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

Back in the early 80’s audiences were met with a truly terrifying film that is renowned in the world of horror, Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead.

It shocked fans with its eeriness, not to mention terrifyingly, gruesome effects that had never been seen onscreen before. This movie not only inspired sequels, a “remake”, a series, copycats, even a musical, but has withstood the test of time and is still highly regarded to this day.

However, accomplishing this movie was no easy feat for these (more or less) first-time feature filmmakers. From the crew working off a script that was written on a couple dozen napkins to the filming taking place in a real-life, spooky, abandoned cabin and Sam Raimi actually being brought up on obscenity charges for the picture, we will be taking a look at behind the scenes for one of the biggest cult horror classics of all time.

It’s Loosely Based On Sam Raimi’s Short Film ‘Within The Woods’

Before making his first feature film, Sam Raimi made a bunch of Super 8 (a preferred method of shooting at the time) shorts. The last Super 8 he filmed, however, back in 1979 called Within the Woods features some characters and subject matter that may look familiar to fans, haunted woods, possession, eerie POV shots etc.

The short also starred Bruce Campbell and Ellen Sandweiss, only this time the roles were reversed, with Campbell being a “deadite” of sorts and Sandweiss being the heroine.

Getting a small release alongside The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Within the Woods, was able to raise enough funds that allowed Raimi to make a full feature version. . . The Evil Dead.

The Movie Originally Had A Different Title

Given the infamy this franchise has now gained, fans are more than familiar with the piece of literature known as the Necronomicon AKA the Book of the Dead that started it all. So it may come as no surprise that director Sam Raimi wanted this to be the original title. In fact, in behind the scenes footage, you can see the clapperboards marked with the Book of the Dead title.

In the end producer, Irvin Shapiro threw in his two cents with a title he felt better encompassed the tone of this demonic, gory, horror fest. . . The Evil Dead.

Sam Raimi Was Only 21 When Making The Movie

Making short films throughout high school, it was pretty clear what Sam Raimi wanted to do as a career and by the time he graduated he certainly hit the ground running.

Betsy Baker who would go on to play Linda, remembers her first meeting with the young director along with a young Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert (both of whom attended high school with Raimi) which she recalls in an interview:

I walked into this restaurant and I saw three young guys, they couldn’t have been more than 19, 20, 21 at the most.

The three were laughing whilst blowing paper straws at one another, at first Baker thought there’s no way this could be them. . . But they were the only ones in the restaurant. After talking with the young filmmakers, Baker quickly realised, despite their looks, they were definitely clear when it came to their goals, so she jumped right on board!

The Crew Was Incredibly Small

Although some professional actors were brought in to star in The Evil Dead the crew itself mainly consisted of director Sam Raimi’s social circle, so the crew in its entirety was very small, David Goodman (Crew member) backs up in an interview:

It was a very small crew, I mean basically it was like a seven or eight-man crew.

Goodman was brought onset due to him knowing Sam since they were young, he grew up around the block from the Raimi’s and hung out with Ivan (Sam’s older brother), so knew Sam by association. Unfortunately, due to him not really having any skills when It came to filmmaking, Goodman was put in charge of transportation and cooking.

Josh Becker took on second unit and lighting responsibilities, tasks that Raimi was originally in charge of, but Becker convinced him to hand over the reins to make things run faster. . . and look better!

Then you had Tom Sullivan (Special Make-up effects) who embodied several different departments, creating the infamous book of the dead, the Kandarian dagger, as well as other props and not forgetting the make-up design, creation and application for the very first deadites!

Finally, you had Raimi’s closest friends Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert. As well as starring as the lead, Campbell was also an executive producer. Tapert however, apparently had his fingers in numerous pies on set, he reflects in an interview:

Sam directed, Bruce kinda looked after the chequebook some and acted, and I filled in for every other thing.

It Was Filmed In An Actual Abandoned Cabin

When it came to the location for this picture, the whole cast and crew drove from the Detroit area to the small town of Morristown in Tennessee. Right next to this town was a woodland area that contained a real-life abandoned cabin, which was used for the film’s setting (except the interior cellar scenes, which were shot on a farm belonging to the family of one of the filmmakers).

Upon their arrival, the cast and crew did get some unpleasant surprises, Betsy Baker (Linda) recalls in an interview:

Ellen [Sandweiss], Theresa [Tilly] and I walked into this cabin, which of course had no locks, no bathroom, no heat, no electricity, but it did have the remains of. . . cow manure. . . everywhere on the floor. Because either cows or goats or whatever animals were down there had walked through it for years and had made it their second home.

From there everyone pitched in to help “spruce” the place up for filming. This included rebuilding the cabin from the inside out, knocking down walls, fixing the structure, rebuilding windows, re-masoning the fireplace and building the exterior for the infamous floor hatch from scratch. Even Bruce Campbell pitched in, helping shovel the manure, as well as other numerous DIY activities.

