Anyway, I was living in L.A. when Sam, Bruce and Rob formed Renaissance Pictures and began raising money for the then titled Book of the Dead, so I wasn't part of the company. I moved back to Detroit a few months before we shot, and to my surprise and consternation, they asked me to be a production assistant, which I found deeply insulting. Nevertheless, not wanting to miss the first feature (Scott Spiegel, BTW, decided against it and didn't work on the film) I took the gig. But I was still seriously pissed off they hadn't offered me D.P. As fate would have it, as you already know, the "six-week shoot" ended up going eleven weeks in Tennessee, then many more weeks back in Michigan, and for all of that (which was way more footage than was shot in the first six weeks), I was D.P.

Scott Spiegel, Rob, Sam, Bruce & Josh Becker At MSU

Bruce Campbell with Joanne Kruse in Within The Woods (1979)

That began with a shot of the car approaching with a dead animal in the foreground, then the kids stopping at a gas station where a crazy man warned them about evil spirits. I informed Sam that he was completely ripping off the opening of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and he changed it.


Bart Piece recalls an earlier script draft of Book Of The Dead; about 40 pages long with a different opening, and far closer to Within The Woods. Did you ever see this?  
 
I think Bart's mistaken. As far as I know there never was an earlier draft of the script, and there was barely a script when we went to shoot. I think it was about 28-pages and had been typed by Bruce based scenes Sam had written on scraps of paper, placemats and matchbooks.


Had you even read the script such as it was, before you signed up (and if so what were your thoughts), or were you happy to be on board knowing all you guys had a decent track record on getting things made?  
 
I read it, all 28-pages or whatever. I wasn't particularly impressed, nor did I think it was very well-written. I still don't.


Was there ever a plan to use the whole of the Tapert family farmhouse for The Evil Dead, since it had worked quite effectively in Within The Woods?  
 
Since we started shooting in November, Renaissance Pictures in their infinite wisdom decided it would be warmer in the south. Indeed it would have been, too, if we'd gone further south. As it was, it was one of the coldest winters in Tennessee and a rather warm winter in MI.

I believe that's correct, the Tennessee Film Commission did find a cabin that fell through before we arrived. Yes, the final cabin location was decided upon once we arrived.


Had anyone travelled down to Tennessee in advance to have a scout around, or was everyone travelling down there 'blind', and hoping the right locations would present themselves? Either way, was it Gray Holt who found all the shooting locations, or did some of you aimlessly drive around yourselves searching for possible locations?  
 
Bruce had gone down there once in advance and met Gary Holt. We didn't know where anything was so us driving around aimlessly would have been futile. Gary was local and knew where everything was. He found the locations and Sam chose them.

Gary Holt sitting next to the destroyed bridge (left-centre with the yellow shirt)

Ellen Sandwiess & Bruce filming in the cabin (1979)

Rich in make-up with Bruce filming in the cabin (1979)

The 'fake' bathroom, created in the cabin by Dart (1979)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sam's hand doubling for Rich de Manincor's in the bathroom scene (1980)

Sam did know where he wanted the trapdoor to be and where the fireplace was. Beyond that it was simply cheap used furniture.


Was the cabin renovation/decoration/dressing 100% complete before the production started shooting in there, or were you still finishing bits off while the shooting was taking place in another room?  
 
Everything was still going on. There was no bathroom. Dart built that in one of the bedrooms when it was needed, but it had no plumbing. As Rich (Hal to you) was reaching for the shower curtain, that's Sam's pudgy hand in the close-up.


Did the lack of running water at the cabin mean having to bring it by car from your production hose in containers, or could you get it nearby?  
 
We brought water from the house in milk jugs, but mainly we drank soda pop. Late in the shoot we all switched to water and discovered that it was very refreshing.


You detail your gripes about the cabin location that was finally used, but upon you first seeing it, did you also see it's fantastic merits as a shooting location?  
 
Sure. It seemed perfect. Thank god Dart was there.


Shooting the first version of the scene in which the group sat around the fireplace smoking dope had to be abandoned, what do you remember about this?  
 
