Behind The Scenes of Sam Raimi’s ‘Evil Dead II’

For a lot of Evil Dead fans, Evil Dead II is perhaps regarded as their favourite instalment to the franchise. Doing something that wasn’t common practice at the time with horror movies, this sequel managed to keep its horror aspect and simultaneously add humour, going from slapstick comedy to something insanely dark and twisted in a matter of seconds. This new style and some other iconic elements would carry on in future movies and even the series, Ash vs Evil Dead, which was released decades later.

However, what was it like working on set for a movie that would change the horror game and go down in cult classic infamy? From a third of the crew being fired over the course of a weekend to one of the cast members almost biting it during a take, we’ll be looking at behind the scene stories from Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II . . . Groovy.

Raimi Was Initially Against Making An ‘Evil Dead’ Sequel

Given how gruelling the experience was for the first-time filmmakers on the set of The Evil Dead, you can sort of see why Raimi was opposed to a sequel. Combine that with the negative experience Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert had with their latest movie at the time, Crime Wave (1985), which was filled with studio interference and ended up being a box office flop, the trio essentially thought their career was over.

The only reason Raimi even considered doing Evil Dead II was if he didn’t have to direct and simply produced. It was then, Josh Becker (crew member from The Evil Dead) was brought on board to write a sequel. His draft was unfortunately met with a unanimous thumbs down from everyone involved.

It was after talks of a sequel made its way to Italian film producer Dino De Laurentis, who was having dinner with Stephen King and a crew member from Crime Wave (1985) that he was prompted to get involved in the sequel. Once Laurentis was on board, Raimi returned to the director’s chair and began working on a script with Scott Spiegel, a script that would end up being a lot more humorous than its predecessor.

The Possessed Hand Was Inspired By A Short Film About An Evil Hamburger Helper

Photo: Attack of the Helping Hand/The Metropolitan Film Group

Evil Dead II manages to simultaneously go back to its roots and at the same time, incorporate a bigger comedic element. A lot of this is due to Rami’s love for slapstick comedy such as The Three Stooges. However, when he brought on his co-writer Scott Spiegel, Spiegel was surprised by Raimi’s direction. He was only convinced after Raimi brought up a movie he and Spiegel had made prior, Attack of the Helping Hand (1979). In this short, a housewife gets attacked by an evil hamburger helper, a scene not too dissimilar to the one in Evil Dead II. Raimi himself even made a guest appearance as a milkman!

It was only when Raimi used this example to paint a clearer picture of his vision, that his co-writer was convinced, Spiegel reflects in an interview:

It was really cool, Sam goes I’m gonna take that short, it’s gonna be Attack of the Helping Hand meets Evil Dead and I go, “aww I totally get the movie you’re making, okay cool.”

They Had To Reshoot Scenes From The First Movie Due To Rights Issues

Due to a sequel never being planned whilst they were making the first Evil Dead movie, there wasn’t much foresight from Sam Raimi and his production team when it came to handing over the rights to New Line Cinema. Unfortunately, this proved problematic when Raimi did eventually get around to making ‘Evil Dead II’ as he wanted footage from the first movie to be used in the opening as a re-cap.

Long story short, Raimi was not able to acquire the rights (for his own movie!) and they had to reshoot scenes from the first movie to bring audience members up to speed, Scott Spiegel (Writer) confirms in an interview:

But we couldn’t re-use the footage so that was really frustrating to do a re-cap on that. So, it was re-envisioned and recreated in that sense.

However, unlike other movies which had to re-shoot scenes e.g. Back to the Future Part II, these reshoots weren’t overly concerned with matching things up perfectly and were more of a scaled-down, quick recap than anything else. This caused confusion with some audience members, Bruce Campbell reflects in an interview:

The funny thing is that because of the way the re-cap went, people thought that Ash was stupid enough to go back to the cabin with new friends.

They did originally try to incorporate more from the finale of the first movie, from the book burning in the fireplace to prosthetics being made for Sam Raimi to play the first Evil Dead’s Scotty! Unfortunately due to their budget, it had to be condensed down to what made it in front of audiences.

A Releasing Corporation Was Invented To Get Around The MPAA

Although the sequel was more lighthearted, due to the level of gore, Raimi and crew knew their movie would still get some sort of backlash from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

Not only would this be a handicap where advertising was concerned, but Dino De Laurentiis who was involved with financing the sequel was prohibited from releasing “X” rated movies at the time. To get around this, Raimi created the (pretty much fictitious) distribution company, Rosebud Releasing Corporation, in order to release the movie without the MPAA’s input, Bruce Campbell backs up in an interview:

We created a false distribution company for some strange reason, to get around all this various stuff.

