Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is one of the most iconic horror films of its time, but it's kind of a miracle that we even have a finished version of the movie to watch. The film's production was so grueling and intense that it found actors leaving before filming had wrapped, the shooting schedule being extended way beyond the crew's intent, and much more. The fact that the film had such a tough shoot seems to have positively affected the movie. Considering it's a movie about somebody trying to make it through the most brutal, nightmarish events possible in one long, never-ending night, maybe having an incredibly difficult shoot actually added to the performances of the actors and the movie's overall feel. Regardless, The Evil Dead rocks, so whatever circumstances it took to bring the movie to the big screen seemed to have paid off.
What is 'The Evil Dead'?
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell as the beloved genre hero Ash Williams. The film follows Ash and four of his friends as they travel to a remote cabin in the woods. Here they discover the Book of the Dead and a reel-to-reel tape player, one with translations of the book's contents recorded onto it. Once played aloud, evil spirits called the Deadites are released upon the cabin's visitors, possessing them one by one, and only able to be defeated by bodily dismemberment. The Evil Dead is one of the nastiest, goriest horror films ever made, but its backyard filmmaking feel adds a flair of camp that makes it even more of a fun watch than a genuinely terrifying one. Since its release, there have been four additional films in the Evil Dead franchise, two of which are direct sequels to this film. Video games, comic books, and a TV show have all come in the wake of this first release. Given the original film's ridiculously difficult shoot, we should be thankful that we have any of this at all!
'The Evil Dead' Was Literally Painful for the Actors
The Evil Dead is a movie that boldly rocks a quote from Stephen King on its poster, stating that it was "... the most ferociously original horror film of the year." Out of the gate, this statement immediately branded the film with a sense of awesome notoriety and made Raimi and Campbell's many years of hard work worth it. Many independent filmmakers say that they have had a tough time getting their film off the ground and that their shoots were hard and tedious, but in comparison to an Evil Dead movie, everyone else has had it easy. Even back to the first film, which began shooting in 1979, these films required loads of makeup, lots of time for Raimi to get creative with his camerawork, and shooting circumstances that aren't the most comfortable for actors.
Like most other movies, of course, The Evil Dead's production had to have a rough start. They couldn't even be spared on day one, which found the cast and crew getting lost in the woods while filming. Talk about a fun way to kick things off! The production would continue though, only for many actors to be put through the wringer along the way. Because of the film's makeshift monster effects and prosthetics, applying and removing certain parts of their costumes wouldn't always be the easiest. For actors that had to play possessed characters with new Deadite faces, that would mean big, bulky prosthetic faces that they would have to wear. These fake body parts were incredibly uncomfortable to wear and remove. Moments like this resulted in actress Betsy Palmer ripping off her eyelashes while removing her mask!
Actors were also covered head to toe in fake blood for most of the film. This blood was made of corn syrup and food dye, a substance that took hours to remove after filming would wrap. Another point in the film's production saw Bruce Campbell injuring his leg. Raimi took this opportunity to bring out more misery in his lead actor's performance, so he would poke at Campbell's injury with a stick. Had this been any other director and actor pairing, things might not go over so well.
The production began in late 1979 and was shot in Tennessee. Given the time of year, things got cold, and they got cold fast. The cast and crew powered through this for most of the shoot, but were left miserable doing so. There was even a point where Raimi became so miserable that he walked out to the front porch of the cabin and curled up in a ball, checking out completely and submitting to the brutal surrounding weather conditions. Everyone wasn't just cold and mildly uncomfortable, it got so bad to where people were getting sick on set. You know it's cold too when the temperature gets so low, that your equipment starts to freeze. Well here, that actually happened, with the frozen equipment having to be placed near fires to thaw them back out. Towards the end of the shoot, when the interior of the cabin was no longer needed for shooting, the cast and crew started burning furniture to stay warm.
Filming ‘The Evil Dead’ Was Cold and Not Glamorous
Production lasted for 12 weeks, but this was still longer than the team had expected things to take. Given that everyone involved was from Michigan, being away from home for 12 long weeks wasn't always going to work for those involved. There were many points where actors had to step away from shooting for a while before they could return. This is made evident when the actors will appear in one scene with their hair looking one way, only to pop up in the next scene with a new haircut. The long passage of time with The Evil Dead's production is made incredibly clear just by watching the movie alone. To get over this difficulty, Raimi borrowed an idea from The Three Stooges called the "Fake Shemp." Essentially, if an actor had to be away for some time, someone else would have to step in as their body double. This could be done with quick shots of someone wearing a mask of their original actor's face, filming a body double from behind, and shots of crew members' limbs entering the frame that would stand in for the character intended to be appearing on the screen.
The Evil Dead franchise is a grimy and nasty series of movies, so it's only fitting that their shoots would be as well. A film's production is going to wear off on the performances of its actors though, so for a horror film to have a shoot like this is honestly for the better (so long as things are safe, of course). It's hard to provide the full scope of how difficult this shoot was for Raimi and his team, so if you want to dig in deep with the events of this film's shoot, check out Bruce Campbell's autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. That book can go into a much greater depth as to what all went down during the production of not only the first Evil Dead movie, but also its two initial sequels. A must read for Evil Dead fans!
The 2013 remake, Evil Dead, and the upcoming Evil Dead Rise are undoubtedly films worthy of waving the Evil Dead banner, but without the grassroots production of the original films, there will always be a little piece missing. Evil Dead and Evil Dead II particularly embody that backyard filmmaking style. Making movies that way is never easy, but a boatload of charm rubs off with it. Evil Dead's shoot might have been tough, but hey, a horror classic came out on the other end of it. That sounds like a worthy exchange.