As far as horror franchises go, The Evil Dead is up there with the very best. Most of these franchises run out of steam quickly and find themselves lazily repeating the same storylines over and over again. But Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead emerged as a groundbreaking opera of blood and guts. The sequel, Evil Dead II, shook things up by bringing in elements of black comedy. And the third one, Army of Darkness, took the lead character back to the Middle Ages. Even Fede Alvarez’s 2013 remake of the original was a well-crafted, endlessly terrifying ride. Here are 10 Groovy Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Evil Dead Franchise.
The original title for the first movie was Book of the Dead
Sam Raimi originally wanted to give the first Evil Dead film the title Book of the Dead, in reference to the tome that the characters find in the cabin and accidentally use to awaken the demonic spirits that haunt it. However, producer Irvin Shapiro insisted that Raimi change it and came up with the title The Evil Dead in its place. Arguably, Raimi’s title would’ve been more suitable for the film, because it has more of a connection to the plot. But Shapiro’s reasoning was that kids wouldn’t want to see a movie with the word “book” in the title.
Stephen King’s fandom got Evil Dead II funded
Legendary horror author Stephen King was such a big fan of The Evil Dead that he went out of his way to get the sequel funded. When King was working on his own directorial effort, Maximum Overdrive, one of the biggest cult hits of the ‘80s, he had dinner with his producer, Dino De Laurentiis.
During this dinner, King was so passionate about The Evil Dead that he managed to convince De Laurentiis to finance the sequel through his production company, DEG (De Laurentiis Entertainment Group). Maybe more fanboys should be working in Hollywood, persuading producers to make sequels to their favorite movies.
Sam Raimi initially conceived the premise of Army of Darkness for the second movie
When he was first coming up with ideas for a sequel to The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi had the idea to fling Ash through a time portal and send him back to the Middle Ages. Instead, Evil Dead II became more or less a continuation of the first movie, albeit with a much zanier tone (Evil Dead II is Bruce Campbell’s favorite film in the trilogy), and the time travel back to the Middle Ages was reserved for the unexpected cliffhanger ending. This allowed Raimi to use the premise for the third movie, which would later be called Army of Darkness.
The remake was mostly shot in order
Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead remake, which was a lot better than anyone expected it to be, was mostly filmed in order. This is rare for film productions because the schedules usually have to work around the availability of the cast and the filming locations. Evil Dead was mostly set in one cabin, so it was more possible to shoot it chronologically than your average movie, and in each scene, more and more blood was going to get lathered across the walls and the floors and the costumes. The producers figured it would be best to just shoot the movie in chronological order, so they wouldn’t worry about having to clean it up later for continuity.
Bruce Campbell’s original shirt got so covered in fake blood that it broke
If there’s one thing that The Evil Dead movies are known for, it’s their gore. The fake blood used in the first movie was a mixture of Karo syrup, non-dairy creamer, and red food coloring. At the end of each day of shooting, Bruce Campbell had to ride home in the back of a pickup truck, because he’d be so covered in fake blood that no one wanted him inside their car. His shirt got so coated in fake blood at one point that when he placed it by the fire to dry off, it solidified and broke when he tried to put it back on.
Different colors of blood were used in Evil Dead II to avoid an X rating
When Evil Dead II was in production and Sam Raimi was throwing buckets of fake blood all over the set to create a gnarly cinematic ride, the producers became concerned that so much blood would earn the movie a dreaded X rating from the MPAA. So, they told Raimi to start using different colors of blood, because for whatever reason, different shades of blood apparently make graphic violence okay in the eyes of the MPAA. (Martin Scorsese saturated the final showdown in Taxi Driver for this very reason.) In the end, this didn’t work and the movie still received an X rating, so the producers released it unrated.
The original title for Army of Darkness was Medieval Dead
The third Evil Dead movie, Army of Darkness, picks up where Evil Dead II left off, with Ash being accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he has to battle an army of the dead. When Sam Raimi first started developing the project, he put a fun spin on the title and called it Medieval Dead. Then, he changed the title to Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness, before simplifying the title and just calling it Army of Darkness. There’s nothing wrong with the title Army of Darkness, but it doesn’t have any indication that it’s a part of the Evil Dead franchise, and Medieval Dead is a great pun that relates both to the franchise and the premise.
The 2013 Evil Dead remake used 350 times more fake blood than the 1980 original
When the 2013 remake of The Evil Dead was on its way to theaters, it was reported that the production had used 70,000 gallons of fake blood. Director Fede Alvarez suggested that the actual figure might be even higher than this, claiming that 50,000 gallons of fake blood were used to shoot the remake’s final scene alone. By comparison, Sam Raimi’s 1980 original only used between 200 and 300 gallons of fake blood. If the remake did use 70,000 gallons of fake blood as reported, that means it used 350 times more fake blood than the notoriously gory original movie.
The smoke coming off Ash’s chainsaw is cigarette smoke
In Evil Dead II, Ash replaces one of his arms with a chainsaw, which created an interesting challenge for several generations of cosplayers. At one point in the movie, the chainsaw is doing so much work that it starts to smoke. This effect was achieved using cigarette smoke. Sam Raimi rigged up a tube and then hid off-camera, puffing on a cigarette and blowing the smoke through the tube. Then, it would funnel out as Ash was using the chainsaw, making it look like the chainsaw was smoking from overuse. Who needs CGI when you’ve got creative practical effects?
Bruce Campbell was the actor of Sam Raimi’s friendship group
Thanks to the role of Ash Williams, Bruce Campbell has become a fan-favorite actor on the cult horror cinema scene. He often collaborates with Sam Raimi, even cameoing in each of Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. Raimi and Campbell have been close friends since high school, and they used to make super-8 movies together. The only reason that Campbell ever appeared on-camera — leading up to his starring role in The Evil Dead franchise — is that he was appointed the actor of the group in high school, simply because he was the one who attracted the girls’ attention. He had the “it” factor.
