This week we return stateside with a hallmark for one of the most influential horror movies of all time: The Evil Dead.

Horror is one of those genres you’ll see many young directors start out in, often because they have a passion for it, but also since it is typically easy to produce on a low budget

Director Sam Raimi and lead star Bruce Campbell knew each other from a young age, and worked on several low budget projects shot on Super 8 mm film, before making this film. The two worked on a short film called Within the Woods, which served as a proof of concept for what would become The Evil Dead.

The Evil Dead tells the tale of a group of five college students that go on vacation at a cabin in rural Tennessee. They find creepy things are beginning to happen, especially after the discovery of the Naturom Demonto (later called the Necronomicon Ex Mortis in the sequels). This book, combined with a tape recorder playing the incantations, unleashes a host of demonic spirits called Deadites.

The film was initially going to shoot in Raimi’s hometown of Royal Oak, Michigan, but this was eventually changed to Morristown, Tennessee, as it was the only state interested in the film. Ouch.

Production of the film was plagued with many accidents, such as the crew getting lost in the woods on the first day of shooting; several crew getting injured and the remoteness of the location meaning medical assistance was a ways away; and difficulties with the make-up/contact lenses for the possessed characters.

Raimi’s brother Ted was used as a “Fake Shemp” in several scenes. A Fake Shemp means using a substitute for another actor. The term itself a reference to The Three Stooges and the use of substitutes following Shemp Howard’s death.

The film’s famous POV shots of the unseen evil presence were accomplished by Raimi running through the woods with a makeshift “shaky cam” which involved mounting a camera to a piece of wood and having two operators sprint around the swamp.

The crew wanted a “big” premier for the movie, so Redford Theatre in Detroit was chosen.

The movie received universal acclaim when it was released, with horror author Stephen King calling it his favorite film of 1981. The Evil Dead is also considered one of the most violent movies of its time and was given an X-rating and is still banned either theatrically or on video in some countries.

While it didn’t launch them into stardom (not yet anyway) Raimi and Campbell would continue to work together on projects moving forward.

The movie spawned a few sequels in The Evil Dead II in 1987, Army of Darkness in 1992, a soft reboot Evil Dead in 2013, and a tv show called Ash vs Evil Dead.

Bruce Campbell would go on to become a star in his own right and it was this role as Ashley J. “Ash” Williams that got him started. The character of Ash would become a horror icon and would even have crossovers with characters like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and even the Marvel Universe in comics (granted it was the zombie universe).

Raimi would go on to direct such cult classics such as Darkman, and the successful Spider-Man trilogy of films from 2002 to 2007.

Personally, while The Evil Dead isn’t my favorite in the series (that goes to The Evil Dead II), there is no denying how impactful the movie was. And how much of a success story it was for any other young and upcoming directors, as Raimi himself was only 20 when production started.

So here is to the legacy of a horror film with humble beginnings that spawned success, a franchise, and inspired many young filmmakers to follow in its footsteps.