THE EVIL DEAD: "Why Are You Torturing Me Like This?!"

In Episode 50 of Secret Level, Billy and Joey thrust themselves into the world of Sam Rami’s awesome 1981 horror film The Evil Dead! This is always a fun movie to revisit and there are a lot of interesting and fun behind-the-scenes stories that we came across in our research that we have a blast talking about! From the crazy story behind the cabin where they filmed the movie to all the challenges the crew faced during the production. Ultimately, the creative team made an incredible horror movie that launched an insanely successful franchise that is still going strong! 

Transcript

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Don't watch that! Watch this! This is the heavy, heavy monster sound! The nutsiest sound around! So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, well listen, buster! You better start to move your feet to the rockiness, rocksteady beat of madness Great opening. One step beyond I love it And I'm like I have to start the podcast with that got stuck in my head so now hopefully it gets out I hope so people need to listen to that song. It's true. It's true. They do now Billy, I was at a cheer competition today. Yes. With my daughter, who was doing her cheer thing. Mm hmm. Afterwards, you know, I'm hanging out with my daughter, her friends are around. I took, obviously being a dad, I took video of the thing, right? Mm hmm. So, some of the girls were like, oh, I want to see the video. Like, I need to see, I wanted to see how I did. So I like, scrolling through, showing them that they're watching the video, okay? Okay. And as, as these girls are watching this video play on my phone and they're all like, Oh, you did so good, blah, blah, blah. They're all like impressed by what they were doing. A text from Billy pops up. It sure does. and that text read, have they been killed yet? Yep. What wonderful timing. That was the silence. No one said anything, it was just the silence. Everyone was laughing, having a good time, and then the text pops up. Have they been killed yet? Don't mind that, that's just my secret life right there, coming up to haunt me. Well, it was supposed to say, have they killed it yet, meaning their competition. My phone sometimes really doesn't like me, so it replaces things. That I would never say, but I had to commit because it was already sent. So I was like, well, there we go. Have they been killed yet? Have they been killed yet? Yep. So tell them all, I'm sorry. Hopefully they listen to this podcast that they know that I didn't mean, you know, they were killed. No, they probably meant that like talking about me as a murderer and my partner, a crime was like, Hey. Is the job done? Have they been killed yet? Like, I'm on a mission to kill somebody and, and, and my partner in crime just texted me and is asking me if I got the job done. You know what the best part is, is that your daughter knows who I am so she would go with it. Well, she would, but she wasn't there watching the video with her friends. Oh, this only gets better. Ha ha ha ha! Okay, cool. I'm very excited about this. So anyway. Yeah, um, well, that's your squad. Please accept my sincerest apologies. Um, we haven't killed anyone yet. No, not Thank goodness. And probably never will. I don't I don't plan on it, but you never know. I don't plan on killing anyone. I'll just say that. I'll just say that. I'm thankful for that. Thank you. Alright, everybody. Welcome to Secret Level. I'm your host, Joey Parr, and joining me is my sturdy co host, Billy Dizzity Deadite Fisher. And why do we go with the name Dizzity Deadite, Billy? That's because we are entering into the zone that started our friendship in the very beginning. The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi's classic 1981 horror film. Which remains one of the most beloved and influential horror films of all time. You see, people, uh, when Joey and I first met each other, this is one of the first topics that we spoke about, was because not many people were talking about The Evil Dead at that time. At least in our age group. No one, dude, no one knew about The Evil Dead. No one. We were the guys introducing The Evil Dead to people. Yes, and it still remains one of my favorite movies of all time. I mean, we were like, that was such an underground horror film in high school, No one knew about the evil dead, and so when you showed it to them, they were just in awe of the craziness of that movie, and they couldn't believe that it existed. I remember screening that to friends and people just being like, wait, what? What did I just watch? Yeah. But we gotta remember, Evil Dead, I was introduced to Evil Dead, my first experience in the Evil Dead franchise was Army of Darkness, which we'll eventually get into. Yes, absolutely. But I was like, that was What, 1993 Army of Darkness came out, so I was still a young'un, like, you know what I mean? So it wasn't until maybe a few years after that that Evil, the Evil Dead came into my life. And I was like, oh, that's the same, this is, this is the original. This is the first movie, this is what led to Army of Darkness. Sweet. Yes. Yep. pretty much the same for me. I saw Army of Darkness, and then I was trying to rent it at the video store. And it was all rented out, and the guy behind the counter said I saw it in theaters. Yeah, me too. Oh, okay, good. Yeah, yeah, no, I I hope you didn't miss that experience, because watching that movie in theaters was great. Uh, it was probably, Ash was probably my ideal hero and I think he still is. Ash goes from this, you know, if you haven't seen any of these films, I'm not going to get into it is his story arc from evil, the evil dead to army of darkness is fantastic. but when I went to go get it in the video store, it was sold out, but the guy behind the counter goes, you know, there's two movies that come before this one, right? And I was like, no idea. Yeah, I stumbled on it by accident. Oh, man. So beautiful. Such a beautiful movie. Uh, we're gonna tell you why. it really falls into a lot of the 80s horror movies, except for it takes it to 11. Well, not only takes it to 11, but, I mean, okay, so this was like a micro budget horror movie. Oh, absolutely. And it's evolved into this, like, cult classic. It's just like 100 percent left its mark on the horror genre. It inspired so much. It's almost like the twilight zone of like cabin in the wood movies, right? Where it, like it did it, the, it did it the best. And then everything that happened after followed, I guess, I don't know. I mean, I don't know, what's your take on that, Billy? I mean, it's a unique blend of horror, innovative filmmaking, super jet black dark humor, but it also just was fun, and like, it had this cheese value to it that made it so entertaining. It had, it, it was really weird because they used such a small budget, the effects were much more effective. Uh, it didn't pay for actors, it, they had to use buddies. Which turned out to be one of the best things I could have ever done, but seriously if you haven't seen this movie Um, don't judge a book by its cover. If you see the low budget, like, logo, and the first shot of the car driving, give it a chance, because you're gonna love the ride. Well, and here's the thing, too. And, and, again, this is, again, for me. Like, I saw Army of Darkness first. Mm hmm. I saw The Evil Dead 2 second. Oh, you went in full reverse. And I didn't see the origi I saw Evil Dead 2, and then I People, I think it was my uncle that was telling me, well, you gotta watch Evil Dead, the original, the Evil Dead, the one before too. Because I remember him explaining to me, it's like, it's the same movie, but it's a lot more, like, it's a lot lower budget. Yeah. And so they had to be really inventive with how they made the film. They had to like, basically take every, bit of money they had, every resource, and just push the boundaries of what they could basically could be done with independent horror. Right. And the best part about it is, is this kind of set the standard of what a horror movie should be for me. Like, it has to check all these boxes in order for it to be good. Because if it's not, this'll just come above it and it'll be like, hey, Evil Dead was better. But, all these They all have All, all the movies have their charm. These three original movies, and Evil Dead, the Evil Dead, they all have this charm to them that you just can't help but love. And when I re watched this one, I just had an absolute blast. And it's I even got my wife and my daughter to sit down. And watch part of it with me. That would have been fun to watch. Yeah. It gets to places where they're like, Dad, what are you watching? Yes, like, the whole tree situation. The tree rape scene, yep, yep. That's insane. But the thing is, at the time, like, What? They're doing something crazy. Like, who thought of this? Who's, what twisted minds thought of this? Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell and, you know, their crew. And then you've got Raimi who basically, like, had that really cool invented Inventive, um, use of the camera, the shaky cam shots where he's like run, you know, they put the camera on like, uh, boards and like ran it through the forest to get that first person kind of, um, I wish there was a name for it. We'll just call it the Ramy shot where the zoom is faster. And I remember it, like, it created this, like, visceral sense of dread. Yes. Like, you're just like, what is this? It was just this erratic, low to the ground movement. From the persec Basically, it's from the perspective of the unseen, evil, dead demon. Right? Right. That is, like, going after this group of young adults in this cabin. You know, they're gonna be brutally murdered. But I think the best part about that is, is that it, that was an unspoken shot. Like everybody knew that's exactly what that is. And like it had it just the zoom itself had its own acting purpose. Like when it comes up to the door and it stops and then just slowly backs up. Cause it knows it's, it's going to get in there. It's just, just wait. It's really interesting too, because, it almost. It's, yeah, it, I, I recently saw Steven Soderbergh's new, horror movie, Presence. And the whole movie is from the perspective of, of the ghost that's haunting the house. Uh huh. And I just, I remember, like, I'm watching it, and I'm like, man, like, this was, this was, Sam Raimi started, like, did the point of view of the ghost or the demon, like, that was Sam Raimi. Sam Raimi did it first. Right. On a next to nothing budget. Yeah, exactly. Invented one of the best shots in movies. It's, it's true. It's its own character. You just made the camera character and it, it was amazing how he did it. Yeah. Whoever was holding the camera was basically the, uh, the demon, the ghost. Oh man, we got a lot to get into. The deadites. We have so much to get into. We could talk about our experiences with this, but let's get into the little background and we'll give you some more of what we've got. Will kind of just want to, the practical effects were like insane too. Just this low tech stop motion. Gallons and gallons of fake blood, all this, do it yourself, kind of like, DIY, like, making movies happen, type. production, you know, they were working with whatever they had and it would, and you could tell it, it made the movie feel raw, gritty. It made everything feel tangible. You got the grotesque, like transformation sequence, then the violence and the gore and. I like that it's not polished. I love that it's just rough, and like, dirty, and gross. Cause it takes it to this like, unsettling, nightmarish atmosphere. It creates this like, unsettling, nightmarish atmosphere. Which I love about the movie. And today, everything, all these horror movies we're seeing today, they're all polished. Everything, the blood is polished. You know, these major Hollywood motion picture horror movies, it's like they don't, they're missing that edge of insanity that Ramey and his team brought to something like the evil dead. Like, I like to liken the evil dead to that times Blair Witch Project. Like it almost felt like a found footage movie because of how raw it was, how nasty the deadites faces become when they, Dude, it's so gross and I love it because of it. So good. I love, I love that the makeup's like peeling off and like, Yep. Like, it just makes it work even better. If it, you, cause we watched the, like, we watched the new Uh, versions of the evil dead and well, I like the new versions and they take things to like crazy hardcore level. It's still polished. It doesn't feel like what we're seeing here. You know, everything still feels like a Hollywood produced movie. I just like the independent, like the indie grunginess of the evil dead. Which, the modern movies, even the modern Evil Dead movies just can't quite capture. There's only one movie that you and I have seen that comes close to that visceral experience, and that was Section 9. Yeah, Session 9. Session 9 was one of the most gritty, you know, Yeah, we should talk about that one sometime, that's a good one. We will have to talk about that because I can go on about that one for a while. But, Session 9, And the evil dead have that, that edge to them that you're like, all right, I get this man. But like, I know a lot of people will complain, like the blood in the movie looks fake, but I think that's kind of the thing with it is that it looks, it is nasty. It's well, not only that, but it also gives it a cartoonish feel, right? Which. You know, it works for this movie. I mean, the movie is dark. It is, first and foremost, a horror film. Right. But the humor also is fun. Oh my gosh. The demons are mocking these people. I mean, yeah. All the way through. I mean, you've got the gore and then you've got some slapstick stuff in there too that you just can't help but appreciate and love. Because it's That it's the movie's personality it is the evil dead wouldn't be the evil dead without That right, right. It can't be like a straight a straight laced horror film just wouldn't work for for this No, absolutely not And I think that's what kind of makes that's one of the things besides the deer head that really got me is these The demons knew they were gonna win. So they're messing with them the whole time. Yeah Like, oh, I'm so scared. Uh, what's her name when she's in the floor and popping her head up every once in a while just to mock them and go back down. Yep. I'm like, screw that guy, dude. That guy's the worst. Oh, man. But we can't forget, I just want to like talk about Bruce Campbell because, I mean, he is this franchise, let's be honest. Oh, yes. His portrayal of Ash Williams as this hapless hero who has to endure this unspeakable horror and survive this insane madness, he is so good as Ash. He should have won an Academy Award. Let's be honest. I mean, yeah, so, that's another thing in this. The arc that starts off, cause he's got his, the girls with him, and he's got that asshole Scott with him. And Scott is a cocky, cocky asshole. Yeah. But he makes Ash look like such a weenie in the beginning of it. Well, and on top of that, Ash starts off with this like At first, he's kind of has this disbelief and has this fear, but as things go on, he's, you know, you get to see that he's got this stubborn determination, borderline, kind of crazy ADHD madness thing going on there, right, right? It's, he's got, he plays that, that role of somebody who's seeing something they can't believe, but are trying to like. Accept it in their reality. Yeah, trying really hard not to go crazy with all this madness happening and his physical comedy Isn't is amazing Yes, He's able to like convey that like exasperation while fighting off these deadites and man, it just gave the film this like sense of fun, man. And every time I watch it I just, I love watching Bruce Campbell do his thing. He had free reign to do whatever he wanted with this character. And it just worked. It did. It worked. It was so good. And I guess I gotta give credit to the guy, Scott, because he was supposed to play this. Complete asshole. Sure, it worked, it worked. He did what he needed to do. But not as good as Bruce Campbell did. Yeah, but yeah, Sam Raimi took this movie, popularized the cabin in the woods thing. Now it's just a movie trope that everything, you know, a lot of horror films use. but even the cabin itself in this movie is a character. It absolutely is. It's this oppressive, claustrophobic, like, claustrophobic, environment with the characters. It feels like it's closing in on the characters as it's playing out, as the story's playing out. And I love it. It's cut off from The outside world, the characters have no hope for rescue, and it just everything just they're just living their living their best nightmare. Exactly. And you know what, I don't know about you, but if I would have been in that car, and we drove up to that cabin. I would have said, nope. Yeah, you would not have, Billy. I would be gone. No, you wouldn't. We've been to haunted houses and you didn't run. That's true. Okay. But like, look at it now as an adult and I'm like, Nope, I'll go to a hotel. No, you won't. You would never go to a hotel. I wouldn't. You'll always stay in the cabin in the woods. Ah! Family vacation, kids. We're going to the cabin in the