It was real weed and Bruce was a complete lightweight who never smoked pot. So when he got stoned he forgot how to act, which was extremely funny to watch from a this-will-never-be-used standpoint, and indeed it was never used.

Just about everyone on the production has had their two-cents about David Goodman's cooking skills, or lack thereof, was it really that bad?  
 
It was. Goody was most famous for his "pizza cake". Due to mixing up baking powder and baking soda the crust was four inches thick and tasted like utter shit. Another entrée of Goody's was "Tavern Soup," a foul concoction made with canned tomato soup and beer. The worst however came in the final five weeks when it was just the five of us. Late one night Sam, Bruce, Rob and I returned from the cabin to the house where we all stayed (during the first six weeks there had been as many as 20 people camped out all over the place) and Goody had made his own special version of chilli that was very, very spicy. One by one we all--except Goody, that is--slid out of our chairs and collapsed to the floor. We then later all decided that Goody had drugged us and was now going to sexually take advantage of us. Luckily, he didn't.


The location shoot was somewhat of an emotional roller-coaster for you, at any point did you consider simply leaving and returning to Michigan?  
 
Every day for the first six weeks. I was watching a shoot run by three idiots. It was driving me crazy.


At any point did you think the production would just fall apart with everyone having to return without even so much as a partially completed film?  
 
We started shooting the car scenes the first day, so there was certainly going to be a partially completed film right from the outset. Regarding the production falling apart, I expected that to happen every single day for the first six weeks.

Josh Becker filming in Cleveland Smith Bounty Hunter (1981)

The final page in the Book Of The Dead premiere program (1981)

Ever get scared staying there on your own, or are you not that sort of person? Sam had mentioned in the past that he once woke up and found a hill-billy sitting near him, so he started sleeping in the graveyard hillside after that, was that true?  
 
Probably not. Sam's been bullshitting everybody about everything since before the film came out. Just read that last page in premiere program, it's all made up nonsense. As for me, no, I wasn't the least bit scared, but then again, I'd done a lot more funky shit than any of the other cast and crew members at that point. I'd already lived on my own in L.A. twice, I'd hitchhiked to Alaska, as well as back and forth across America five or six times. I have no problem being alone.


Was that whole story about Clara 'the girl lost in the woods' made up, or was at least some of it true?  
 
Complete bullshit.


Can you elaborate on the theft from the cabin of the skill-saw, saber-saw, drill and chainsaw, did you involve the police? I'm assuming that left the production scrabbling round to find replacements, especially the chainsaw?  
 
I believe the police were called, but they didn't find out who it was or get anything back. We went to a rental place and rented the tools we needed. Since those were Dart's tools he was pretty pissed about the whole thing.

Rob Tapert has mentioned that the cabin was so cold because all the windows were removed to prevent reflections, do you remember this and at what stage was this done?  
 
Once again, nonsense. Windows were put in and taken out regularly by Dart. It took him ten minutes to put in a window. The cabin was so goddamned cold because it was 100 years old, made of thin wood and had no heat. The fireplace produced almost no heat at all and we had a big kerosene heater that warmed about a five-foot diameter around the front of it. At one point Bruce was completely covered in Karo syrup fake blood, then stood in front of the heater and his shirt calcified into candy and cracked off of him.


Sam has mentioned that all the investors were sent a bi-weekly newsletter which detailed the production progress. Did any of The Evil Dead's investors ever travel down there to see what/how you were doing  
 
No.


Having been there myself, I know that there are now houses out on the main road (at the entrance to the trail to the cabin) just a few hundred yards from the cabin itself. How remote was the cabin when you were there?  
 
There were no houses around it for about a mile. It was pretty damn remote. And the long, long driveway was nearly impassable for most of the shoot due to thick mud. Cars were getting stuck almost daily.

