Line #15 Trivia/TheEvilDead1981


1	* ActingInTheDark: Creator/EllenSandweiss claims that the script only read "Cheryl is attacked by the woods" and that they kept adding more to the scene when they were filming. So she didn't realize it was a rape scene until she saw the final film.
2	* AmateurCast: None of the actors had ever done a movie before. Creator/BruceCampbell and Ellen Sandweiss were frequent collaborators with Sam Raimi in the short films he'd been making for years, but had never been in a professional production of any kind, and the other three actors had only done commercials before Creator/SamRaimi recruited them through an ad in ''The Detroit News''. Everyone except Campbell quit acting after ''Evil Dead'', although the three women all returned to the craft in the mid-2000s and have made decent careers for themselves. Richard Demanicor did another movie in 1985, quit, then made a short in 2013 and quit again. [[spoiler: Ellen Sandweiss returned for a few episodes of ''Series/AshVsEvilDead'' reprising the role of deadite Cheryl/Cheryl's ghost.]] Also, Sandweiss, Richard Demanincor (Hal Delrich) Betsy Baker, and Theresa Tilly all returned to lend their voices to their original characters in Evil Dead The Game.
3	* AshcanCopy: "Film/WithinTheWoods," a short film made primarily to get the first true ''Evil Dead'' film financed.
4	* BannedInChina:
5	** The first film was one of Britain's "VideoNasties" that got Mary Whitehouse's knickers in a twist. It was more to do with the title than the content; titles with stuff like "Evil" and "Dead" were banned in a knee-jerk reaction (although the [[CrossesTheLineTwice tree rape scene]] didn't do it any favors).
6	** This also led to Creator/SamRaimi going to England to defend the film's content in court. This experience also caused him to express OldShame through explaining the tree rape scene...
7	** In 1984, the film was banned by German authorities; it wasn't until 2016 that the ban was lifted in that country.
8	* {{Blooper}}:
9	** When Ash is [[spoiler: holding the chainsaw above the possessed Linda]] you can see the actress's pulse racing - clearly terrified at the [[spoiler: chainsaw being held right above her]].
10	** When Cheryl has returned to the cabin after being attacked by the woods, Scott goes to say something and then steps out of frame. This is because his actor forgot his line.
11	* BreakthroughHit: For Creator/SamRaimi.
12	* ChannelHop: In the US, it was originally released theatrically by New Line Cinema, and was one of the earliest films that put them on the map. On home video formats, it was released by Thorn EMI, HBO/Cannon, Elite Entertainment, and most notably Anchor Bay, who had the license to the film for over 20 years, and released numerous editions on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. The rights then reverted to Lionsgate, after they bought out Anchor Bay, and they released the film on 4K UHD. Their rights expired in 2023, and the film is now owned by Sony, who has been distributing it overseas since 2009.
13	* CompletelyDifferentTitle:
14	** Germany and Austria: ''Dance of the Devil''
15	** Canada: ''The Opera of Terror''
16	** Finland: ''Haunted by Horror''
17	** Greece: ''The Cursed Song''
18	** Italy: ''The House''
19	** Mexico: ''The Devil's Awakening''
20	** Spain: ''Infernal Possession''
21	** Taiwan: ''Ghost Play''
22	** Turkey: ''Death of the Devil''
23	** Uruguay: ''Diabolical''
24	* CreatorBacklash:
25	** Creator/SamRaimi has expressed shame over the tree rape scene. Doesn't seem to have stopped it from reappearing in the remake though.
26	** Creator/BruceCampbell admitted to regretting the scene where he repeatedly and violently slaps Linda.
27	** Creator/BruceCampbell, from a personal standpoint, mentioned in a commentary track that it's about 30 or so minutes into the film when he can watch his own performance without cringing.
28	* DoingItForTheArt:
29	** Bruce Campbell put his family's property up as collateral so that Sam Raimi could finish the film.
30	** The film itself is an example of a group of friends, fresh out of film school, going out and making a movie together [[NoBudget with little to no money,]] [[TroubledProduction and a completely hectic and miserable filming experience]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Their efforts ultimately paid off]].
31	* DVDCommentary: Two of the best ever recorded. One featuring Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, whose focus is more on production and how the film ultimately came together; and the other featuring Bruce Campbell basically doing Rifftrax over the film along with little nuggets of his own experiences on set. Both keep the listener engaged and are highly entertaining.