woods. Oh, man. And we're going to watch this great movie while we're there. Oh, it's going to inspire you to want to stay there longer and longer. Maybe forever. Yeah. Dun, dun, dun. But I watched this interview with Sam Raimi. and it was, he, he shot the interview in 1982 and it's so funny to watch, they're so young, like these were kids, dude, when they made this movie, Ramey and Campbell and all these guys, they were just kids just going out and making a horror movie in the woods and they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Right. But it's such a fun interview. and in it, Ramey says that he wanted to make a Rock'em Sock'em roller coaster ride of screaming horror. All right. Mission accomplished. And he delivered it. Yep. He totally delivered that. They wanted to make a film that would, uh, entertain the horror crowd. And they were inspired by the films that they watched and felt that they did. And this is what's great, is they made this movie and they felt that they actually did deliver a punch. Like, they really, they hit it. They hit what they wanted to make. To help get the money for this movie, they made like basically a short film on a super, on a super eight titled within the woods. And they would show that. To investors, to show them that they could make a professional, quality film and pull off what they were pitching. So, they made this short film, pitched it around town, they raised 90, 000. They shot the film on location in Tennessee. And before they started shooting, The original cabin they intended to shoot the movie in fell through, like they lost it. So, they started shooting everything outside of the cabin, while they were So they were shooting the film, but they shot everything outside of the cabin until they could find a new one. And they found this old place in the middle of the woods, okay? And when they got there, there was, and this is all, this is Ramey telling this story from his own mouth. There were six inches of cow dung that the crew had to shovel out of the cabin. Before they could shoot the movie. That's disgusting. That is absolutely dis It had to smell beautiful. But, I mean, the cabin looks like something that would hold six inches of cow dung in. Yes, but they Not only did they have that cabin, I mean, They set up the studio in the cabin. They They were They slept in the cabin. I mean, this cabin was like their grounds of It was ground zero for shooting this movie. This is what, this is where they were going to be. Beautiful. And Sam Raimi shared this like crazy story, okay? So here we go. This is, he shared the story about the cabin that they, that they got. This is really, it's really pretty cool. Okay. He said, there was a horror story regarding the cabin. It was built a hundred years before the film was shot. The man who built it died right after it was built. It's surrounded by mountains with iron ore. So during lightning storms, lightning would strike the valley. No one lived in the cabin for the next 20 years. And it was 1910 when a family of three moved in. A mother. Uh, daughter, grandmother. Three generations of women. One night during a lightning storm, the little girl woke up scared by the lightning strikes. To escape and find safety, the little girl ran into her mother's room and crawled into bed with her only to find her mother was dead. She was so scared she ran screaming to her grandmother's room and found her grandmother was dead as well. They don't know why both women died in this place on the same night. The little girl ran out into the storm, four miles to the nearest farmhouse, and the family there found her screaming, banging on their door. They brought her inside and got the story from her. They took care of her after that, and no one lived in the cabin since. She had never been the same since, and during thunderstorms she would wander off. And they would find her wandering around in the woods. The Tennessee Film Commission, who was touring the location, told them It was haunted, but they could use it. As they were shooting, the guy from the farm came by and he told them the story of how his folks took care of the girl. And when the woman got older, he was out looking for her because she frequently wandered to the cabin. And as far as they knew, they never found the woman while they were shooting. And she could still be roaming the woods. The strangest part of the story is a week after they left the area after shooting, a bolt of lightning struck the cabin and burned to the ground. Holy crap. Whether Raimi is making this up because he was a young kid trying to sell his movie, right? But at the same time, like, that's the story he told, that's what he put out there. Bro, I love that so much because that's true. That fits the story of the evil dead so well. And I just, you know, while we don't know for sure if it's true, Mm hmm. I want it to be true. In every way. Which is probably kind of like, weird to say, since like, two women died and left their girl permanently like, traumatized for life. But maybe she was the vessel for the demons. Oh, man. That's why the girls got You just, wow, you went dark, dude. That's why the girls got, uh, possessed first and went after Scott. Wow. Yeah. Think about that. Yeah. Interesting. I'm thinkin Thinkin Yep. Alright, well. During the interview, they talked about, they were talking about how they didn't, the, like, the people interviewing Raimi, they were all his friends, they were all friends. But during the interview, they didn't want Raimi to mention that the film was shot in 16mm. They were like, no, don't say that, don't say that. Why? They didn't explain why. They were just like, don't, don't say that it was shot on 16mm. Because it was, they shot it in 16 millimeter, but it was blown up to 35 millimeter. But they just wanted everybody to think that they had shot the movie at 35 mil. That's my take on it. But it was funny listening to him discuss things like, Hey, don't mention we shot this movie on 16 millimeter. We don't want people to know that. I think that's what makes it so great though. That's what they expanded it out to 35 and it made it grainy and weird. Yeah, and well it is I love that. If you watch the interview, I mean, Rainey's just laughing his ass off the whole time. You can't, it was so hard to get him to like, to talk about, like, things, cause he would just like, laugh. It was, it was very entertaining. Right. with the movie, they intentionally wanted to elevate the role of the women in the film. And gave them the opportunity to terrorize the men instead of the other way around. Which was, pretty Pretty original for that time. Oh, yeah, for sure. They're like, hey, let's let's have the women torture the men for once, right? And it worked. Yeah. Yeah The brutal rape scene was shot backwards motion and then reversed Right kind of get you could feel that you kind of give it that little eerie vibe to it You can you can definitely see that right? It worked, but, dude, that made me not want to go in the forest for a while, though, man. No, Billy, you're not gonna get it. Because usually it's animals. You're always scared of animals, right? Not trees. Scared of animals? I go mountain biking and see bears all the time, Billy. This is true. And I jump on their backs, and I, like, screw the bike, I'm riding a bear. And I jump on the bear's back, and I just go, Billy. Yeah, that's something we need to talk about. You know this. There's so many videos of this happening that it's kind of getting me a little disturbed. Yeah, I have a But we'll talk about that later. I enjoy riding bears like horses. Joey has more bear encounters that I have in my text messages than anybody I've ever known. Anyone. This is true. Yeah. I run into bears a lot. I thought I was cool cause I got trapped in the snake pit once, but this guy, he takes on full on bears. Bears. Yeah. We'll talk about the snake pit later. Yeah, we will. In other episodes. We will. Uh, Ramey said that Stephen King wrote a review of the film, for Twilight Zone magazine, and he loved it. Of course he did. We'll get into that a little bit later. By the end of shooting, the whole cabin has, uh, had, uh, fake snakes. Sir, uh, blood, Kero syrup all over it. Mm hmm. And anytime anyone wanted to touch the camera, they had to wash their hands. Mm hmm. According to Ramey, the only water they had was from a coffee machine. And so it was, they had to wash their hands with scalding hot water coming out of the coffee machine. See, these are the little things that make a movie what it is. I love it. I love it. And it got so cold during shooting that at one point ramey crawled out of the cabin to die Okay All