Sam Raimi’s Storyboards Weren’t The Best

In most cases, when a feature script is finished, the next step is storyboarding. Storyboarding allows the crew to get a decent idea of how each scene will be shot. For the first movie, all production had to go on was Sam Raimi’s instructions and a script written on about roughly twenty-seven napkins.

Before starting production on Evil Dead II, whilst enjoying a bottle of scotch with Josh Becker (Crew member from ‘The Evil Dead’), the two hashed out a plan of action for the sequel. Becker recalls in an interview what he had instructed Raimi to do to allow for a smoother production this time round:

I said you know, you gotta do storyboards or a shot list or something, you’ve gotta let everybody in on what it is you intend to do.

Sam Raimi did as advised and did the storyboarding himself, however, the quality was described as, just above a stickman rendition. For instance, when drawing the possessed hand sequence, he would simply draw the hand enlarged compared to the rest of Ash to show it was evil.

Thankfully, Raimi was still able to convey his shots, despite not being an “artist”.

Sam Raimi Incorporated A Three Stooges Gag Into The Movie

There’s no denying Evil Dead II is different in tone, being more humorous and even outright slapstick in parts compared to that of its predecessor, especially when it came to comedic violence. The reason for this being, as well as a fan of Horror, Sam Raimi is also a huge fan of The Three Stooges.

As well as his own ideas, Raimi also chose to incorporate one of the Stooges physical gags into his sequel. The gag in question saw the Stooges flick grapes into a singer’s open mouth. Raimi ended up using this bit for a particular eyeball scene in, Greg Nictora (make-up and special effects) backs up in an interview:

The scene where they jump on the trap door and the peewee head’s eye flies out and zips across and goes into Kassie Wesley’s mouth, that was a Three Stooges gag.

Different Coloured Blood Was Used Due To The Ratings Board

Although Evil Dead II is remembered for its gore, it may surprise some people to know that the onscreen blood isn’t even red a lot of the time. The reason for this being, because of the backlash to the blood and gore featured in The Evil Dead, to secure this movies rating, production would cheat their way around the more bloody scenes. This involved using different colours for the non-human executions, Greg Nictora (make-up and special effects) reflects in an interview:

One thing we were always aware of, always, was red blood is bad. Anytime any of the characters were killed, there was black blood, there was green blood, there was dark red blood, there was yellow blood, but at that time, the consensus was red blood would be bad for the ratings board.

Bruce Campbell Did Most Of His Own Stunts

Much like the first movie, Sam Raimi really gave Bruce Campbell the business physically. And once again, this film saw Campbell doing most of his own stunts, whether it be smashing dishes over his head or flipping himself forward, Campbell had it covered.

Unfortunately for Campbell, as well throwing himself around constantly, he also had Sam Raimi winding him up regularly, to get the most out of him for a scene, Greg Nictora (make-up and special effects) reflects in an interview:

The shot where Bruce is being propelled through the trees on the “Sam-o-cam”, which was called, where it rotated him around, Sam was the first one there with branches, to smash Bruce with the branches, just to torment him

Being the veteran Campbell is, he took it all on the chin and powered through. To put things in perspective, Campbell cites in an interview how much he did physically, as well as the rare occasions when his stuntman, John Casino, would actually fill in for him:

He [Casino] would do things like a stair fall. So, I’m like, nah, it’s probably not a good idea to go head first on that, I think I’m gonna let John do that, and I did . . . most of everything else in the movie.

Another skill Campbell had on set was apparently acting in reverse. This was required for a lot of scenes where something was being hurled at someone or for some of the more complex special effects scenes. No one had this skill down, like Campbell, Howard Berger (make-up and special effects) praises his efforts from their time on set in an interview:

Bruce is the king of that, flipping himself over. He was the king of that and the king of acting in reverse.

Ted Raimi Endured A Lot On Set

First place for most tortured onset (even beating Bruce Campbell), goes to Sam Raimi’s brother, Ted, who played Evil Dead II’s deadite Henrietta.

