For the last post in October 2022, just before Halloween, I'll discuss the classic movie "The Evil Dead." (The original, not the remake.) The movie that started the careers of writer/director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, actor/producer Bruce Campbell, et. al. The little independent production that proved that imagination and talent can be more important that a large, or even medium budget. Anyway, let's get into it. As usual I'll ask the questions first, followed by the answers at the end. And the questions are true trivia--tiny, usually insignificant details, of interest only to the most rabid and obsessive fans. Also, SPOILERS abound ahead, for this 40 year old movie.
Questions:
1) What is the first noise we hear in the movie, and also the last noise at the very end?
2) What song are Shelly and later Scott singing in the car as we first see them?
3) A truck nearly hits our gang as the evil Force apparently temporarily takes hold of the car's steering wheel. What make of truck is it?
4) What is this truck's license plate?
5) The truck also has twin bumper stickers on the front. What do they say?
6) At one point we see Scotty drinking something while driving. What is it?
7) According to the warning sign for the dilapidated bridge, what is its weight limit?
8) According to the clock in the cabin, what time does the group arrive?
9) Scott checks out the work shed. There are several hanging bones, but only one visible skull. What animal is the skull from?
10) As Cheryl is finishing up the sketch of the clock it stops. At what time?
11) How many times does the clock then chime?
12) Ash tries to make a toast in another language, which Scott interprets as "Party down!" What language was it?
13) Linda is wearing a college sweatshirt. For what institute of higher learning?
14) A ripped movie poster is hanging in the cellar, near the Book, shotgun, etc. What movie is it?
15) The crew avoided most brand names, but some slipped through. What brand is the box of shotgun shells?
16) What make and model is the shotgun?
17) What brand of tape recorder is the deadly incantation played on?
18) We learn that the demons are Kandarian in origin. What culture is the city of Kandar a part of?
19) How many keys are on the cabin's key ring?
20) True or False? Linda demonstrates ESP while trying to guess the playing cards' suits and numbers.
21) Possessed Cheryl then correctly guesses a series of cards. What six does she say?
22) We see a shirt for a camp in the closet. What camp is it?
23) Of the five characters, which ones are stabbed with the ancient Kandarian dagger? (Either as humans, or when possessed by demons.)
24) As Ash is dragging Linda's body outside, we see a bluish-purple book on the floor, near Scott's body. What is the title?
25) What brand of chainsaw is in the work shed, which Ash then wields?
26) What jazzy song plays during the "blood rain" cellar scene, and then over the end credits?
27) Only one attack in the movie involves a bite. Describe it.
28) After the near accident with the truck in the beginning of the movie, Scott claims the car is faulty. When does Ash say was the last time the Delta 88 had a tune up?
29) Aside from "fake Shemping," (standing in for another character when their faces are off camera or covered with makeup), producer Rob Tapert is seen twice--once intentionally, and once accidently. Explain these two incidents.
30) The famous writing/directing/producing Coen brothers team both worked on "The Evil Dead." What were their contributions?
31) Who narrated the professor's voice on the taped recording?
32) True or false? There is no nudity in the movie.
33) True or false? While battling with the possessed Scott, Ash ghoulishly pulls off Scott's penis.
34) What brand is the famous clock?
35) Why did the Kandarian demons need the spoken incantation read again to possess the group we see? (Obviously this is just conjectural, not fact.)
36) Why don't the demons possess Ash? (Again, another answer which is just opinion.)
37) What non-human living creatures do we see in the movie?
38) What state is the cabin located in?
Answers:
1) The buzzing of a fly. Sam Raimi says the idea was that this "fly on the wall" was observing the entire movie.
2) This is complicated. Most sources credit Baby Moses and the Thrillers' version of "Old Baby Moses and the Thrillers Song." Baby Moses and the Thrillers were a band made up of the crew and cast. However, another source claims that this was a cover of a 1972 song, "Word Back Here," by Bruce Reynolds, who taught it to Sam Raimi at camp.
3) It's definitely a Ford. There's lots of online debate about what year and model though--the consensus seems to be that it's a renovated/rebuilt 1965 F Series truck.
4) 63F 81N, from Tennessee.
5) "Lazy Mary."
6) Moonshine, from a jar. This was from a longer deleted scene.
7) 3 tons.
8) 5.20 pm. Pm. since night falls quickly afterwards.