right, because of the cold because because of the cold and one of the producers put a blanket on him I mean, well, at least he survived. It's so funny how they said that he crawled out of the cabin to die. To die. It was so cold. Oh, man. Uh, the most difficult part of making the movie was trying to find more money than what they, uh, when they ran out of it. Well, yeah. I mean, for a 90, 000, uh, shoot. I think it came out pretty well. Yeah, well, I guess they had to get more. I think they ran out of it at 90, 000. Man. they lost They asked a lot of Bruce Campbell for the movie. Mm hmm. He was the one constantly covered in blood. And he had to This is what's funny about Campbell is he was his own continuity guy. So there was no one there to touch up his makeup, make sure he looked the same from scene to scene. He was the one that kept track of where the blood on his face was, on his body, like, he was the He was the guy that was like, trying to, like, putting all the blood back on him. Right. That's insane. And he did that all throughout the production. So crazy. The most difficult shot in the film had Sam Raimi hanging upside down from the ceiling of the cabin. And he had to like, lift himself up, he had a rough time doing it, but you, you will, if you watch the movie, you know the shot, it's the shot that comes over Bruce Campbell's head. And that was the most difficult shot for him to pull off. But the thing is, is like, no one had pulled off a shot like that before. Right. Like, Rami Now you see it all the time. Now you see these shot I remember after I re watched the movie and read through this, I was like, I started going through it. I was watching other horror movies, and I'm like, Oh, there's that shot from another film. Oh, there's another shot from another film. It's the same shot that Sam Raimi's been doing. Everyone's doing it now. And that's the thing, too, is that there's a certain feel when Raimi's directing a film. Yes. Like, when it comes to horror movies, or Spider Man, or Doctor Strange, they all have this touch of Raimi, because he likes the interesting shots. Yes. That don't seem necessary, because they're not necessary, but they are, by the end of the film, they are completely necessary. You'll remember those shots over all the others. So, oh, one other thing, they got charged by a bull at one point while shooting the movie. Why not? Of course they did. Because you have to get charged by a bull while shooting a movie. Any movie. Any movie, anywhere, if you're not charged by a bull, then you're just not doing it right. Yeah, there's no point. Exactly. You shouldn't have even tried. So, those are things that I learned from the interview that Ramey gave. And some of these things were gonna, they're, as I continue on, there's gonna be things that will provide a little bit more context and things like that. So, the cabin, as I said, was also used as lodging. And that was for 13 crew members with people sleeping in the same room. Living conditions were terrible and the crew frequently argued. The cabin didn't have plumbing and so the actors went days without showering. And as you might imagine, they felt, they got sick a lot in the freezing weather. And by the end of the production, they were burning furniture to stay warm. You gotta do what you gotta do. Now at the end of shooting, the crew put together a time capsule package and buried it inside the fireplace of the cabin as a memento to the production to whomever found it. Okay. Now it says, like I said before, the cabin has since been destroyed, and only the fireplace is still intact. To help get the film finished, Bruce Campbell put up his family's property. That was so Ramey could finish the film and also to help blow it up to 35mm, which was required for a theatrical release. Ramey was so grateful for Campbell's financial contribution that he credited him as a co producer on the movie. And he's been a producer in the franchise ever since. I mean, that took a lot of faith on Bruce Campbell's part to do that, but I mean, it paid off. Yeah. It really did. they got advice, Ramey and Campbell got some advice from a friend named Andy Granger who said, and I don't know if this is what his voice sounds like, but I'm just gonna say it like this, FELLAS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, KEEP THE BLOOD RUNNING DOWN THE SCREEN. Which, dude, you see that all the time now. Well, yeah. He even included a scene in the film where the ru, where the blood runs down the screen as a tribute to him. Right. See that's, we see that all the time now, and I know a lot of people are like, oh, that's so innovative. No, that came back way back in the eighties. Yes. The original script called for all of the characters to be smoking marijuana, so apparently they did it for real. As they're listening to the, as they're listening to the recording. Evil recording. Which, creepy as hell, huh? Oh my gosh. I hate those tapes. Oh, I love them. They're the best. They're creepy. Those recordings creepy are amazing. I love'em. They are. They're and they seem real. That's what got me when I was little. I was like, are these real?'cause they are real. I want them to be real. Oh. Just like, I want the tapes from session nine to be real, dude. Yes. We gotta do that soon. Okay. act. We're go. We're guys, just so you know, for the next couple episodes, we're kind of on a horror. Arc so just be ready be ready. It's a new year. It's a horror. It's a it's a new year of horror 2025 started a good start with that too. We got the fires and California which by the way, I actually my wife and I would on the way home from the Cheerleading competition that we went to we went through Alta Dena, dude completely devastated man Wow, I get like hurt to see What we saw like I just like I couldn't believe it. Ugh. Anyway, I don't know so we we have a friend who lost her home in the fire. Our good friend Georgia. She's one of our favorite people in the world. Yeah. Uh, her and her wife lost their home. Um, they may not be able to, rebuild or buy it back. Who knows what's gonna happen. It's wild up there. Anyway, as for the marijuana They decided to try this for real, like I said, and, uh, the entire scene had to be shot later. It had to be re shot later because it just didn't work. I have, I have here, I, it, I, I have here in quotes Reshot due to their uncontrollable behavior. Ha ha ha ha! Fantastic. You know, some of these, some of these little things that I find, I hope they're true. I hope it, I hope so too, because that's hilarious. I'd love to see some cutscenes from that. Yeah. the film's first cut ended up being 117 minutes long, which Campbell called an impressive achievement in the light of the 65 minute length of the screenplay. It was then edited down to a more marketable 85 minutes. Okay. The original version was conceived as a horror drama, with the occasional joke to bring some levity, and would focus on the terror that made it into the final product, but also the tragedy of Ash slowly losing his friends and his guilt for not being able to save them. After watching the first cut, Ramey, Campbell, and, uh, the producer, Tapper agreed that the film was already grim enough and trimmed it to a straight horror film. But there's still comedy in there. So much comedy! I know. You shouldn't look I mean, I guess it's tragic to watch somebody who just got possessed be funny, but that's where it comes from, this is an evil entity that was As he's losing people, it's making fun of him. Yeah. You know, that hit me in the last viewing. That's what really hit me. I was like, man, this thing's a piece of shit. Oh, man. By the end of filming, everyday Bruce Campbell is covered head to toe in blood. And if you want to know how, well, if you want to know the recipe to fake blood, Karo syrup, non dairy creamer. And lots of red food coloring, and one drop of blue food coloring to darken it. So, there is your fake blood recipe from the evil dead. Oh, well, I mean, we all need that. Bruce Campbell's shirt that he was wearing to the film was so saturated with the fake blood that after trying it by the fire, the shirt became solidified and broke when he tried to put it on. That just means you're making a good movie. I know. The eerie wind noise in the movie was recorded by Sam Raimi. He first heard it through his bedroom window while he was trying to sleep and thought it would be the best. Be perfect for the movie. