K.H - Institutional Context - The Evil Dead (Raimi, 1981)

Production:

• The film was initially titled Book of the Dead in reference to the work of the author H.P. Lovecraft
• Sam Raimi directed the short film Within The Woods with a budget of only $1600 in hopes of attracting investors to Book of the Dead which had a similar premise
• Raimi and Bruce Campbell (who starred as Ash Williams, the protagonist, and a childhood friend of Raimi) managed to scrape together funding themselves, the actual amount being unclear, although it is estimated it was between $90,000–400,000
• The crew was comprised almost entirely of Raimi and Campbell's friends and family
• Gallons of fake blood was produced using karo syrup
• Filming took 12 weeks and 4 days of re-shoots, and the remoteness of the cabin led to many issues, such as arguments between crew members, cold that forced the crew to burn the cabin's furniture late into filming, for warmth, and little access to medical help if someone was injured
• The film's first cut ran at around 117 minutes, but was shortened to a more marketable 85 minutes

Distribution:

• Raimi first screened the film with a "big premier" at Detroit's Redford Theatre, and ordered ambulances outside to build atmosphere
• Irvin Shapiro suggested Raimi change the name Book of the Dead because it wasn't marketable and advised him to sell the film internationally
• Shapiro, the founder of the Cannes Film Festival, allowed Raimi to screen it in 1982 where it was seen by Stephen King who listed it as one of his favorite films and reviewed it positively, gaining the interest of distributors
• Stephen Woolley decided took the risk of marketing the film in the UK, and it received a campaign more typical of higher budget films, with an emphasis on print campaigns
• New Line Cinema also helped distribute the film and made the unique decision to release the film in cinemas and via VHS at the same time, making it one of the first simultaneous releases
• In it's first week of sale in the UK, the film made $100, 000 and became that week's best selling video release
• The film made $600, 000 domestically and $2, 000, 000 overseas which qualified it as a "sleeper hit"

The poster for The Evil Dead. Note the quote from Stephen King.