Sam Raimi's $1,600 nightmare that spawned Evil Dead. Proof that demons answer to no budget.
A group of young friends spending time at a remote cabin are pursued by a demonic force after a burial site is disturbed. Made on a small budget and starring Bruce Campbell and Ellen Sandweiss, the film was produced as a proof of concept to attract investors. Its ideas and sequences later formed the basis for Sam Raimi’s "The Evil Dead" (1981).
Direction
Raimi's already perfecting his demon camera—on lunch money and prayer.
Practical Effects
Gore effects so homemade they loop back around to genuinely upsetting.
Acting
Campbell's first possessed close-up: the chin was born here.
Director
Sam Raimi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Raimi, Campbell, and producer Rob Tapert raised $1,600 from local dentists and businessmen to shoot this over a long weekend in 1978.
This short was literally screened for investors to secure the $90,000 budget for The Evil Dead—every shaky zoom and scream was a business pitch.
US