32	* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/SamRaimi and producer Robert Tapert cameo as the rednecks who wave at the car. They cut each others' hair in order to look more like idiots.
33	* EnforcedMethodActing: [[spoiler: When possessed Linda is trying to stab Ash]] the confusion is helped by the fact that the actor's contact lenses meant they didn't know where Bruce Campbell was.
34	* FlipFlopOfGod: Sources differ as to where Sam Raimi got the name "Ash" from. Raimi once claimed that he named him Ash because "that was all that was going to be left of him at the end", though [[http://www.bookofthedead.ws/website/the_evil_dead_production.html the earliest plot synopsis]] already describes him as surviving and escaping. Bruce Campbell instead recalls that his full name was initially meant to be "Ash Holt", because he is an "ass hole", although he isn't much of one in the original.
35	* FollowTheLeader: The creative team preferred making comedies in their amateur Super-8 days, and in fact, Sam Raimi didn't even like horror movies; they chose to make one anyway after doing some research and determining that the most commercially successful low-budget independent films of the recent past had been horror flicks, like ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'', ''[[Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]]'', and ''[[Film/TheHillsHaveEyes1977 The Hills Have Eyes]]''. Ironically, this film ended up spawning a franchise that would get increasingly DenserAndWackier as it went on and pretty much codified the modern HorrorComedy.
36	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: HD home video releases have made some minor digital alterations to the footage, primarily to remove flubs such as crew members being visible on screen, [[SpecialEffectFailure blood tubes being visible]] or jump-cuts in the middle of scenes. The Blu-ray is the worst offender in this regard, and while the 4K rolls back some the digital tweaks, it doesn't roll back ''all'' of them.
37	** Most DVD releases avert this, save for the 1999 Elite Entertainment DVD whose noted alteration is the deletion of a special effects shot of a lightning strike, which looks quite poorly done; it was returned in subsequent versions.
38	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The movie was a very modest hit in the United States, just making around $2 million, which is only really impressive in comparison to its $500,000 budget. In Europe, it was ''huge'', resulting in it ultimately earning more than $29 million dollars worldwide. It was largely on the back of its European success that Dino De Laurentiis agreed to fund the sequel.
39	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For a period of five years starting in 1985, the film was completely unavailable commercially in the UK, thanks to the moral panic driven up against it and the other Video Nasties. Even after it was re-released in 1990, it had been censored by more than a minute's running time, and it wasn't until 2001 that the uncut version was finally included.
40	* LyingCreator: Creator/SamRaimi is known for telling tall tales regarding the production of the movie, which - given the genuine and notorious TroubledProduction - many people end up willing to believe. He once claimed that, while filming the final shot on a bicycle, he crashed straight into Creator/BruceCampbell and broke Campbell's jaw, which he absolutely did not; on another occasion, he claimed that the cabin used for filming had previously been inhabited by a family whose mother and grandmother suddenly died of natural causes on the same night during a lightning storm, which may possibly be true but certainly seems implausible.
41	* NoBudget: The film was financed entirely through small-level investments by various wealthy Detroit residents, such as doctors and business owners, most of whom proved difficult to entice. To drive the point home: before production began, Rob Tapert, Creator/BruceCampbell and Creator/SamRaimi's ''best-case'' scenario was producing it for $150,000, while their absolute lowest, worst-case-scenario budget was $90,000. When it came time to start filming, they had only ''$85,000'' to work with. It was for this reason that much of the [[FakeShemp Fake Shemping]] was required: they ran out of money to pay the cast and crew long before filming was completed, so they had to film the rest by themselves for free, with whoever they could persuade to help.
42	* OnSetInjury: Creator/BruceCampbell twisted his ankle on a root while running down a steep hill. Creator/SamRaimi and Rob Tapert decided to tease him by poking his injury with sticks, thus causing Campbell to have an obvious limp in some scenes.
43	* OrphanedReference: The characters were supposed to be high while listening to the tape. They tried this for real, but the entire scene had to be re-shot due to their uncontrollable behaviour. The smoke is visible in one scene.
44	* PopCultureUrbanLegends: It's rumored that the Finnish cut of the movie - dropping nearly twelve minutes of footage - was done by Creator/RennyHarlin.
