The Evil Dead

Five college friends spend a weekend in a remote cabin in Tennessee. In the cellar they find a Sumerian book and a tape of incantations. Playing the recording awakens a demonic force that possesses them one by one. Ash, the last to hold out, learns the only way to stop the possessed is to dismember them. Made on a shoestring by friends from Michigan, it is raw, loud, inventive horror. It's where everything starts. The cabin, the book and the chainsaw all begin here.

1. Behind the scenesA $1,600 short opened the door

   Before the feature, Sam Raimi shot the short Within the Woods for $1,600 to win over investors. The feature, then titled Book of the Dead, cost about $375,000.

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2. CameoThe producer became the hero

   Bruce Campbell was cast as Ash because, as a producer too, he was the only actor willing to stay for the entire shoot. The rest of the cast came from an ad in the Detroit News.

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3. Behind the scenesCoffee in the fake blood

   Makeup artist Tom Sullivan built many of the foam latex effects and added coffee to the traditional fake-blood recipe of corn syrup and food coloring.

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