EDIT: The Evil Dead II discs are now finished.  Please go to Page 2 to see how you may get a copy and how you can help with future discs in the Evil Dead Trilogy DVD Companion!

DISC FORMATS: Single-layer DVD-R / NTSC / 4:3 / Dolby Digital 2.0

This is part of a larger project I’m working on about the Evil Dead trilogy to gauge how much interest and support there is for such a project. The Evil Dead II discs are the closest to completion, and as such is a pilot for a six-disc Evil Dead DVD Companion.

Many thanks go to See No Evil and The Griff for providing content for these discs – but it isn’t finished yet! Disc One has been completed, but I am still collecting the content for Disc Two at the moment. The contents listed below are what I have at the moment (along with descriptions that will be on menu screens preceding the videos) – but any suggestions/donations are definitely wanted! Also, suggestions for content relating to the other films would be greatly appreciated.

Because the majority of these are from bootleg sources, the quality is variable to say the least - The Directors interview is sourced from YouTube, and a few of these are shaky VHS rips. But that's better than nothing at all!

(NOTE: Once these are finished, they'll have to be distributed initally as a PIF chain as I'm unable to seed a torrent or post them up on Rapidshare.)

DISC ONE

BEHIND-THE-SCENES CAMCORDER FOOTAGE

The following behind-the-scenes footage was shot by special effects foreman Vern Hyde and his crew on the set of EVIL DEAD II in Wadesboro, North Carolina in 1986. It offers intimate glimpses into the filming of key effects scenes in the movie (such as “The Blood Flood”, “The Rotten Apple Head”, and Ash flying into the time portal) as well as the fun the cast and crew had making it. It is not to be confused with the footage Greg Nicotero shot on the set, as seen in “Behind The Screams” and “The Gore The Merrier”.


SCENES FROM THE WORKPRINT

This is an incomplete workprint of EVIL DEAD II, consisting of the first twenty and last ten minutes of the film. It features temp music (Joseph Lo Duca’s score had not been completed yet), original production audio (pre-ADR) and a small selection of short deleted scenes. This workprint is taken from a poor quality VHS, so the quality is variable at best, but as a curiosity for EVIL DEAD fans it is essential viewing.


DISC TWO

BEHIND THE SCREAMS

This compilation of the camcorder footage Greg Nicotero shot on the set of EVIL DEAD II was an extra on the 1998 blood red Elite laserdisc of the film. It was replaced on subsequent DVD issues by “The Gore The Merrier”, which features some of the same footage alongside new interviews with Nicotero, Howard Berger and Robert Kurtzmann. However much of the material in “Behind The Screams” has yet to make it to an official DVD release, including footage of the deleted “Evil Ed Chop Top” sequence being shot.


UK TV SPOTS

These two TV spots, starring Sam Raimi and Jonathan Ross, were broadcast on British TV in 1987 to promote the theatrical release of EVIL DEAD II by Palace Pictures. The ads were written and directed by Christopher Fowler of The Creative Partnership, who is perhaps best known as the cult author of such best-selling books as Spanky. They had previously been seen within the exclusive “Dead Good Marketing” featurette on Anchor Bay UK’s EVIL DEAD DVD boxset.


IN REVIEW 1987 INTERVIEW

This interview with Sam Raimi (who is on top comic form here) was broadcast on the NY cable television programme IN REVIEW in early 1987 (despite the on-air display saying 1986) during the promotion of EVIL DEAD II. The young interviewer is Gregg Goldstein, who is now the New York correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter. (Note the video cuts out abruptly before the end.)


THE DIRECTORS 1987 INTERVIEW

In 1982, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert shot their first television interviews to publicise EVIL DEAD for a NY cable access programme called The Directors. The presenter was John Gallagher, formerly a writer for Film Comment whose floor Raimi had crashed on during post-production. Five years later, Raimi returned to The Directors to promote EVIL DEAD II, and the resulting interview is full of in-jokes and rarely-aired stories. It is sourced from a YouTube video, so the quality is far from perfect.


STEPHEN KING’S THIS IS HORROR 1989 INTERVIEW

This interview with a relatively sedate Sam was filmed for the syndicated TV series STEPHEN KING’S THIS IS HORROR (aka WORLD OF HORROR, or SHADOW THEATRE). It is from the only DVD available of THIS IS HORROR, released in the Netherlands, and features burnt-on Dutch subtitles as a result.

Rough drafts of two of the menus (note the second one has since been edited to improve contrast and correct spelling/grammar):