Not only did Ted endure copious amounts of make-up and prosthetics (which took three months to prep and three to nine hours to apply), but, partner that with the tremendous heat on set and you just have a recipe for a painful filming experience. Ted would sweat buckets on the regular whilst in the suit, so much so that it would just pour out when they removed his costume, Howard Berger (make-up and special effects) recalls in an interview:

“He [Ted] was losing pounds and pounds every single day in that suit”

Unfortunately for Ted, there wasn’t even an easy transition, from day one he was thrown in the deep end. Not only was his first-ever scene quite arduous, but the lack of Sympathy from his older brother, Sam, definitely wasn’t helping matters, Berger reflects in an interview:

The first thing we shot with Ted was him bursting out of the sand, you know, and he got sand in his eyes, and he was screaming, I mean the guy was screaming bloody murder and Sam was just there the whole time like “come on buddy, don’t be a baby, you’re fine”.

Ted Raimi himself cites in an interview how he managed to endure so much:

I didn’t care because I was 20. And when you’re 20, you know, you can have people throw golf balls at your face, you know, from a driving range and it really doesn’t matter, you’ll be happy to have that happen to you.

If you look closely at some of the footage in the movie it may seem like some of the deadites weren’t quite sure where they were going. Well, that wasn’t acting! Much like the first movie, when the milky white contact lenses were in the actors’ eyes, they were virtually blind, Greg Nictora (make-up and special effects) confirms in an interview:

I would run in, put all their contacts in and then they would do the scenes. But what people don’t realize is their contact lenses were completely white, there was no hole for the pupil, for them to see.

This required numerous techniques to accomplish a scene. First off, actors would have to rehearse the scene beat for beat without the lenses, memorizing all their exact movements and where everything around them was. They would then have to recreate their movements once the lenses were in and the cameras were rolling. This wouldn’t always go as smoothly as planned, now and again crew members would have to assist, guiding actors, placing their hands on the right spot (whilst staying out of shot obviously) and other things of this nature.

Freddy Krueger’s Glove Makes An Appearance

If you look closely whilst Ash is in the woodshed with his late girlfriend’s head, you may spot another iconic horror property hanging by the door, the razor fingered glove belonging to A Nightmare on Elms Street’s Freddy Krueger!

This was a bit more than a one-off easter egg and was in fact a back-and-forth homage between Sam Raimi and another horror director, the legendary Wes Craven. Initially Craven had a torn poster for Jaws in his movie The Hills Have Eyes, this tradition was then carried on by Raimi who included a poster for Craven’s film (The Hills Have Eyes) in The Evil Dead. From there Craven included a scene from The Evil Dead playing on the television in A Nightmare on Elm Street. So, in response to this, Raimi continued the flattery by hanging the infamous Springwood Slashers glove up in the woodshed for his sequel, careful though, blink and you’ll miss it!

There Was A Deleted Scene Involving Ash Eating A Woodland Critter

As is common with a lot of movies, not everything that is filmed makes it onto the big screen, there are a lot of scenes that will – for one reason or another – hit the editing room floor.

Given that Sam Raimi improvised a lot on set, it’s understandable that some ideas just didn’t make the cut. This included an extended scene with “Evil Ed” after he is dismembered by ash, he stood up with half a head, revealing a very small brain within his skull. This alluded to the fact that deadites aren’t the sharpest tools in the (wood)shed.

However, there was a more memorable scene that ended up hitting the cutting room floor. A deleted scene which would have perhaps made this dark comedy a tad darker, which involved a possessed Ash, roaming the forest, before stumbling upon a live squirrel. . . AND EATING IT!

Not groovy Ash.

A Short Movie Was Shot During Production Involving An Un-Dead Baby

When making Evil Dead II, the make-up and special effects team (Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero, Mark Shostrom etc) would constantly fool around in their downtime. From having water fights with realistic-looking AK-47’s whilst “letting loose”, to shooting their own dark comedic shorts, they certainly had a good time behind the scenes that’s for sure.

However, one of their most memorable past times saw the crew get together and make a short parody titled Evil Dead Baby. Kind of like a cross between Re-Animator and Evil Dead, the short sees a baby suffer an unfortunate decapitation after being run over by a car. Once the headless infant’s body is injected with a serum, it rises from the grave and hunts down its creators. Although it was directed by Robert A. Ferretti and not Sam Raimi, it still manages to make its dark subject matter hilarious. Definitely just shot for a laugh, but worth a watch all the same!