David Goodman (Crew member), recalls their experience fixing up the cabin in an interview:

It was a piece of junk, we made it a little better and then you know, by the end we had totally, you know, destroyed it.

The cast and crew ended up actually living in the cabin itself, sleeping in these make-shift cots during production. So, when the director yelled cut, there would be no warm trailer to compose themselves in, instead, they would literally just be sitting in these cold, dank, sticky surroundings, waiting for the next scene.

The Script Was Written On Twenty-Seven Napkins

Although it was visible to certain cast members that this was a movie being made by “first-timers”, Theresa Tilly reflected in an interview how professionalism still came across by Sam Raimi and the rest of the crew:

There were a lot of things about it that were very professional, I mean, they handled us in a very professional way and had contracts and scripts and. . . not that they really stuck to the script!

Not only did Raimi keep changing and adding to the script as he was going, but the only hard copy of the script itself was written on about twenty-seven napkins! This meant whilst shooting, all the cast and crew would have to go on regarding the story and characters was what was told to them by Raimi on the day.

The Cast Got Stoned Whilst Filming

Forming friendly relationships with the locals near where they were filming in Tennesse, the cast were gifted things like moonshine from the townspeople, however, that’s not all they enjoyed. Turns out the locals also brought the cast some weed, not only that, but the actors even chose to smoke it in preparation for a scene (the scene in which they’re all listening to the tape).

Bruce Campbell cited their inspiration behind the idea in an interview with Conan:

We did, in fact, smoke marijuana because we had heard, in the famous Jack Nicholson movie Five Easy Pieces — no, Easy Rider — that he smoked like 47 joints before he shot that scene. And I thought, if he can go on to become a very famous, notable actor, we can do the same thing. And I had never smoked before. I was 21, and… we also found out that the weed in Tennessee was pretty good, apparently. And so we did not really film the scene successfully.

Unfortunately, their stroke of “genius” turned out to have the reverse effect, the cast ended up being way too stoned and the footage was deemed unusable.

Thankfully, fans were eventually allowed to see what a stoned Ash would have looked like in Ash vs Evil Dead, which showed another marijuana-related incident that (once again) brought grave consequences.

The Actors Couldn’t See Through Their Contact Lenses

Unlike the standard (more comfortable) contact lenses used in pictures today, what was used during the filming of The Evil Dead were hard scleral lenses. Not only were these applied with a plastic applicator (by Bruce Campbell himself) which required holding the actor’s eyes open and popping it into their eye, but once they were in, the actors couldn’t see a thing. Ellen Sandweiss (Cheryl) recalls in an interview:

They covered your whole eyeball, you know, unlike normal contacts that just cover your iris. So, all those scenes where any of us are possessed with the white eyes, we are totally blind.

The Paranormal Camera Work Was All Raimi

The Evil Dead included various techniques that would be used in, not just horror movies, but a lot of movies in general, going forward.

Something which probably stands out the most, however, is the camerawork which allows us to see the demonic POV of these paranormal creatures. Obviously, these days you’ll have drones, rigs, Steadicams etc. to capture similar shots, but in this low budget horror film, it was all the work of Sam Raimi, Josh Becker confirmed an interview:

Well, the camera work’s entirely Sam’s, I mean every single shot, is something he had in mind.

Knowing exactly what he wanted in his mind’s eye, Raimi felt he was the best man for the job and literally strapped the camera to himself whilst running around. Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) echoed his and certainly a lot of audience members sentiments regarding Raimi’s technique in an interview:

Raimi had such control of the camera-work, he really, really used it to be from the point of view of these demons and spirits.

Acrylic Paint Was Used On The Actors Skin

Not only was the make-up not as advanced in terms of today’s standards, but Tom Sullivan (special effects and make-up) was also still finding his feet at the time. This resulted in a lot of shorts cuts and money-saving solutions being applied on set. Sullivan has stated that as well as putting Vaseline on the actors before applying any plaster mould, he also used acrylic paint on their faces, despite the warnings that it shouldn’t be used on the skin. Sullivan reflected the aftermath of this in an interview:

Do you know how you get acrylic paint off a actors face? You scratch with like, a scouring pan or something, and arggh, horrible things we put those poor folks through.

There Were Multiple Injuries On Set

With it being the early ‘80s, there weren’t as many health and safety regulations required with filming compared to what we have today, and Sam Raimi certainly used this to his advantage. In order to get the most from his cast, Raimi would push his actors to the absolute limit to get them fully submerged into their horror surroundings.

From beating Betsy Baker (Linda) with plywood (it was fake but still packed a punch) to Ellen Sandweiss (Cheryl) getting her legs shredded during her forest running scenes, Raimi definitely made them endure almost as much as their onscreen counterparts (slight exaggeration maybe), but no one more so than Bruce Campbell.

