching cult status and giving birth 2 two more releases, making this a trilogy.
3. Was banned in several European countries. In the UK, the film was subject to obscenity trials and various censorship cuts – particularly the misogynistic tree-rape scene. Apparently even Raimi himself regretted later that he added this scene.
4. The original script called for all the characters to be smoking marijuana when they are first listening to the tape. The actors decided to try this for real, and the entire scene had to be later re-shot due to their uncontrollable behaviour.
5. In Germany the movie was banned up until 2001, when the first legal uncut version of the movie entered the German market.
6. The film was shown to Stephen King and it was his glowing endorsement (which was later used on the film’s ad’s and posters) of the film which really sold the film to the public and was bought by New Line Cinema soon after.
7. If you want to track down the location of the original cabin, which was in Morristown, Tennessee, U.S.A, (why? why would anyone want to do this??), you can follow instructions found here. Here is a photo of the turn-off:
Evil Dead II (1987)
1. Had a production budget of $3.5 million, and box-office gross receipts of almost $6 million.
2. Often considered to be a remake of The Evil Dead, however this is not accurate. The rights to show scenes from the original could not be obtained to re-cap what happened, so they recreated the beginning to explain how Ash got to the cabin.
3. Bruce Campbell (Ash) twisted his ankle on a root while running down a steep hill, and Sam Raimi and Robert G. Tapert decided to tease him by poking his injury with sticks, thus causing Campbell to have an obvious limp in some scenes
4. Raimi makes a caemo appearance in the movie, he is the first Medieval knight to raise his sword and give his speech before hailing to Ash.
Army of Darkness aka Evil Dead III (1992)
1. Bruce Campbell (Ash) is the only actor featuring in all 3 Evil Dead movies
2. A much more manic, slapstick, and campy version (and with slightly less gore) when compared to the first two films. Originally had the working title of “The Medieval Dead” to fit with its sword-and-sorcery theme.
3. With a production budget of $11 million, and box-office gross receipts of $21.5 million (worldwide).
4. In the original draft, Ash loses an eye.
Sources: IMDB, Fast-Rewind, Tasteofcinema,
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