The Evil Dead (1981) is an American independent supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi in his feature debut. Five college students vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods play a tape recording of ancient incantations and unleash demons that possess them one by one. That leaves Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) to survive a night of escalating gore. Made by a crew of friends from Michigan for a few hundred thousand dollars, the film became famous for Raimi’s frantic camerawork and was championed by Stephen King. In Britain, it became the most notorious of the “video nasties.” It launched the Evil Dead franchise.
At a glance
| Release date | October 15, 1981 (Redford Theatre, Detroit); April 15, 1983 (US) |
| Director | Sam Raimi |
| Writer | Sam Raimi |
| Based on | Raimi’s short film Within the Woods (1979) |
| Starring | Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly |
| Runtime | 85 minutes |
| Rating | Released unrated in the US (later rated NC-17); X certificate in the UK after cuts, then banned on video as a “video nasty” |
| Budget | $375,000 (Raimi’s figure) |
| Box office | $2.4 million (US); worldwide totals are disputed, with sources citing about $2.7 million or $29.4 million |
| Franchise | Evil Dead: followed by Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992) |
Plot summary
Ash Williams, his sister Cheryl, his girlfriend Linda and their friends Scott and Shelly, all students at Michigan State University, drive to a remote cabin in the Tennessee hills. Strange things start almost at once. The porch swing moves on its own, and Cheryl’s hand, as if possessed, draws a picture of a book with a face on its cover. In the cellar, Ash and Scott find that book, the Naturom Demonto, along with an archaeologist’s tape recorder. When they play the tape, its recorded incantations awaken a demonic force in the woods.
Cheryl is attacked in the forest and comes back terrified. When Ash tries to drive her into town, he finds the only bridge destroyed. One by one, the friends become possessed, cackling and white-eyed. The tape reveals the only way to stop them: total dismemberment.
Spoiler section: the ending
Scott dismembers the possessed Shelly with an axe, then goes for help and staggers back mortally wounded by the trees. Ash is forced to kill Linda, but Cheryl escapes the cellar, and Scott’s corpse rises. In the struggle, the book ends up near the fireplace, and Ash throws it into the flames. The possessed bodies freeze, rot and fall apart. As dawn breaks, Ash stumbles outside. The unseen force races through the forest toward him, and the film ends on his scream.
Production and behind the scenes
Raimi and Campbell grew up together making Super 8 films, mostly comedies. To attract investors, Raimi made a “prototype” horror short, Within the Woods, for $1,600. Raimi then asked almost anyone who might invest, and Campbell approached his own relatives. Raimi later said the finished film cost $375,000. It was first called Book of the Dead, inspired by Raimi’s love of H. P. Lovecraft. Raimi turned 20 just before filming began. Campbell agreed to co-produce, which made him the one actor certain to stay for the whole shoot, so he was cast as Ash. The cast and 13 crew members lived together at a remote cabin near Morristown, Tennessee, which had no plumbing.
The shoot was brutal. Several people were injured, and the thick glass contact lenses used for the demon eyes could stay in for only about 15 minutes. By the final days, the crew was burning the cabin’s furniture to stay warm. With no money for a dolly or Steadicam, Raimi improvised. For the “shaky cam,” the camera was mounted on a wooden plank and carried by two operators racing through the swamp, creating the demon’s point of view. The final shot was filmed with the camera on a bike speeding through the cabin. Tom Sullivan created the makeup and stop-motion effects, including the final meltdown. Edna Paul edited most of the film, assisted by a young Joel Coen.
Release and reception
Raimi premiered the film at Detroit’s Redford Theatre, with ambulances parked outside in the style of William Castle. Veteran distributor Irvin Shapiro took it on, dropped the title Book of the Dead for being too dull, and screened it out of competition at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Stephen King saw it there and called it “the most ferociously original film of the year.” New Line Cinema then took on US distribution. Expecting an X rating, it released the film unrated in 1983. The film earned $2.4 million in the US, and Raimi said it did better overseas. In the UK, it was cut by 49 seconds for an X certificate. The video release was later branded a “video nasty” and banned under the 1984 Video Recordings Act. The uncut version wasn’t passed until 2000.
Reviews were strong. The Los Angeles Times called it “probably the grisliest well-made movie ever,” and Variety praised its “powerful” camerawork. Today it holds an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whose consensus calls it “a startling debut for wunderkind Sam Raimi.” Film writer Bruce Kawin has described it as one of the most notorious splatter films of its day, alongside Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit on Your Grave.
Legacy and influence
Raimi’s next film, Crimewave, flopped, and he made Evil Dead II (1987) partly out of necessity. Army of Darkness (1992) went fully into fantasy comedy. Fede Ãlvarez’s Evil Dead (2013) returned to straight horror, followed by Evil Dead Rise (2023). Campbell played Ash again in the TV series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015–2018). The original trilogy is recognized as one of the most successful cult film series. Raimi went on to direct the Spider-Man films, in which Campbell made cameos, and Joel Coen used the same investor-prototype model for Blood Simple.
Trivia
- Raimi used “Fake Shemps,” a nod to the Three Stooges, with stand-ins (including his brother Ted Raimi) filling in for absent actors in background and hand shots.
- Sullivan’s fake blood was the usual corn syrup and food coloring, with coffee added.
- The first cut ran about 117 minutes. It was trimmed to 85 to make it less “grim and depressing” and more marketable.
- Raimi cast actors partly through an ad in The Detroit News. Betsy Baker was one of the actors who answered it.
- In Italy the film was released as La Casa, and unrelated films were later sold there as unofficial sequels.
- New Line released the film in theaters and on VHS at the same time, an unusual strategy at the time.
Related links
- Ash Williams (character)
- Evil Dead franchise
- Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1992) and Evil Dead (2013)
- Ash vs Evil Dead (TV series)
- Sam Raimi (writer and director)
- Bruce Campbell (Ash Williams)
- Hellraiser (1987), another landmark low-budget 1980s debut
