Where were you when Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead movie was released in 1981? Even if your parents wouldn’t let you go see it back when you were a kid, you’ve probably more than made up for it by watching and re-watching the first Evil Dead and the rest of the movies in the franchise. The original is a true supernatural horror cult classic, and for good, gory reason. But how many Evil Dead facts do you know? Test your knowledge here.
Joel Coen (of the famous Coen Brothers filmmakers) got his start as an assistant editor on the film. He went on to make his first feature film with his brother Ethan (Blood Simple) a couple of years later.
The Necronomicon is a fictional text originally used by the writer H.P. Lovecraft in his novels. Both the Necronomicon and Lovecraft’s fictional entity Cthulhu, have been featured (often comically) in popular culture for years.
Sam Raimi and producer Robert Tapert play the redneck fishermen that wave at the car early in the film. They cut each other’s hair to look more like backwoods hillbillies.
There is a ripped poster of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes in the movie, a nod to the fact that The Hills Have Eyes had a ripped poster of Jaws. This would be Raimi’s commentary on Craven’s commentary about what a real horror film should be.
Evil Dead The Musical is a play that has been performed all over the world since it premiered in Toronto in 2003. Song list includes such numbers as Cabin in the Woods, What the F**k was That?, I’m Not a Killer, and Do the Necronomicon.
Sam Raimi’s brother Ted plays four different characters in the movie—a captured warrior, a villager, a deadite warrior, and one of Ash’s S-Mart coworkers.
The film was shot at a real abandoned cabin in Morristown, Tennessee, but it didn’t have a cellar. Raimi used a cellar in a farmhouse owned by producer Rob Tapert’s family, as well as his own garage, to film the cellar scenes.
The film crew placed a time capsule in the cabin’s fireplace after shooting was finished. The cabin no longer exists, but two Evil Dead fans did find the time capsule in the fireplace, which was still standing.