Campbell, renowned for how much physical torment he gets put through on Raimi’s Evil Dead pictures, never backed down when anything physical was required of him. Throwing himself through shelves, taking a beating, you asked, and Campbell delivered.
In one instance Campbell injured his ankle onset and a testament to the kind of conditions he had to endure, saw a juvenile Raimi and Rob Tapert constantly poke Campbells injured ankle with a stick in a bid to make him fly off the handle.

Continuity Wasn’t Followed Whilst Filming

Unlike the 2013 “remake”, this movie was not shot in chronological order. This is generally the case with a lot of movies, however, the bonus of it being shot in order for the “remake”, was that they could get as messy as possible and not worry about editing in post-production.

Unfortunately, given that the original had just as much mess and the movie was shot out of order, continuity proved a bit problematic, especially with all the different bodily fluids getting thrown on the characters. Josh Becker (second unit and lighting) recalls in an interview how they tried to manage this issue as best as possible:

We’d just throw crap out on the floor, going “I guess that’s sort of like the way it was.” I had no clue it would even cut together.

The Movie Credits A Lot Of People Playing Fake Shemp

Fake Shemp is essentially the terminology that is used in the industry when someone appears as a replacement, but you make them up to look like the original actor. Whether it be with make-up and prosthetics or camera trickery (coincidentally, Sam Raimi is a huge fan of The Three Stooges).

This method was used in this instance when the production ran over scheduling and because of this, a lot of the actor’s (minus Bruce Campbell) contracts were up, and they had to move on to other projects.

During this time, they shot all the scenes in which Ash was in the cabin on his “own”. However, these scenes still involved his friends returning from the grave, so they had to get people to play them. Due to the friends being these possessed, gruesome-looking versions of themselves, the way they worked around this was by recruiting locals to double as the “deadites” and disguising them to look like the real characters as best they could. So whenever you see a possessed character where their face is out of shot or not that clear, it’s most likely a stand-in!

Ellen Sandweiss Had No Idea The Tree Scene Was That Severe Until She Saw The Premiere

Initially, during the infamous tree “assault” scene, Ellen Sandweiss (Cheryl) only thought she would be chased through the forest and fondled by the demonic forest (at most) and even then, she was reluctant. It wasn’t until an arduous process of being filmed running around in freezing conditions, that she was eventually exhausted and fed up enough to give Sam Raimi what he wanted for the scene.

However, according to Sandweiss the final branch that makes its violent “plunge”, was added in post-production. Apparently whilst filming, the furthest it went, was just her legs being opened, nothing more. Sandweiss recalls her experience seeing it for the first time in an interview:

I had no idea until I saw it, and I went *shocked, mouth agape*. . . And of course, at the premier you know with my mother there and… that was fun.

Bruce Campbell Put Up His Family’s Property To Help Finish The Movie

Knowing each other since high school and starring in a bunch of his friends [Sam Raimi] Super 8’s, it was only natural Bruce Campbell would be given a leading role in Raimi’s first full-length feature (especially since he was the best looking one of the group).

However, as well as acting and helping out with various roles behind the camera, Campbell is also credited as executive producer on The Evil Dead. The reason for this being, production ended up going over budget and Campbell actually put his family’s property up as collateral. This wasn’t just to get the movie finished, but also so they could film on a 35mm for a theatrical release, what a guy!

Stephen King Catapulted The Film’s Success

Once the movie was made, it was a couple of years before anyone actually saw it and even then, you only really found it on grindhouse and midnight screenings. This was mainly due to Sam Raimi and the rest of the cast and crew not really being known in the industry. So, because of this, the movie initially suffered a great deal when it came to marketing. It wasn’t until the movie was eventually seen by legendary horror writer Stephen King that he was able to give a review that would catapult the film’s success into horror movie stardom:

The most ferociously original horror film of 1982

The quote was quickly incorporated onto the film’s poster. . . the rest is history.

Sam Raimi Was Brought Up On Obscenity Charges

Back in the ‘80s when there was an influx of movies containing things that were considered too “risqué”, they would have to cut the movie until it was deemed appropriate for a theatre release. However, when releasing the same movies on VHS, movies would sometimes get released in their original form, without a certification, these movies (in the U.K.) were known as “Video Nasties”.

Unfortunately for Sam Raimi, The Evil Dead was amongst the “Video Nasties” at the time. He was even brought up on obscenity charges by the British Board of Film Censors and had to attend Leeds Crown Court to defend his movie.

Horror director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) cites in an interview this being one of the reasons Evil Dead II differed in tone from that of its predecessor:

It’s crazy to look at Evil Dead now and think that Sam Raimi was brought up on obscenity charges because of it, that this is a video nasty and that’s the reason Sam Raimi made Evil Dead II funny, was because he was put on trial in England.

Thankfully, not only did this just make people want to see it more, but the movie has since become a cult classic amongst horror fans.