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it works. Of course, you got to have creepy wind blows in horror films guys Uh, and i'm sure you all know this but i'm just gonna say it anyway, ramey and campbell Were friends from high school? They made a lot of super 8 movies together and they would often collaborate with sam's brother ted campbell became the actor of the group is And I quote, He was the one that the girls wanted to look at. Oh, yeah. Campbell played brief parts and cameos in most Raimi movies ever since. Which I'm kinda sad about. Like, I love that they still work together, but man, I would love to see Raimi and Campbell make a full on feature film again. Right. Together. Together. And it doesn't even have to be an Evil Dead movie. You know what I mean? It could be anything. Anything. Actually, I'd like to see a new, some new content. Yeah, like tell a whole new story that fits Campbell's age and like, do something fun, do something wacky and crazy. They should be having a good time together. I agree. Oh, in case you wanted to know how old Rainey was when he, uh, shot the film, he turned 20 just before shooting began. Nice. And he considers the project his rite of passage. I get it. Dang, they were young. In his autobiography, Campbell described the film's production as a comedy of errors and 12 weeks of mirthless exercise in agony. But he also admitted that he managed to have fun. Okay. Uh, the white contact lenses that he had, that people had to wear were very painful. They covered half the eye and had to be taken out every 15 minutes to allow the eyes to breathe. That's scary. I don't like contacts. I'm never gonna put a contact lens in my eye. I keep hearing horror stories of it, like, going behind the eye and I'm just like, I can't do it. I watched my wife go through a bout once where she thought she had lost her contact that it slipped behind her eye and it was like, two hours of And this is when she first started using them. It was rough. That was a rough night. Ugh, that gives me the Anyway, yes. Uh, when they weren't filming the movie, Campbell would actually help out with the crew and prepping shots and props around the set. Sam Raimi originally wanted the title of the film to be Book of the Dead. Okay. Makes sense. But producer Irvin Shapiro changed the title to The Evil Dead for fear that kids would be turned off seeing a movie with a literary reference. That's dumb. You can't have book in the title of a movie, folks. Apparently. Because People won't watch it. I'm looking at you, Book of Eli. I actually dug that one, though. I don't know. It's been a while. I don't remember if I liked it or not. I saw it once in the theater. I don't have bad thoughts about it. That was just off the top of my head. That's the one title I could remember that had book in the title. And I get that. If you can think of any others, let me know. One Step Beyond! Do do do do do do do do do do do. Alright. In Germany, the movie's February 1984 release was hindered by public authorities for eight years. What? Okay. Um, weird. Yeah. The original 1982 film and video releases of the movie had been seized. Making the movie a hit on the black market video circuit. I didn't know there was such a thing. With pirated copies. heavily edited version was first made available in 1992. Okay. Several high profile horror enthusiasts, among them even author Stephen King, publicly criticized the German ban on the movie. In other German language markets, the movie was never restricted from distribution. The first legal uncut version of the film entered the German market in 2001 on DVD. Okay. This version was seized by German authorities less than a year later. It was not until July 2016 that the uncut version of The Evil Dead was finally redeemed and made legally available in Germany again. So this is crazy. Like, what? If you edit anything out of that, any of the scary stuff, anything like that, this movie makes no sense. Yeah, it's already a short movie as it is. I know so funny. People are weird. Anyway, that's a fun little tidbit. One of the most intricate What? This is one of my favorite shots. Okay, you know where I'm going here. Yeah, one of the most intricate moments during editing was the stop motion secret where the corpses melted which took hours to cut properly. Yes, I love that. That makes me so happy. Yes. It's just Yeah, it was just original for its time. Yeah, I liked it. Uh, back to Stephen King real quick. Back to Stephen King real quick. He, uh, it was because of his glowing endorsement of the film, the review he wrote in Twilight Zone Magazine and his quote. Well, you know, they used a quote that was put in the film ads and the posters and. That's why the film, like, that helped push the film to get picked up by New Line Cinema. Okay, I mean, yeah. He was the master of horror at that time, and he said, hey, this is just as good. Let's do it. It's exactly what happened, Billy. It's exactly what happened. Yeah. And now, a word from our sponsor. Are you tired of your home smelling fresh floral or remotely pleasant? Do you ever dream of transforming your living room into the mysterious depths of a damp, shadowy forest where something big and hairy Might be lurking just behind the couch. Introducing Sasquatch Scented Candles. That's right, light one up and boom! Literally, these bad boys don't just flicker. They kick off with a sonic boom that will knock your socks off. And that's just the beginning. Say goodbye to lavender and vanilla. Yawn. And say hello to the comforting nose curling aroma wet fur. Pine sap and pure mystery. Ah, that smell. 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You'll be unleashing the legends of Bigfoot in your home. RUUUUUUUUUUUUH I want that to be the end of this episode too. Normally you say something funny, but this time it should just be RUUUUH That's fun. Yeah, okay. film production ran out of money and only half of it was completed in the winter of 1980. Oh wow. In order to complete it, Ramey, Rob Tappert, Bruce Campbell. Uh, man, they had to, uh, do some stuff. They had to take out some high interest bank loans. Uh, borrowed money from family and friends. And they even made cold calls to businesses around their hometown in Michigan. Uh, the cold calls worked. In that they actually got catering, gasoline, and other necessities that the cast and crew needed. That's amazing. It just shows you, man, if you're like driven, and you're ready to put in the work, and the hours, and the persevere through the madness of making a movie that you can actually make it. You can do it. That's crazy. Anyway, thought that was fun. Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers was an assistant editor on the film. This was one of his earliest professional jobs, and in case you didn't know, uh, Cohen and Ramey were good friends. I mean, we talked about this in the, uh, Darkman podcast, where they had a strong relationship. They were roomies! They were roomies. They were. Struggling in Hollywood to make movies, yes. Now they're just common household names. Yep, so Joel and his brother Ethan would go on to produce and direct films like Blood Simple, The Big Lebowski, Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? Oh man, I like that movie a lot. Me too, we should talk about that later. Anyway, Blood Simple is the first one that they made together after, Evil, The Evil Dead came out. That was in 1984. In preparing to get funding for that film, the Coens enlisted the help of Campbell and Ramey to, help out, and they did. So, Campbell and Ramey also starred in a short film based on scenes of Blood Simple for the Coens to show to potential, uh, show to potential investors, which proved successful. I've never seen Drag Me to Hell. Was that worth it? Oh, yes! Yes, Billy, yes! I'm gonna have to watch that movie. It's a great Raimi. It's all 100 percent Raimi. To the core. I really haven't seen. Oh man, you gotta watch it. I'm going to tonight. Sweet. Over his years as a director, Raimi is 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88. Originally bought by, uh, Ramey's father for the family when he was only 14 years old. Has played Ash's car in the Evil Dead movies, as well as Uncle Ben and Aunt May's car in the Spider Man movies. Mm hmm. And Annie's car in The Gift. Great movie. Oh, and uh, Miss Gnush's car in Drag Me to Hell. I'm a failure. Just, I haven't seen Drag Me to Hell, so I have failed. You've gotta watch Drag Me to Hell, dude. It's the one that you're gonna love the most. The most. Maybe. I don't know. We'll see. Who knows. I always thought, after you watch it, Mm hmm. Uh, you'll understand what I'm about to say, but I always thought it'd be cool if, like, the Drag Me to Hell movies in the world of I mean, it's almost like Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell could be in the same universe. Interesting. Yeah. I'm gonna have to check this out