It was Danny Hicks First Feature Film

Danny Hicks who played Jake had never been in a feature film until Evil Dead II. So, before going into the audition, he made sure he looked the part and combed his hair with grease from the engine compartment of his car. Sam Raimi was apparently delighted to finally have an actor without an ego.

However, there was one last thing Hick’s did during his audition which secured him the role of deep south Jake, Bruce Campbell reflects in an interview:

He came into the audition and he was okay but then he goes, well do you wanna see it without my teeth? And were like, what? He just went pops teeth out, he pulled out a whole bridge at the front of his teeth and four teeth just disappeared and we were like, that’s perfect, you know, so he basically got the part on the spot.

A Cast Member Nearly Had A Fatal Experience During A Scene

Numerous actors have confirmed having been battered and bruised whilst on the set of the Evil Dead movies, however, in Evil Dead II, Danny Hicks (Jake) was the only actor who nearly didn’t make it out the other side! Ironically enough, this incident happened when Hick’s onscreen counterpart, bit the dust.

The scene sees Jake being dragged through a trap door by the possessed Henrietta (Ted Raimi), followed by a gargantuan amount of blood. This sequence had Hicks in a harness, hanging upside down and required over fifty gallons of fake blood which was supposed to be rigged in a way that allowed the blood to spurt out the sides. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned Hicks reflects in an interview:

On the first take, the hose wasn’t positioned and instead of squirting out the door, it hit the door and came right back in my face. So, within three and a half seconds I had fifty-five gallons of blood forced up my nose, so I almost choked to death.

Evil Ed’s Face Was Designed Around Richard Domeier’s Audition

As is the case with many movies that require prosthetics for characters (especially in horror), the people in charge of casting will generally have an idea of what said character will look like and cast whoever fits that look the best.

When Richard Domeier auditioned for the role of Ed, the scene he had to act out was when Ed becomes possessed. Domeier then proceeded to do his most ugly, demonic face imaginable and to his (and even his agents) surprise, he was asked back. Different to the usual norm, the Evil Ed character was then based around the actor himself, Domeier reflects in an interview:

When I met the guys who actually did the make-up for it, they said, basically dude that was pretty cool. We’re gonna model Evil Ed’s make-up after that guy that you had become in the audition.

Once his new face was applied complete with an elongated jaw, he quickly realized he was unable to close his mouth. Unfortunately for Domeier, this caused him to drool regularly, but production decided to not change a thing, feeling it added perfectly to the character.

There Was A Bizarre Racial Divide In The Town Near Where The Movie Was Filmed

Unlike the first movie, the sequel was filmed in North Carolina, as it had a lot of remote locations that fit the movies aesthetic perfectly. However, whilst filming in the town of Wadesboro, the make-up team had a very bizarre experience that made them feel quite unsettled. They found themselves in a rundown launderette/laundromat only to realize they were the only white people. They were then asked to leave by another customer when asked why they were told the “white laundromat” was across the street.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be a running theme for the town, Howard Berger (make-up and special effects) reflects in an interview:

It’s one of the things we found a lot of, like, you know, there was a restaurant and it was divided, you know, segregation in this restaurant. Even the movie theatre, there’s a white entrance and a black entrance. . . very strange, this is 1986.

The Set Was Built In A School Gymnasium

Due to its rural setting, North Carolina was a perfect spot for the exterior shots of Evil Dead II. However, unlike the first movie’s interior, which was mostly filmed in an actual abandoned cabin (and partly filmed on a crew members farm), this movie’s budget allowed them to build a set from scratch, in a high school gymnasium!. . Plus, the cabin from the first movie had been completely destroyed by this point.

As well as the gymnasium being used for the inside of the cabin, the crew set up shop in the abandoned high school. Different departments were assigned their own classrooms, with the special effects and make-up team setting up shop in the science lab ironically.

In some scenes (especially when Ash is running around from the demonic POV inside the cabin) you can clearly see there is no ceiling, and it is in fact a stage.

The Special Effects Team Built Booby Traps To Keep People Out

When it comes to creating ghastly ghouls or mad monsters for a movie, make-up and special effects individuals are (understandably) very attached to their creations. This is why the likes of Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero were very miffed when they discovered Rob Tapert (producer) broke into their station after filming had wrapped for the day to use one of their props. Berger recalls in an interview an incident in which their Linda head was stolen because Sam Raimi needed it for a scene:

Rob broke into the room, took the head and shot with it. There’s actually a shot in the movie where Linda’s head pops up, you see the hair is pinned up, cause it wasn’t ready, we hadn’t finished doing it you know.

