The Evil Dead is one of the greatest cult classics ever to exist, and it launched the careers of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Here are ten things you might not know about The Evil Dead.
The movie was originally called Book of the Dead until producer Irvin Shapiro changed the title.
Sam Raimi would routinely work 24/7 on the film. Filming at night and writing during the day. Many times, the crew had to throw buckets of ice water on Raimi until he gained consciousness again.
During the scene when they first listen to the tapes in the cabin, the cast smoked real weed, but unfortunately, the scene had to be reshot when they weren’t stoned.
Stephen King launched the film and arguably the career of Sam Raimi. He saw the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival and was so blown away by it that his review was listed on all the promotional material.
Joel Coen, one-half of the award-winning Coen Brothers, got his start on The Evil Dead as an assistant editor.
Sam Raimi regrets filming the scene where the tree rapes Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) in the woods.
Most of the cast and crew slept in the abandoned cabin during filming. The cabin had no running water and was freezing.
Bruce Campbell had to put up his family’s property as collateral so that Raimi could finish the film.
Raimi originally shot a short film called Within The Woods as a calling card to get the financing for The Evil Dead.
The professor’s voice on the tape recording is that of American Movie Classics host Bob Dorian.