then. Yeah, I'm really gonna have to watch it. So, I I would have loved to see a crossover film. Anyway. I have an idea for a crossover film for Drag Me to Hell and The Evil Dead that I would love Sam Raimi to make. So, if he's listening, I got a pitch for you. We've got something. We've got a pitch. Make a great film. People will love it. The cabin that they shot the movie in didn't have a cellar, Billy. That's crazy. Yeah, most of the cellar, uh, scenes were filmed in the stone cellar of a farmhouse owned by producer Rob Tappert. Okay. Or at least his family in Marshall, Michigan. The last room of the cellar was actually Sam Raimi's garage. Oh. The hanging gourds and bones are a tribute to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For the scene where the, you know, the students descend into the cellar. A hole was cut into the floor. A shallow pit was dug and a ladder was placed into the pit. Okay. So, there you go. That's how you do it. That's movie magic, everybody. It's movie magic. Uh, I've kind of talked about this before, but I'll just say it once again. It was freezing when they made this movie. According to the cast and crew members, this was one of the worst experiences they've ever had been involved with due to freezing temperatures. And Sam Raimi's filming, which took endless hours. Endless. Which means They would never rest, but I'm sure they did yeah, I mean it goes back to when you said it was originally 117 minutes of film Yes. That sounds pretty non stop to me. It does. On the first day of shooting, during a scene shot on a bridge, the crew got lost in the woods. They should have made a movie about that. Oh, yeah. Lost in the woods? What a concept. When Cheryl returns to the cabin, right after the scene with the vines, where she complains about wanting to go home, Scott goes to say something and then suddenly stops. Throws his head back and steps out of the shot. This was due to actor Richard Demanincore. blowing his line. It's funny that it made it into the movie though. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah. That's good, good stuff. You just can't cut good stuff, Billy. You can't. At the premiere screenings of The Evil Dead, blood donor stations were giving free tickets to the movie along with pin badges stating, I bled for The Evil Dead to blood donors. I want those. I love this. This is such great marketing. It is. Uh, Tappert joked in an interview that it was their way of giving blood, giving blood back to the community after so much fake blood was used when filming. That's awesome. So funny. I love it. Bruce Campbell twisted his ankle on a root wall running down a steep hill because, you know, it happens. Raimi and Tapper decided to tease him by poking his injury with sticks, thus causing Campbell to have an obvious limp in some scenes. Yeah, very nice. Those are good friends. I mean, it sounds like something we would do, but yes, I get it. after the film was shot and all the crew members were sent home, Campbell was staying with Raimi, and while they were looking over the footage that had been shot, Raimi discovered that a few pickups were required to fill in missing shots. Four days of reshoots were then done to complete the film. The final moment involved Campbell having monster guts splattered on him in the basement. On the tape in which the demon resurrection passages are read aloud, some of the words spoken, which appear to be in Latin, sound like, Sam and Rob das ist hikers den de road sah. Which means, Sam and Rob are the hikers on the road. As it was actually Raimi and Tappert who play the fishermen that wave to the car as it passes them near the start of the film. Interesting. I didn't know you were so multilingual. I kind of like it. I am. I can speak Latin now. Dead chickens were stabbed to replicate the sounds of mutilated flesh. I said that as happy as I could. And Bruce Campbell had to scream into a microphone for several hours. What would that be? You know, to get the screaming down. There's a rumor that a cameraman slipped during filming, smashing his camera into Campbell's face and knocking out several of the actor's teeth. But Campbell has since debunked this as a good lie. Oh, okay. I like it though. Nothing happened there. I like the story. Sometimes I wish fake stories were true, but you never know. Until you know. Until people come out and say it's a good lie. Sam Raimi showed the film to anyone willing to watch it, booking meetings with distribution agents and anyone with experience in the film industry. Eventually, Raimi came across Ivan Shapiro, the man who was responsible for the distribution of Night of the Living Dead. I'm sure you've heard of that movie. And other famous horror films. Upon first viewing the film, he joked that while it, I quote, wasn't gone with the wind, It had commercial potential, and he expressed an interest in distributing it. It was his idea not to use the, the, you know, I already talked, I talked about this, but I'll just keep reading. It was his idea not to use the then titled Book of the Dead because it made the film sound boring. Raimi brainstormed several ideas, eventually going with The Evil Dead. Deemed the least worst title. Shapiro also advised The least worst title. Yeah. That's crazy. Shapiro also advised distributing the film worldwide to garner a larger income. Obviously, that would be the smart move. Though it required a further financial investment by Raimi, who managed to scrape together what little money he had. In the end, the movie ended up being somewhat successful. I mean It did well. It's, it's had a great run. It's, and it's still going. Still going. After Scott says, Don't you see Ash there alive? He screams higher than his normal voice register. This was actually Raimi's voice meshed in with Scott's scream. Oh, really? Yeah. So That's cool. Re listen to it. I'm gonna have to. And see what that sounds like. I will. Yes. During the scene where Linda is possessed, the makeup artist originally wanted to make her look like a snake like creature. As can be seen when Ash is dragging her outside. Yeah, I hate that song. It's super creepy. Yes, her makeup was dark and a little more greenish, but eventually they changed the makeup to an evil doll face look. Yeah, I like the doll face look still it's scary. It's the way to go I'm glad they skipped out on the snake like creature. The contacts for the demon eyes Yeah the movie how they had to like, uh They could only wear them for 15 minutes because the eyes couldn't breathe with them applied and campbell talked about that experience saying that he He said they had to, he called them Tupperware. We had to put Tupperware over their eyes. Interesting. So that doesn't sound like fun at all. I don't wanna, I'm not one to mess with the eyes. Like, I don't, I like my eyes. I like to be able to see. Yeah, I don't know. Ugh. People who wear contact lenses, like, high fives. Yeah, more power to ya. You guys are doing great things that I could never do. I don't wanna touch my eye. No thank you. Campbell received a lot of injuries during the making of the film. A noticeable one caught on camera is in the scene where he possessed Cheryl's hand, where he possessed Cheryl's hand burst through the cabin floor, and like, to try and grab Ash's face, and a trickle of Campbell's actual blood runs down his head as the actor was Gashed in the head by the puppeteer, uh, in the floor who blindly grabbed for Campbell. Oh, interesting. So. They made him bleed his own blood. Yes. Inspired by William Castle, you know, those old school 1960s William Castle horror movies. Thirteen Ghosts, The House on a Hill. Man, I love those movies. So good. Uh, Raimi had ambulances on standby as a publicity stunt at the film's premiere. Good for him. Yep. Shots of the moon had to be matted into the night scenes. In the footage, a square outline is visible around the moon mat. In his glowing review of the film, Stephen King specifically cited matted moon footage as being part of the film's low budget charm. Absolutely. Yes, I love it. One of the sketches used in The Book of the Dead comes from William Blake's painting the Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun. The painting was the inspiration for Thomas's, Thomas Harris's book Red Dragon and the film of the same title from 2002. When Ash shoots a Deadeye through the window of the cabin causing an explosion of blood, Campbell is actually firing real life ammunition at a dummy, causing the scene to look more realistic, which you would never see today. Nope, never. Unless you were filming a movie in Indonesia. Hahaha. Yeah, no. You're shooting a movie in America and no one's using real