If You Love the ‘Evil Dead’ Franchise, Thank Stephen King
Jeanette White
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Now, one of horror’s most iconic franchises, Evil Dead didn’t always hold that title. The first movie, 1981’s The Evil Dead, struggled to get off the ground, with financers hesitant to put their faith in an inexperienced crew wielding a rented Kodak 16mm camera. Director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell—two longtime friends with a dream—managed to scrape together enough money to get the project (then titled Book of the Dead) off the ground.
However, issues continued to follow the production. Filming was tough, and distribution proved even tougher. All signs pointed toward failure for the low-budget horror flick until Stephen King viewed it at 1982’s Cannes Film Festival and decided it was one of the best horror movies he’d ever seen. Armed with a juicy quote from King declaring it the “most ferociously original film of the year,” The Evil Dead skyrocketed to well-deserved fame.
Stephen King’s Endorsement Got The Evil Dead Rolling
By 1982, King was already horror’s sweetheart. It had been eight years since his first novel, Carrie (1974), put him on the map, and Brian De Palma’s 1976 film adaption ensured he’d be a name to remember. With acclaimed books like Salem’s Lot and The Shining already under his belt, King had become the leading authority on the genre by the time The Evil Dead was unleashed at the Cannes Film Festival. The author had countless fans hanging on his critical opinions, and as director Sam Raimi told IGN, he was also “the biggest Stephen King fan in the world.”
After being told King was “screaming and shouting” during the showing, it only made sense that Raimi seized the opportunity to ask King for a quote. To Raimi’s surprise, King did him one better by writing a review for Twilight Zone Magazine. Not long after, the movie found a home in the UK. Later, New Line Cinema scooped it up in the US. As Raimi said in the same IGN interview, “King’s endorsement opened the doorway for the film to be seen.” Without it, even Raimi admitted that The Evil Dead, as we know it, might “have been lost.”
Instead of falling into obscurity, the film went on to receive critical praise among genre lovers. It became a sleeper hit at the box office largely due to word-of-mouth. Audiences hadn’t seen anything quite like The Evil Dead, and its abundant gore earned it an X-rating in the US and the “video nasty” moniker in the UK. It both plagued and helped the movie. The Evil Dead was banned and cut in various countries, but the controversy also contributed to its cult status.
When Evil Dead 2 came along, it faced similar rating issues. It was ultimately released unrated to preserve Raimi’s original version as much as possible. However, before any of that, the movie had to be made, which proved almost as difficult as the first time around—until Stephen King got involved.
Evil Dead 2 Got More Help (& Love) From Stephen King
Despite The Evil Dead’s critical and box office success, nobody wanted to finance Evil Dead 2. Much like its predecessor, the sequel seemed doomed. Raimi couldn’t even afford to pay his assistant director. In need of another project, she switched focus to Maximum Overdrive, another horror movie that just so happened to have Stephen King in the director’s seat. While the film had its own infamous production struggles, it provided the link needed to get Evil Dead 2 made.
When King learned Raimi’s sequel was stuck in financial hell, he put in a good word with Maximum Overdrive producer and longtime King collaborator Dino De Laurentiis. According to Raimi (as reported by IGN), they got a call from Laurentiis shortly after. It also didn’t hurt that Raimi had previously been in talks with Laurentiis to direct the adaptation of King’s Thinner–a project Raimi turned down.
At the time, Evil Dead 2 looked a lot different. Raimi and Sheldon Lettich’s script featured Ash Williams traveling back in time to slash his way through castle-roaming Deadites in a medieval setting. Raimi pitched the idea again to Laurentiis with the brilliant name of Medieval Dead. However, Laurentiis wanted a sequel that was more similar to the original. Thus, time-traveling shenanigans were swapped for slap-stick comedy inspired by The Three Stooges.
Thankfully, it all worked out. Linda’s severed head wreaked havoc. Ash got his iconic chainsaw hand, and Evil Dead 2 became the grooviest installment in the franchise. The film ended with Ash’s Oldsmobile taking a page from the DeLorean (albeit with a little more vortex) and time-traveling to the Middle Ages. Army of Darkness followed in 1992. Although fans had to wait five years between installments, the movie delivered the camp and gore expected of the franchise while finally bringing Raimi’s vision of Ash slaying medieval-bound Deadites to life.
Stephen King’s Love of Evil Dead Continues
Even after a 2013 sequel and a three-season TV series, the Evil Dead franchise is still going strong. Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise (2023) became the highest-grossing film in the series. By focusing on new characters in an urban setting, the movie managed to reinvent itself without losing the franchise’s trademark gore and black comedy. Critics praised it, and so did Stephen King, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to dub Evil Dead Rise “gruesome” and “bloody” in the best way possible.
In an interview with Collider, Bruce Campbell teased future movies. Today, securing financing for more Evil Dead isn’t even a question, with the franchise’s massive legacy sprawling into video games, comics, and more. However, none of that would have been possible without King’s initial backing.
One of the most influential horror writers helping to shape one of the most influential horror franchises is pretty poetic. In fact, honoring the effort with a cameo might be Evil Dead’s biggest missed opportunity. Ash reading the Necronomicon, we can forgive; Stephen King not appearing in the franchise, not so much.
Categorized:Editorials