This led Berger and the rest of the team to build a booby trap to prevent any more future “break-ins”. Mike Turk (special effects and make-up) built a cradle, water balloon mechanism, that would release whenever an unwanted visitor came into the room. Much to the team’s delight, Tapert fell victim to their trap and neither he nor Raimi were found trespassing again.

The Dancing Linda Scene Was Matched To An Actual Live Dance Sequence

Unlike its predecessor, ‘Evil Dead II’ had a lot more ambitious stop-motion sequences, but perhaps the most remembered of these is the dancing Linda scene. Once it was pretty clear stop-motion would need to be used for the wider shots showing Linda’s headless corpse dancing around, Mark Shostrom (Make-up and special effects) recommended stop-motion animator, Doug Beswick to carry out this task.

The way the scene was achieved was quite an arduous process in itself. Ken Warner designed a dance sequence, it was photographed on 35mm film, the raw footage was then sent to Sam Raimi, who cut together a dance sequence, filming it in live-action (minus the decapitation), then sent it back to Beswick. From that point on, Beswick built a miniature set (cabin, forest etc) and matched his stop motion to the dance sequence, literally frame by frame. Beswick cites some of his experiences shooting this segment in an interview:

“The animation was very challenging because this was, you know, actually trying to duplicate a performance. So, it was a bit challenging in that respect and it was all tabletop, so it’s a pretty slow process. I would say I probably got, maybe, a frame every five minutes, you know, that would be at the peak where you’re working your fastest, so it’s very slow and tedious. And there’s no going back you know, if you make a mistake, you basically have to start over.”

A Third Of The Crew Was Fired Over The Course Of One Weekend

A large portion of the initial crew was from the film’s location in North Carolina. However, these particular crew members have since been described as “uncooperative”. From going home early (despite how much work still needed to be done) to questioning Sam Raimi’s decisions throughout, there was no choice but to let them go, Bruce Campbell recalls in an interview:

We were forced to – because of their, sort of uncooperative nature of this whole crew – we fired in the course of a weekend. . . the entire camera crew, grip and electric department because they were questioning everything we did.

This lead to a new crew flying to the location on a Friday and shooting the following Monday, Raimi definitely had big demands for the new crew, Campbell remembers once again an interview:

Sam gave them a patent speech essentially saying, okay, you’ve seen what we’re up against here, you’ve seen what we have to do, you understand the challenges here. So, anybody else who needs to go, go now.

Thankfully, given the finished product that has since gone down in cinema history, the new crew clearly rose to the challenge.

Sam Raimi Can’t Stand The Sight Of REAL Blood

Sam Raimi is an infamous name in the world of horror and to say he’s no stranger to onscreen gore would be quite the understatement. However, how does he fair around real blood?. . Not too well apparently.

During post-production, Kaye Davis (Editor) edited the movie using a Moviolo, a common tool used at the time, which allows the user to view the movie whilst editing. One of the features of the Moviola is that it contains “teeth” that you put the film through. Unfortunately for Davis she snagged her fingers whilst loading the film, causing them to bleed. The editing crew had a bit of a giggle regarding the unfortunate incident until they noticed a pale-faced Sam Raimi who had witnessed the accident from the other side of the room, Davis recalls in an interview:

And I turn around and Sam looks like he’s gonna toss it. And I said, “Sam are you okay?” And he said, “yeah, you know, the sight of blood really bothers me.”

The same Sam Raimi who was brought up on obscenity charges for the amount of blood in his pictures. . . Who’d of thunk it!?

A Lot Of The Crew Didn’t Know The Movie Was Going To Be Funny

Evil Dead II is a cult classic, not just for its impact in horror, but also its contrast to the first instalment. This movie was able to embody everything fans loved about the first movie whilst simultaneously adding a comedic element. . . and fans loved it!

However, although director Sam Raimi may have always known what kind of movie he was making, the same can not be said for certain crew members. In fact, it wasn’t until they were at the actual screening and audience members began to laugh at certain scenes, that the penny finally dropped, Jim Belohovek (Miniature Supervisor) recalls in an interview:

My friend was laughing beside me and I was getting a little irate. I thought he was making fun and I said why are you laughing at this picture? And goes “don’t you get it?” And I go no, I don’t understand. . . and he goes “it’s a dark comedy.”