ammunition, everybody. You just can't do it in this day and age, you gotta be super chill and super careful. Heck, people aren't even using blanks anymore. It's all digital, and the thing that And like, I get it, but man, the things with the digital, sometimes Looks cheap. It looks cheap, and they need help. Yes. You can do good CG gun flares, everybody. It is possible. And someone needs to, like, work on that if we're not gonna be using blanks anymore. Right, something has to, something has to change. Which is fine, I get it. But, like, let's up the game on the CG stuff. Anyway, alright, moving on. To accommodate Raimi's style of direction, several elaborate low budget rigs had to be built since the crew could not afford a camera dolly. One involved a, and I quote, Vasocam, which relied on a mounted camera that was slid down a, uh, long wood platforms to create a more fluid sense of motion, which we talked about earlier. So much fun. That's just a little bit more detail on it. the film was released in the United States by New Line Cinema with a X rating. Holy crap. Which has obviously since been revised to NC 17 in 1994. Are uncut and unrated because of the licensing studio. Renaissance Pictures was not contractually obligated to provide an MPAA rating. But when it was released in theaters, I mean, this was like, Hey, you wanna go see a hardcore horror movie? Could go watch, go watch The Evil Dead. And it somehow seems worse when they say that it's unrated or, yeah, when it's unrated. Yeah, I remember, I remember like watching movies in the 90s and like, like being, I remember first seeing these in like the video stores and stuff being like, Oh man, it's unrated. We have to watch that version. Ugh, some of it wasn't that good, but here we are. Here we are. This movie was that good. In a scene where Ash drives away from the cabin, he gets out of the car and seems to walk at an angle, creating an eerie, otherworldly effect. This was accomplished by parking the car on a slight incline and tilting the camera at the same angle so that the car appeared straight. When Bruce Campbell gets out of the car, he is walking On the flat ground, which looks crooked because the car and camera are both tilted sideways. I like it. This is what I like about Raimi. Doing things and being creative and inventive with his camera shots. The whole movie is an inventive camera shot. It's always a lot of fun. Yeah. Cigarette smoke stood in for dust caught in the sunlight when Scott first opens the door to the cabin. According to Ramey, it was Rob Tappert who stood just off camera smoking while the shot was being filmed. The rednecks that wave at the passing car Are played by Raimi and Tappert. That day they, uh, had cut each other's hair in order to look more like idiots. Later, Tappert accidentally appears on the right side of the frame just as the car starts to drive over the bridge. Uh, here's, here's, here's something funny. Lucy Lawless saw the film upon its release and she was appalled by the movie, particularly the infamous vine rape sequence. And she wondered what kind of horrible people would make such a film. Well, ironically, she would later marry the film's producer, Rob Tabbert, who was the guy who insisted on making the scene more sexually violent. And then she also worked in productions directed by Ramey. Like, uh, you know, Xena the Warrior Princess. She even had a small cameo in Spider Man. And played Ruby in Ash vs. Evil Dead. So it grew on her. I guess so. She I guess she forgave him. Yeah, when she married him. The earring how the eerie howling wind audio heard in the background of the of the movie wasn't stock sound effects Ramy actually recorded this audio and sell himself while staying in a hotel During filming one night Ramy awoke to hear the wind blowing through the mountains creating a haunting sound Ramey quickly got his sound equipment and recorded several minutes of it. Ramey said that the audio was so effectively creepy that he'd rec that he'd, uh, recognized it used in several other horror films since the Evil Dead's release. So that's kinda cool. Yeah, that is cool. It is a creepy sound, man. Yeah. During the car scene, Scotty has a glass of moonshine in his hand and Because as Scotty does, you know, he, moonshine, uh, Billy's got a glass of moonshine in his hand right now, too. I do, it's great. I, yes. And, uh, Ash makes a funny face. Originally, they were all supposed to be drinking moonshine, and Ash's expression was a reaction to the drink, but the scene was cut out. Clever. The affordable single barrel shotgun was purchased by Campbell at a Kmart for its specific use of the film. Since the budget was extremely low And where they were filming was secluded in the woods. Live ammunition was used for a couple of scenes. Scenes such as when Ash shoots. The window and also a dummy filled with blood was shot. Most of these scenes were filmed at low angles. So the camera would not be hit. Thank goodness. Uh, for other scenes, uh, Campbell simply mime fires the shotgun. At the end of production, Campbell and Tapper, bought about a hundred shells and shot up every prop used in the cabin. The resulting rumble was then lit into a huge barn fire by the director, by director Sam Raimi. Okay! They were on a destructive streak. I guess so. It happens. Yeah. The hectic location shooting in Tennessee often called for night scenes to be shot during daylight hours. So the windows of the cabin had to be covered to make it appear night outside. At least one shot from the finale had the opposite situation. Filmed during the evening with a bright light outside a window to make it appear that it was dawn. Oh, that's crazy. When Ash re I'm gonna have to re watch this because I didn't catch this when I watched it. But when Ash reaches for the necklace on the form, the chain forms Sorry, when Ash reaches for the necklace on the floor, the chain forms the shape of a skull. That's crazy, I'm gonna have to see that gun. Yeah, I'm gonna have to see that. I didn't catch that. Me either. Ellen Sandweiss said the tree scene would be filmed a different way today. Saying, yes, I'm sure that the tree scene would have been done differently if it was filmed today. First, I'm not sure that it would be characterized as a tree rape, as Ramey has since said he regrets that it ended up that way. I think it would have gone back to what was originally intended in the script. Trees coming to life and attacking Cheryl, which would also satisfy today's more feminist audiences and actresses. And I'm sure that CGI would be used instead of the reverse filming or whatever it's called to show the vines wrapping around me. Okay. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, they did it in the remake of Evil Dead. They pretty much They did do it in the remake. 100%. Or Evil Dead 2. Yeah. Yeah. Raimi chose to use various colors of liquids, including white, black, and even bright blue, uh, that spewed from mouths of the possessed because he thought the censor's board would be more lingering on the film if it wasn't bright red blood. However, the color of the liquid didn't matter. To them, as much as there were bodily fluids spraying out of orifices. And the movie ended up, you know, got an X rating, so you got that. Ash flirtatiously peeks at Lin Eugh, hello! Um. Hahaha, hello. Ash flirtatiously peeks at Linda while pretending to be asleep, shutting his eyes when she looked back at him. Ironically, after she's possessed and apparently killed, her corpse does the same thing to him. Creepy. I like the fun details like that. That's what I'm saying. A tin box of band aids can be seen floating in the puddle of blood that Ash steps into in the cellar. This, of course, was a cheeky bit of black humor after the cellar literally shows showers of Ash's blood. This, of course, was a cheeky bit of black humor after the cellar literally showers ash and blood. The shot of the demonic infection spreading across Linda's leg was shot later with a different actress. She had to keep perfectly still as the infection was drawn onto her leg frame by frame. A process that approximately took an hour to complete. According to Tappert, once the shot was finished, the stand in actress promptly threw up. Yeah, that's what you get for starring in an Evil Dead movie. At the premiere of the film, one of the investors came up to Sam Raimi and said, I'm very upset. I thought you boys said you were making a horror picture, not a comedy. It's got both. You know, sometimes movie producers just need to be slapped in the face. Let's be honest. Oh, I should be that guy. Let's do that. You should be the producer slapper. I love that idea. Let's do it. On