Back when Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell first put together the cult-hit horror film The Evil Dead, it was done with a microbudget and a group of friends and actors full of dedication. The movie (released in 1981) itself is not without its production issues, but it spawned an entire franchise of films and launched the careers of the three men who were first involved.
When the sequel Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn was greenlit, Raimi and crew returned with an increased budget and the backing of a studio, thanks to the help of Stephen King, who was a fan of the original movie. However, the sequel was still made by Raimi in his youth, and the film features a few interesting things some die-hard fans can’t help but notice, which we’ll explore further today.
FREDDY’S GLOVE
It’s fairly easy to go unnoticed in the film considering everything that is going on as Ash deals with the invading Evil and its Deadites, but Freddy Krueger’s iconic glove appears in the film not once, but twice, and continued a long tradition of playful jabs between Raimi’s and Wes Craven’s horror films.
Raimi first included a torn poster for Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes in the first Evil Dead, which Craven then reciprocated by showing Nancy falling asleep while watching The Evil Dead on TV in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Raimi again returned the favor by hanging Freddy’s clawed glove in the shed and hanging in the fruit cellar.
“WORK SHED”
Speaking of the shed, during Ash’s battle with his girlfriend Linda’s possessed decapitated head, Ash decides to take the battle to the work shed outside. However, either through an editing mistake, an audio error, or because of an afterthought, the dubbed line of “work shed” sounds weird and doesn’t quite fit with the scene.
That line has carried a bit of Hollywood lore around with it and if you ever attend an animated fan screening of the film you’ll likely hear it thrown back at the screen by the crowd. When Campbell worked with Kurt Russell on Escape From L.A., Russell allegedly asked Campbell to say “work shed” the very first time he met him.
THE SET IS VISIBLE AT TIMES
Since the production of Evil Dead II had a bit more money to work with, the set of the cabin was actually constructed inside a school gymnasium. Following Ash’s escape from the Evil at the bridge, he finds himself back at the cabin running from the Force as it follows him into the cabin, tearing through doors.
Ash leads the Evil Force on a mad scramble through the various rooms of the house in one masterful shot. However, the obviously constructed set can be seen frequently during the race through the house, as the non-existent roof makes its way into the shot quite a few times.
A FAREWELL TO ARMS
One of the biggest moments in Evil Dead II comes when Ash is bitten by the head of his Deadite girlfriend, which causes his hand to become possessed. Ash, already dealing with his increasing loss of sanity, decides the best way to deal with the possession is to cut his hand off with a chainsaw.
After he does this he traps the possessed hand under a bucket and weights it down with books. The book on top of the heap is Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms, which is a perfect example of the kind of black humor that made Evil Dead II such a cult hit.
MOUSETRAP
Of course, the possessed hand escapes the bucket and runs behind a wall through a mouse hole. Ash, with his trusty double-barreled shotgun/Boomstick, attempts to shoot the hand through the wall, which drives the hand right into a mousetrap.
The mousetrap closes down on the evil hand’s thumb, and then the camera quickly cuts back to Ash as he laughs at his former hand’s misfortune while reloading the Boomstick. When the camera cuts back to the hand, it now has the index finger caught in the trap instead of the thumb.
POSSESSED ASH’S HAND GREW BACK
Ash isn’t left to deal with the cabin and the Evil Force alone, and soon enough he is joined by relatives of the former owners of the cabin, as well as two locals. The Evil possesses Ash and uses him to attack his new allies, though Ash is able to take back control of his body when he sees Linda’s necklace.
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However, during his skirmishes with Annie viewers can clearly see that possessed Ash switched between having two hands and having one bandaged hand. While the regrown hand is likely an editing or continuity error, it can be hard not to see once you notice it.
ASH’S CHAINSAW SWITCHES HANDS
One of Ash’s most iconic features is the chainsaw he attaches to the stump left from his possessed hand. This was not only a great way to make the character look cool but to also hide Campbell’s non-severed hand effectively in the film.
Unfortunately, this led to an odd moment where Ash’s chainsaw attachment switches from his right to his left hand and then back in the next scene. This was explained away by Raimi as he simply wanted Ash walking the other direction in the scene so he reversed the shot.
HENRIETTA IS TORN AND LEAKING
The former owners of the evil cabin in the woods are the ones who were first responsible for unleashing the Evil into the woods before Ash played the recording. Dr. Knowlby’s voice is on the recording, and he reveals that his wife Henrietta was possessed and trapped in the fruit cellar.
Henrietta was played by Sam’s brother Ted Raimi, and the costume he wore was so incredibly hot that the suit filled with sweat and started falling apart over the course of the film. Throughout Henrietta’s appearances, you can see various tears appear in the costume, and when Henrietta is flying after she leaves the cellar, white fluid (sweat mixed with talcum powder) can be seen draining from Henrietta’s ears.
DISAPPEARING BLOOD
While Ash got covered in all kinds of colored slime and goo in the first film, Evil Dead II upped the ante and covered everyone in blood, especially Ash. One of the more memorable scenes features a geyser of blood erupting from a bullet hole in the wall and covering Ash, though the bloodstains disappear from his clothes almost immediately.
The same goes for Annie Knowby, who gets absolutely covered in blood when Henrietta pulls local Jake down into the cellar and devours him. Annie is seen covered in blood and slime after the cellar erupts with blood, but in the next scene when she stands and encounters possessed Ash, all of the new blood on her clothing has disappeared.
SAM RAIMI HAS A SPEAKING ROLE
While director Sam Raimi’s voice can also be heard as part of the sound the Kandarian Demon/Evil Force makes as it quickly travels through the forest, he also appears on screen in the sequel during the final scene of the film.
When Ash arrives in the past, he encounters a group of knights as they are attacked by a Deadite. When he swiftly dispatches the evil demon, the knight who hails him as a hero lifts up his mask to reveal Sam Raimi. While he appears a few times in the films in cameo roles or as floating hands, this is his only speaking line.