9) It's a cow skull.
10) 5:52, almost 5:53.
11) 8 times. So the clock is apparently faulty, or else the demons are messing around, I guess.
12) Greek.
13) Michigan State. Several members of the cast and crew had attended this college.
14) "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977). Which started a back and forth between Wes Craven and Sam Raimi, as Wes then showed "The Evil Dead" on television in "A Nightmare on Elm Street," etc.
15) They're Federal 20 gauge Hi-Power shotgun shells.
16) A Winchester 37A, 20 gauge, single barrel shotgun.
17) A Panasonic, specifically a Solid State RQ 706S.
18) It's an Ancient Sumerian city.
19) 6. 5 larger ones, and 1 small padlock key.
20) False. We see her guess 2 times, incorrectly, but Shelly inexplicably lies and says she guessed right.
21) Queen of spades, 4 of hearts, 8 of spades, 2 of spades, Jack of diamonds, Jack of clubs.
22) Camp Tamawka, which Sam Raimi attended.
23) Possessed Shelly by Scott, possessed Linda by Ash, and Ash by possessed Linda. So only Scott and Cheryl are not stabbed, either in human or possessed form.
24) "Four Sweet Old Ladies." Which may be a real book by Doris Miles Disney. I couldn't confirm this definitely.
25) It's a Homelite XL-12. The 12 refers to the pounds it weighs. The brand name is covered with black tape. In later movies they used the lighter Homelite XL, probably because Campbell had it attached to his hand for long stretches.
26) "Charleston." Some debate over who wrote this--some say James P. Johnson and Cecil Mack, others say Erik Markman.
27) Possessed Scott bites Ash on the leg near the end.
28) The day before. Suggesting it's the demonic Force that's affecting the car.
29) He and director Sam Raimi are the fisherman on the road that Scott doesn't wave at, but then, accidently, you can see him standing on the right, behind the bridge, as the car drives down it.
30) Joel Coen was the assistant film editor, and Ethan Coen co-wrote the professor's speech on the tape recorder.
31) Bob Dornan, probably best known as the primetime host of American Movie Classics.
32) False. You briefly see Shelly topless from the side, and Cheryl partially topless during the tree rape scene.
33) False. Despite what many fans think, Ash is pulling a stick out of Scott's lower abdomen.
34) It's an Ansonia Regulator, Ledger No. 1 model, which ran for 8 days on a full winding, and dates back to the early 1900's.
35) Clearly the short answer is because the movie needed it for tension and plotting. But within the movie's logic itself, it's a good question--the professor read it once, and possessions happened. So why couldn't the demons possess anyone else who came to the cabin? Maybe the demons can only possess people who were present when the incantation is read?
36) The rules for possession seem to be that after the incantation is read, anyone can be possessed after they're received an injury from a demon, or The Evil Force. Cheryl is attacked by the trees and vines, and is even raped. Shelly is presumably cut when the window breaks upon her. Linda is stabbed in the ankle with a pencil. Scott is cut by Shelly's nails on his face, and later is cut badly by the trees. But, Ash is stabbed with the Kandarian dagger by Linda, and also has his leg cut by her fingernails, among other injuries. So why wasn't he possessed? The only answer I can think of is that the demons were having fun taunting and torturing him. Since he's the last person alive, and unpossessed, perhaps possessing him too soon would ruin their fun. After all, they knew he was trapped in the area, so there wasn't really a rush. And yes, so the movie could happen, I know.
37) We see a mouse, or small rat, in the work shed when Ash goes to cut up Linda, and cockroaches in the bloody mess of Scott and Cheryl's dissolved bodies at the end. Although the roaches disappear quickly, so maybe they were supernatural?
38) This one seems obvious, but in looking at the movie again it might be different from what everybody thinks. It's purportedly Tennessee, as Ash mentions they just crossed the border in the car. And the movie was really filmed in and around Morristown, Tennessee for most of it. However, the map shown, which is real, seems to indicate that they're east of Robbinsville. There's no town of that name in Tennessee, but there is one in North Carolina. That along with the highway number shown (129), and a body of water named Santeelah (also in North Carolina) makes it look like they just crossed the border into far western North Carolina, below the Great Smoky Mountains.
I hope this deep dive into such an awesome horror flick was fun. Enjoy Halloween, everyone! Also, JOIN US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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