the opening night of the film, at the Rivoli Theater, the audience yelled at the screen during many of the typically stupid decisions of the horror movie characters. Robert Hsieh, whose New Line Cinema was distributing the film, told Raimi that they would have to make cuts to those scenes. However, when they passed the Rialto Theater on 42nd Street later that night, they saw sold out shows for the entire night and heard people praising the film. Shea quickly changed his mind. He said, or Raimi said, It was the shortest change of an editing plan. Well, yeah. Sold out is sold out, man. You gotta keep it that way. Yep. Originally, the script called for Lynn to be stabbed in the foot, however, producer Robert Tappert insisted that possessed Shelly stab her in the Achilles tendon to punish the audience more. And yes, whenever something happens to the Achilles tendon, I just wanna die. Oh my gosh. I just can't do it. And the worst Achilles tendon, Shot? Shot ever put on screen? Pet Cemetery. This was pretty bad. But Pet Cemetery was, was just the one that is like stuck in my head. It's like that one's like embedded in my memory forever. The pain. Oh, the pain. That's gotta be the worst. I just felt so bad for Herman Munster. Well, I mean He became one of the most famous, uh, dead men in the world, so that's fine. It's true. You know, he's Frankenstein. In the original script, before reaching the cabin, the group was supposed to stop at a gas station where Ash would talk to the owner of the station and retrieve the keys for the cabin. It was also supposed to have an old man playing a banjo, uh, warning the group that, and I quote, Some evil forces stalk those woods. It's probably better that they didn't do that. I like that they just kinda show up. Yeah. With no warning. I mean And then shit goes down. When the shit goes down, you better be ready. Yes. I get it. Obviously, uh, the movie was inspired by George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Raimi points to the film specifically for its use of 16mm film, its small budget, and its smart use of a single location. Yeah, I mean, like you said, it feels claustrophobic. The whole thing. There's no way of getting out. The bridge is broken. Yeah, that gives me the creeps. Yeah. When Ash carries Linda outside to bury her, the image of her flowing white robe in a man's arms was a tribute to the look of the Hammerhorn movies. Which are some of Joey's favorites. I love the hammer horror films, man. Those classic films are great What's the hammer horror movies? I wish they would do them in like a You know, we could go see them back to back. Yes movie marathon style That'd be cool the sound of the clock chiming when ash emerges from the basement near the end of the film comes from the movie the time machine Nice. 25 percent of the film's US box office came from drive in theaters. Perfect movie for drive in theaters. Absolutely. Ugh. It would add to the whole chill of the thing. Yes. As for the vine rape scene, cause we talk about this a lot. It just keeps coming up in our notes here. Uh, Tappert says that it was inspired by a scene in Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which Burnham Woods comes to life. Ramey said that it was inspired by The Incredible Hulk. So, you choose. Yeah, take, take whichever one you want. The ball's in your court, audience. Do it. Originally the forest just attacked Cheryl. Oh, yeah, we kind of talked about this But I guess there's a little bit more context here Originally the forest just attacked Cheryl, but after seeing the dailies producer Robert Tapper Insisted the scene should go a little bit farther. So they added the penetration shot Ah! Yeah! Ah! No one likes that. Ah! Don't go in the woods Stay away. it is not easily visible, Scotty has a stick poking through his abdomen after coming back from the woods. This stick is later pulled out by ash, resulting in a fountain of blood. Because many people didn't notice the stick, it is often suggested that Ash pulls Skye's penis off. And I just had to say that because it's so ridiculously funny. We're just pulling dicks off over here. Oh, man. It's interesting because, uh, the sensor board. That was one of their biggest issues, was the stick coming out of Scotty's abdomen. Really? Abdomen. Ab Abdomen? Ab Abdomen. Ha ha! Abdomen! Why can't I say that? I don't know, but it's funny that you get it. Scotty's stomach. Ha ha ha ha! Excellent. Oh, this next one, dude, ah. Okay, go ahead and read it. Son of a bitch. I forgot this. Okay. Okay, so here we go. The crew's famous time capsule was dug up by a Kentucky filmmaker, Dane Sears, who is currently known for the Hope Will Haunting, which was released in 2023. He showcases its remains in a YouTube video uploaded to his Quick Hill Films channel. We're gonna have to check that out and add that on our site. And what? Who is this guy to dig it up? I know, right? It was supposed to be us. Well, not only that, but like. It was supposed to be us. Who is this guy? I don't know. Honestly, though, it should have been someone from the production. You would think so. Anyway, whatever. Yeah, I don't know, Billy. I don't know. Me either. So why do, why do fans hold the Evil Dead so close to their hearts and souls, Billy? Because it is so, it's because of the low budget in it. And this is just my opinion, I am no professional in this scenario. But I think it's because of the low budget. The way it was shot made it feel real. The whole DIY thing, the resourcefulness, the passion of the filmmakers. It just makes it feel more, gritty and more scary. Cause it feels like it's, like I said, like it's the Blair Witch Project of the 80's. Took us by surprise and it left an impression. And it's just, it's just proof that you don't need a huge budget or big studios backing you to create something memorable and impactful. You know what I mean? Like, you've got a good story, you've got a camera, you've got a few bucks, you can go out and make a great movie, guys. Seriously. This movie It's inspirational. It is. And no matter how many times I've seen it, it's still so much fun. Yes. And we still find something new in it that we didn't notice before, or It's great. Yeah, and I just, I enjoy the over the top gore. I enjoy the grittiness. I enjoy Bruce Campbell's, uh, charm. Reactions to everything. His ridiculousness. It's just fun to constantly revisit. I actually had a chance to finally see this movie on the big screen. It was like five years ago. They did this screening at one of the old theaters in downtown Los Angeles on Halloween. I went to it and it was awesome. It was such a cool experience. They did it with like a live orchestra there too. So they did all the music live. It was really cool. Really cool. Oh man, I'm super jealous, that sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah, that was one of my favorite things, but Evil Dead stands as like this testament to creativity, innovation, and the influence can be seen in countless other horror movies that followed. You know what I mean? I do, and it's, I think that's the fun of it, because then you We've watched hundreds of horror movies, but then you see something in Evil Dead that you're like, oh, that's where they got that from. Exactly. Oh, now I see that. And it's just cool to have, like, the starting point to compare it to. Yeah. The movie is a reminder that passion and ingenuity and a little bit of madness can result in something truly special. And a haunted cabin. Yeah. The movie leaves Fans in awe of what can be achieved when the odds are stacked against you. That was inspirational. Yes! Inspiration. You're like the Evil Dead of podcasters. But that's it everybody. That's, that's our Evil Dead episode. Yeah. Thank you for listening. We really appreciate it. We do, and I'm excited for more to come. Thank you again for listening to us. We really appreciate it. we're having a good time over here. We're, you know, doing these whenever we can. Life gets in the way. We wish we could do them more and hopefully one day we'll be able to like, do these things weekly. But in the meantime, we're doing them when we can. So you can follow us on X, and Facebook, and Blue Sky. All at GTSecretLevel is our handle. So, at GTSecretLevel. But thank you very much and until next time everybody. Good journey. Good journey. Oh, what's a jingle? Gimme a jingle. We need a good jingle. Um. If your house smells nice, well that's a shame. You need something bold, something untame. Light up a candle and hear the boom. Sasquatch scented candles, it clears the room. It's stinky, it's funky, it's oh so rank. But that Sasquatch scent, you'll give us a thanks. Rrrrrrrrrr! That's