The Evil Dead · reception & legacy

How The Evil Dead has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

It arrived as a $400k regional indie that got banned as a 'video nasty' in the UK even as Stephen King was championing it — and it's since climbed from grindhouse notoriety to undisputed horror canon, the film that launched Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.

What's debated

The forever fan debate: is the original's straight-faced terror the purest Evil Dead, or did the series only become itself once Evil Dead II turned it into splatstick?

Its footprint

It basically wrote the 'cabin in the woods' template that horror has been riffing on (and parodying) ever since, and its rushing, ground-skimming demon POV shot is one of the most imitated camera moves in the genre.

Where it stands

A rite-of-passage horror watch — the ur-text of DIY filmmaking lore that every 'they made it with no money' conversation eventually cites.

Named by the director

Influences Sam Raimi has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• The Three Stooges — Raimi has repeatedly cited their slapstick as his formative influence, which feeds the film's frenzied physical mayhem.
• H.P. Lovecraft — Raimi has said the film's Book of the Dead was inspired by Lovecraft's Necronomicon.