Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday! Today is all about the 2013 remake, Evil Dead! It’s one of my favorite horror movie remakes. The setting is creepy, the musical score is absolutely beautiful, and I love the practical effects. It pays tribute to Sam Raimi’s original without downright copying it. 

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(WARNING: GRAPHIC SPECIAL EFFECTS PICTURES BELOW!!!)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• The film was reported to have used about 70,000 gallons of fake blood. The film’s director, Fede Alvarez stated that 50,000 gallons of it was used for the final scene alone.
• Most of the film was shot in order. This was done so blood can be thrown all over the place, and production didn’t have to worry about cleaning it up for the next scene or continuity errors.
• This one isn’t really trivia, it’s just a fun little fact. When you take the first letters of the main characters’ names, David, Eric, Mia, Olivia, and Natalie, it spells out “demon.”
• One of my favorite references to The Evil Dead (1981) is when Mia (Jane Levy) finds her necklace resting on the ground, in the shape of a skull.

• Bruce Campbell was originally against the idea of a remake. He wasn’t ready to pass down the role of Ash Williams. However, he changed his mind about the new film when he was told that the remake would feature brand new characters, and there wouldn’t be another Ash.
• Fede Alvarez actually has a background in CGI. However, in order to stay true to the Evil Dead franchise, and as a tribute to the original Evil Dead creator, Sam Raimi, Fede stuck with practical effects for the remake. CGI was used for the fire, though.
• This film was once confirmed to be in the same universe as the original Evil Dead trilogy. The plan was to make Army of Darkness 2, which would combine the two worlds and Mia and Ash would’ve teamed up. This was planned before the show Ash vs. The Evil Dead was created. Since that show continued Ash’s story, the crossover with Mia became less and less likely.
• During the opening scene, the petrol that Harold (Jim McLarty) poured over his daughter (Phoenix Connolly) was actually apple juice.

• It was Lou Taylor Pucci’s (Eric) idea to wear old style glasses and long hair. This was his tribute to the early 1980s.
• Makeup for some of the cast members took about 3 hours to apply and another hour to remove.
• Another nod to the original film happened when Mia screams after shooting David (Shiloh Fernandez). While she’s screaming, you can hear “one by one, we will take you”, which was said by possessed Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) in The Evil Dead (1981).
• Fede Alvarez got the job to write and direct the remake after his 5-minute short film, Panic Attack (2009) became a hit on Youtube.

• Agnes Bruckner and Thora Birch both auditioned for the role of Natalie before Elizabeth Blackmore was cast.
• After the film’s credits, Bruce Campbell says his signature line, “groovy” and breaks the fourth wall by looking right at the audience. This was originally taken as a sign that the crossover was happening. Since it never did, hard-core Evil Dead fans speculated that this scene was Bruce Campbell’s seal of approval for the remake.
• In the Naturom Demonto, the illustration of the Abomination was based off of the original film’s poster.
• After David buries Mia, he needed to show a rush of urgency while digging her back up. To get that urgency, they actually buried Jane Levy underground, so Shiloh’s urgency and worry was authentic, because he had to make sure Jane didn’t stay underground for too long.