The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by (in his feature directorial debut). Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, and Theresa Tilly are among the movie's stars. Five college students on vacation in a secluded cabin deep in the woods are the main subject of the narrative. Four of the group experience demonic possession after discovering an audio tape that, when played, summons a horde of demons and spirits. Ash Williams (Campbell), the fifth member, must survive an onslaught of progressively graphic mayhem.

In order to attract possible financiers, Raimi, producer Robert G. Tapert, Campbell, and friends made the short film as a proof of concept. This helped them raise US$90,000 to start development on The Evil Dead. During a challenging filming procedure that proved to be quite uncomfortable for the cast and crew, principal photography was conducted on site at a rural cabin in Morristown, Tennessee. Artist Tom Sullivan created the film's heavy prosthetic makeup effects and stop-motion animations. Producer Irvin Shapiro became interested in the finished film and helped get it screened at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Stephen King, a horror writer, gave the movie an excellent review, leading to New Line Cinema purchasing the distribution rights.

After a 1981 screening at the Redford Theatre in Detroit, the movie received its wide release in the US in 1983.

The Evil Dead brought in between $2.7 and $29.4 million globally, with $2.4 million coming in the US theaters. The movie received overwhelmingly good reviews from critics both when it first came out and later on. Since then, it has become known as one of the biggest independent films, a notable cult classic, and one of the best horror movies ever made. It ushered in the careers of Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell, who went on to work together on a number of movies, including Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

Beginning with two direct sequels, Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), written and directed by Sam Raimi, the Evil Dead spawned a media franchise that included video games and comic books as well as a fourth film, Evil Dead (2013), which acts as a soft reboot and continuation, a follow-up television series, Ash vs. Evil Dead, which aired from 2015 to 2018, and a fifth film, Evil Dead Rise (2023). Ash Williams, the main character in the movie, is regarded as a cultural figure.

Cast

 * }

International versions

 * }