The Evil Dead

129 Pages·2011·1.607 MB·English

by  Kate Egan

C
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L Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981) has been celebrated C
T as a rollercoaster ride of terror; a classic horror video U
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hit; an exemplar of the 1980s cycle of tongue-in-cheek T
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and excessively gory horror films; and as the film that
R G THE EVIL DEAD
introduced the now iconic character of Ash (played by Bruce
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Campbell). This study considers the range of factors that
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H have contributed to the film’s continuingly evolving cult P
H Kate Egan
I reputation – the story of the film’s gruelling production, its
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journey from Cannes to video and DVD, the film’s play with E
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the conventions of the horror genre, and its status, for fans
and critics alike, as one of the grungiest, gutsiest and most
inventive films in horror movie history.
KATE EGAN is lecturer in Film Studies at Aberystwyth
University, and author of Trash or Treasure? Censorship
and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties (2007).
CULTOGRAPHIES is dedicated to the weird and wonderful TH
world of cult cinema. This new series provides a comprehensive E

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introduction to those films which have attained the coveted status V
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of a cult classic, focusing on their particular appeal, the ways in L

which they have been conceived, constructed and received, and a D
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ISBN 978-1-906660-34-5 Evil R
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WALLFLOWER ERI T
www.wallflowerpress.co.uk 9 781906 660345 COV L
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Kate Egan
WALLFLOWER PRESS
LONDON & NEW YORK
!"#$%&'()%*(+',-#.)/0009 23456425110001789:
A Wallflower Book
Published by
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York (cid:111) Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © Kate Egan 2011
All rights reserved.
A complete CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-1-906660-34-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-50178-1 (e-book)
Book design by Elsa Mathern
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
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Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: The Evil Dead and Me 1
1 How to Be ‘Ferociously Original’:
Production, Promotion, Initial Reception 8
2 Personality, Authenticity and Illicitness:
The Afterlife of The Evil Dead 29
3 ‘The Ultimate Experience in Gruelling Terror’:
Analysing The Evil Dead 55
4 The Evil Dead’s Status as a Cult Film 93
Notes 104
Bibliography 112
Index 117
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Thank you to Mark Dutton, for his generosity and willingness
to share his views on The Evil Dead and its cult appeal with
me, and to Nathan Hunt (for lending me his Book of the Dead
DVD).
Various friends, colleagues and family members offered
support and kept me focused and positive during the produc-
tion of this book, so thank you to Kerstin Leder, Russ Hunter,
Martin Barker, Paul Newland, Sarah Thomas, Ed Payne, Rhys
Fowler, Steph Jones, Lisa Richards, Sarah and Alex Martin-
dale, Lauren Anderson, Paul and Amy Binnion, Gaz Bailey,
Karen Parkhouse-Pirti, Tom O’Malley and, most importantly,
my mum Susan Ellis and my much-loved ‘better half’ Tim
Noble for their encouragement and support.
Finally, my largest thanks must go to the two fantastic
editors of the ‘Cultographies’ series – Ernest Mathijs and Ja-
mie Sexton – for their patience when faced with an incred-
ibly slow producer of chapters. I was lucky to be working
with two such encouraging and supportive editors. Particular
thanks, also, to Tim and Jamie for their amazing ability to put
up with my whinging, worrying and non-stop chatter about
The Evil Dead!
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I’ll start with a confession. I’m someone who spent my en-
tire childhood being petrified by, and resolutely avoiding, hor-
ror films of any kind. I was so traumatised after watching
Joe Dante’s Gremlins (1984) at the age of thirteen that my
mother informed me that I shouldn’t attempt to watch any
horror films ever again. However, I now focus on teaching
and researching issues and debates related to the horror film,
spend a significant part of my free time watching and talking
about horror films, and The Evil Dead has undoubtedly played
a part in this.
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved films.
As a teenager, I set myself the task of watching and learning
about as many different kinds of films as possible. While my
friends were out socialising, I would sit at home, watching
films that I had read about in magazines and then recorded
from the television. While I always loved and enjoyed these
films, my viewings were also informed by a broader goal:
to learn as much as possible about all aspects of cinema.
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