Bruce Campbell Reveals The Dangers Behind Making The Original Evil Dead
Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" is one of the most iconic horror films of all time. The 1981 classic follows Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), who is forced to fight his friends after they're turned into terrifying Deadites when they find the Necronomicon, AKA the Book of the Dead, in a remote cabin. It was made on an incredibly tight budget, but it became a cult classic due its extreme violence and Raimi's unique vision of what a zombie movie could look like.
Ash Williams instantly became a staple of horror, returning to fight more Deadites and monsters in both "Evil Dead II" and "Army of Darkness," but the first film will always be unique thanks to its truly independent nature. Because of the tight budget, Raimi got inventive with the practical effects and it gives "The Evil Dead" a gritty, scrappy atmosphere that separates it from other fan favorite films in the genre like "The Exorcist." It isn't without its controversies, as the infamous tree scene proved divisive at the time– even making the headlines in the U.K. when the BBFC heavily edited the film to achieve an X rating. However, this had the opposite effect, as it only made horror fans more eager to see the film.
"The Evil Dead" had a huge impact on the genre as a whole, but it wasn't easy to make — and Bruce Campbell recently opened up about the numerous dangers that were on set during production.
The cast and crew got hurt
Because the film used plenty of practical effects to tell its grimy tale, most of the crew had to get hands-on with the various stunts in the film, which led to "almost every crew member or actor got hurt in some way," according to Bruce Campbell. The star recently spoke to Den of Geek ahead of the film's one-night return on October 7, and he revealed that it was a dangerous set. Campbell broke his ankle after running and jumping in one scene, and the cast made plenty of jokes at his expense.
"We had to keep shooting the rest of the night, with Sam and Rob Tapert cornering me in a room, poking my ankle with sticks because they thought it was funny." He said. The star also added that he favors that ankle because of the director: "I'll always favor that ankle lovingly, because I know it came from Sam." Campbell also pointed out that health and safety standards were non-existent when they worked on the film, especially where guns were concerned: "Well, in 1979 in rural Tennessee, you just take a shotgun and you blow the window out ... "There's no stunt guy. There's no nothing."
However, the actor also told the outlet that he only misses that time "a little bit," mainly because of the safety issues, "because there was a lot of dumb stuff done on movie sets back in the day that should not have been done." Campbell says they "skirted around safety stuff," but he's grateful that things are better now. However, he pointed out that at the time this was just the attitude most independent filmmakers: "[T]he funny thing is we just didn't know any other way."