Sam Raimi initially hated the title The Evil Dead: “How can something be bad and dead?” – Exclusive

These days, the combined power of the words “Evil” and “Dead” conjures up some of the most iconic and entertaining horror movies of all time, dating all the way back to Sam Raimi’s original. the wrong death trilogy, ranging from true terror, to splat-stick fantasy, to Fede Álvarez’s 2013 hardcore reboot evil Deadand now the new version of Lee Cronin resurrection of the wicked dead too, as well. But if the wrong death It’s the stuff of scary movie legend these days, then its creator was less than convinced by this title.

How do you say Empire In a major new joint interview with Cronin, Raimi initially had a different idea for the film’s name. “The original title of [original] the movie was ‘The Book of the Dead,’” he recalls. “But film sales agent Irvin Shapiro sat Rob and Bruce and me down and said, ‘We’re going to change the headline, guys. Paper ad space is by the inch, kid. We’re not going to have a five-word headline. ‘Death’ can stay. You can have another word. You can call it ‘101% Dead’ or ‘Evil Dead.'” It’s fair to say that Raimi wasn’t interested in either title at the time. “I thought, ‘ But those are the two worst songs I’ve ever heard! ‘Evil Dead’ sucks! How can anything be bad? AND died?’ I just thought it was so stupid.

Luckily, one stood above the other and a phrase now laden with a serious horror legacy was born. “’101% dead’? I thought, ‘I’ll die first,'” recalls Raimi. So I chose the lesser of the two awful titles. But now I’ve started to like it. It’s pretty good.” It was 101% the right choice.

Light EmpireThe full interview with Sam Raimi and Lee Cronin, talking about the creation of resurrection of the wicked deadthe legacy of dead evil iiand what exactly makes a evil Dead movie – in the next Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse issue, on sale Thursday 16 March. become a Empire member now to access the full issue on release day, or order number online now here. resurrection of the wicked dead hits UK cinemas from 21st April.