Evil Dead (1981) TRIVIA

Sam Raimi originally wanted to title this film "Book of the Dead," 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.

After completing principal photography in the winter of 1979-1980, most of the actors left the production. However, there was still much of the film to be completed. Most of the second half of the film features Bruce Campbell and various stand-ins (or "shemps") to replace the actors who left.

Filmed in a real-life abandoned cabin.

Creamed corn dyed green was used as zombie guts.

There is a ripped poster of The Hills Have Eyes (1977) visible. Ostensibly, this was in reference to a ripped poster for Jaws that appeared in said film; Sam and the others interpreted that as Wes Craven suggesting that Hills was much more frightening than Jaws, thus they showed a ripped Hills poster because their film was to be even scarier yet. See also: The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985), _Nightmare On Elm Street, A (1984)_ .

Director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell were friends from high school, where they made many super-8 films together. They would often collaborate with Sam's brother Ted Raimi. Campbell became the "actor" of the group, as "he was the one that girls wanted to look at."
The voice of the professor on the tape recording is that of American Movie Classics host Bob Dorian.

Director Trademark: [Sam Raimi] [3-stooges]

Most of the demon POVs that glide across the ground were shot by mounting the camera to a 2X4 while Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell ran along holding either side

The pieces of wood that fall from the bridge at the beginning and the log used to fight off Ash's possessed girlfriend in the woods are made from a foam substance and were recycled props from an early Sam Raimi movie entitled It's Murder! (1977)

A closet is opened and a T-shirt with the word "Tamakwa" is visible. Director Sam Raimi went to camp Tamakwa as a child (see trivia for Indian Summer (1993)).

The white liquid that often emits from the possessed after injured or maimed is 2% milk that Sam Raimi chose to incorporate, not to show how these aren't normal beings, but also to mix it up so the MPAA wouldn't give it an X rating.

Bruce Campbell twisted his ankle on a root while running down a steep hill, and Sam Raimi and Robert G. Tapert decided to tease him by poking his injury with sticks, thus causing Campbell to have an obvious limp in some scenes.

Andy Grainger, a friend of Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi, gave them the advice: "Fellas, no matter what you do, keep the blood running down the screen." They included the scene in the finished film where the blood runs down the projector screen as a tribute to him.

As the car is driving up to the cabin at the beginning of the movie, instead of Theresa Tilly it's Sam Raimi you see from "Shelly's" window.

The cabin was located in Morristown, Tennessee. In Bruce Campbell's biography he says that it was later burned down. No one knows for sure what happened (Raimi says that he burnt it down himself after filming). Also, no one will give out complete directions because the only remaining part of the cabin is the brick chimney and everyone was stealing a piece of it.
The cabin did not actually have a cellar. Most of the cellar scenes were filmed the stone cellar of a farmhouse owned by producer Robert G. Tapert's family in Marshall, Michigan. The last room of the cellar was actually Raimi's garage. The hanging gourds and bones are a tribute to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). For the scene where the students descend into the cellar, a hole was cut into the floor, a shallow hole was dug, and a ladder was placed into the pit.
On the tape, in which the demon resurrection passages are read aloud, some of the words spoken (which sound like genuine Latin) and that sound like 'Sam and Rob, Das ist Hikers Dan dee Roadsa' actually mean 'Sam and Rob are the Hikers on the road' as it was actually Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert who play the fisherman that wave to the car as it passes them near the start of the film.

The opening sequence of the evil moving over the pond, is actually Bruce Campbell pushing Sam Raimi in a dingy whilst he films the shot.

Ash's last name is never mentioned throughout the entire Evil Dead trilogy, though Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell did toy around with calling him "Ashley J Williams" and "Ash Holt," the latter revealing how Sam viewed the character...

Was one of the first films to be labeled as a "Video Nasty" in the UK.

One of the sketches in the Book of the Dead comes from William Blake's painting "The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed With The Sun".

During the scene where the possessed Linda attempts to stab Ash with the dagger, Betsy Baker actually had no idea where he was. With her heavy, white contact lenses preventing her from seeing Bruce Campbell, he was literally battling a blind actress.

Director Trademark: [Sam Raimi] [Oldsmobile Delta 88]

During the scene when Linda was possessed, the make-up artist actually first wanted to make her look like a snake-like creature, as can be seen when Ash is dragging her outside (filmed before the scene indoors with her singing the creepy song). Her make-up was dark and a little more greenish, but eventually they changed the make-up to an evil doll-face look.

Betsy Baker lost her eye lashes in the process of removing her facial mold.

The scene where Cheryl is brutally raped by the possessed weeds was banned in some countries.

The original script called for all the characters to be smoking marijuana when they are first listening to the tape. The actors decided to try this for real, and the entire scene had to be later re-shot due to their uncontrollable behavior.

When Ash and Cheryl return to the cabin (after the failed attempt to drive into town due to the destroyed bridge), Scott goes to say something and then suddenly stops, throws his head back and steps out of the shot. This was due to the actor ('Hal Delrich' ) blowing his line.

In Germany the movie was released to the theaters and on video the same day to avoid problems with the censorship boards. It was banned shortly afterward but dominated the top ten in the few weeks of his release. The movie is still banned theatrically in Germany.

The blood is a combination of Karo syrup, non-dairy creamer, and red food coloring.

The magnifying glass necklace was originally intended to be a plot point by focusing the sunlight to burn the Book of the Dead, but it was decided after shooting began that this wasn't going to work, so its actual use in the film was a desperate attempt to keep it relevant since so much film time had been spent on it already.

After Scott says "they know, they're not gonna let us go" Scott screams higher than his voice, this was actually Sam Ramie voice meshed in with Scott's scream.

During Ash's fighting scene with the possessed Scott, after gouging out Scotts eyeballs, Ash yanks something out of the jeans and blood flows out. Many have believed that Ash was yanking out a "reproductive organ" based on it's shape and position. However, what Ash pulled out was a small branch gouged into Scott's leg after the fact that Scott was beaten savagely by the trees.

When Ash and Linda are admiring the necklace you can see flecks of paint brush off onto Linda’s hand this is because the original necklace was gold but spray painted silver.

Source: imdb.com