45	* TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment: After being completed in 1980, the film didn't premiere until 1981 and did not receive a wide release until 1983.
46	* StarMakingRole: For Creator/BruceCampbell.
47	* ThrowItIn:
48	** When a possessed Cheryl's hand bursts through the window to grab at Ash's face, the puppeteer actually grabbed Bruce Campbell's face - and he was bleeding for real.
49	** A scene of [[spoiler: decapitated Linda trying to rape Ash]] was added to 'even out' the controversy over Cheryl being raped by the tree.
50	** All the way up until filming began, the ending of the script called for Ash to simply leave the cabin and exit the woods to safety. It wasn't until they started shooting that production assistant Josh Becker suggested the final scare.
51	* TroubledProduction: In his autobiography, Creator/BruceCampbell described the production as a "comedy of errors" and "twelve weeks of mirthless exercise in agony." Creator/SamRaimi and the cast and crew had done some shorts before, but a feature proved to be much harder.
52	** The cabin used as the film's set was also used as lodging for the thirteen crew members. Living conditions were terrible, and the crew frequently argued. The actors went days without showering or bathing (the cabin did not have plumbing), and fell ill frequently in the freezing weather. Things got so bad that, by the end of production, they were burning furniture to stay warm.
53	** On the very first day of shooting, the crew got lost in the woods.
54	** Several people were injured during the shoot and couldn't get medical help due to how isolated the cabin was. In one particularly gruesome instance, Betsy Baker's eyelashes were ripped off during the removal of her face mask.
55	** The special effect used to create the Deadites' [[MindControlEyes possessed-looking eyes]] was done with contact lenses as thick as glass that could only be worn for fifteen minutes at once because they prevented the actors' eyes from breathing. Campbell compared the effect to putting Tupperware over the eyes. (Perhaps it's not for nothing that the remake dropped this particular effect.)
56	** Raimi takes pride in how he "tortured" his actors on set, feeling that it made it easier for them to capture the characters' pain and misery. When Campbell tripped and injured his leg during one scene, Raimi poked the injured area with a stick.
57	* UnbuiltCastingType: Bruce Campbell is best known for being a comedic badass, in this franchise. But in the first film in the series, Ash starts out as a normal guy who spends a lot of time getting trapped under bookcases and being something of a DistressedDude. Essentially he becomes an ActionSurvivor as opposed to a manly badass.
58	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
59	** Ash and Scotty were meant to be drinking moonshine in the car scene - which is why Ash makes a funny face (his reaction to the drink). Scotty can still be seen holding a Mason jar full of clear liquid in a few shots.
60	** Linda's make-up when she gets possessed was originally going to have her as a snake-like creature. However the make-up artist later changed it to look more like a CreepyDoll. The original make-up can be seen when Ash is dragging her outside (filmed before the indoor scenes).
61	** The original cut ran for about 110 minutes - putting more emphasis on the tragedy of Ash not being able to help his friends. It was cut down to the more marketable 85 minutes.
62	** Originally, Linda's [[ChekhovsGun magnifying glass pendant]] was supposed to inadvertently burn the Natorum Demonto with a beam of sunlight, cluing Ash in that he needed to destroy the book with fire. They couldn't get the effect to look right, so they rewrote the scene to instead have Ash simply use it as a tiny grapnel to snag the book; by this point in filming, switching the prop into something more logical for this purpose was out of the question.
63	** [[spoiler:Ash was intended to die at the end when the surviving demon attacks him. This was later changed when Creator/SamRaimi and Creator/BruceCampbell returned to make ''Film/EvilDead2''.]]
64	* WorkingTitle: Filmed and premiered in Detroit under the name ''Book of the Dead'', but distributor Irvin Shapiro changed the title for fear that viewers wouldn't want to see "a movie about a book". Before settling on ''The Evil Dead'', various other titles were considered, like ''Blood Flood'', ''These Bitches Are Witches'', ''Fe-Monsters'', and ''The Evil Dead Men and the Evil Dead Women''.
65	* WritingAroundTrademarks: Richard Demanicor and Theresa Tilly did this film under different aliases so as not to lose their SAG memberships - so they are credited as Hal Delrich and Sarah York.

Context Trivia / TheEvilDead1981