Bruce Campbell's cabin site to Knoxville Airport driving directions (1979)

Josh Becker, with Dart, Sam & Tim filming the opening scene (1980)

Josh Becker, with Tim, Sam & Dart (1980)

The opening scene of The Evil Dead shot at Bullard Lake in Hartland Township, Michigan (1980)

The edge of the lake is rather swampy and there's a dirt road that runs right up to it. I explained to my cohorts that if we shot there, instead of the middle of a bloody swamp, we could drive all the equipment and personnel right up to the lake, then have total control over what we were doing. That's when Sam came up with putting the front end of an old car in the swamp, which we could never have done otherwise. As an aside, the front end of that car sat in that lake for years until my dad got so mad at me that I demanded that Renaissance Pictures remove it, and they did. Because we finally had control of that shoot, that also allowed us to bring big blocks of dry ice and throw them in the water to create the bubbling steaming effect. That was my job, BTW.

The old style hand-held oil foggers are notorious for setting fire to things, did you ever have any mishaps in that direction?  
 
Yes, frequently. Also, that oil-based fog was toxic and we shot a lot in the garage of the house faking Bruce and Ellen driving in the car and it was sickening and gave everybody headaches.


How much of what was shot each day was worked out in advance (even though it might have taken many takes to get right!), or was Sam just making shots up as he went?  
 
That was the giant bone of contention on Evil Dead.

Rob Tapert holding their Jungle oil-based fog machine, with Dart, Sam & Bruce (1979)

The final POV force shot of The Evil Dead, in which you can see the barn behind the cabin (1979)

In the last 'force' POV shot of the film, you can see a wooden building a 100 yards or so behind the cabin, was this just an empty barn, or used for something, and were there any other such buildings in the immediate area?  
 
There were two old sheds, that one and the one beside the cabin where we shot the scene with Bruce, Betsy and the chainsaw. We didn't use the shed in back for anything except maybe storage.


I recall Dart saying he'd used some of the wood taken from the rear barn, maybe I'm wrong on that?  
 
Yes, that's true. Dart was very good at making use of what was there, beside, it already looked old.

Once Tom left the location, how were the special effects handled, and were there ideas which Sam couldn't shoot due to that limitation?  
 
We simply did the best we could, most of which, I think, looks like shit.


How did things change as you and the others were evicted from the production house, and forced to live in the cabin for the last few days?  
 
We were always cold, and since I had stepped on a nail I was in acute misery.


When the remaining crew packed up to leave Tennessee, a shotgun was used to blow up every prop left in the cabin, then the remains burned in a huge bonfire, what do you remember of this?  
 
The shotgun, the one and only. Then we built an enormous fire behind the cabin, put almost everything in it (except for the crap we dumped into the hole under the trapdoor, which I nailed up and Sam has since facetiously referred to as a "time capsule"), including sheets of glass.

Then the fire went out of control on us and began to spread into the forest. We then spent the next hour running around crazily in a panic putting out the blazing fire while the glass shattered and shot pieces into the air.


Once location shooting was complete, what was your input on the production thereafter?  
 
As I've mentioned, I became and stayed the D.P. I lit all the pick-up shooting, and there was a lot of it.

Bruce touching up Ellen's possession make-up (1979)

Ellen in costume being wrapped in vines for her attack scene (1979)

The vine/rape scene was shot partially in Tennessee, partially in Gladwin, and partially at the Raimi's house. I could go into specific detail about all of the pick-up shooting, but that sounds like a pain in the ass.


Did you think the vine scene would be such a source of contention when it was being shot?  
 
I'm not sure what you mean. The fact that Ellen wasn't happy about it? Often actors aren't happy about what they're shooting, so what?


Ah, what I meant was in censorship terms, upon the film's release, but also was Ellen happy to be taking the scene as far as it went?  
 
Ellen was not happy, and became increasingly more unhappy each time we went back and did more pick-ups. Regarding censorship, that was a British thing that meant little to nothing here in the states.


You worked on both The Blind Waiter & Stryker's War over 1980 to 1981; The Evil Dead re-shoot period, were there any of The Evil Dead re-shoots you couldn't work on due to this, or was that all done and dusted by the time The Blind Waiter & Stryker's War came along?  
 
They happened simultaneously. Keep in mind that the pick-up shooting went on sporadically for most of 1980 and into 1981. The Blind Waiter took two days to shoot, and Stryker's War took eight days. Since Sam, Bruce and Rob were all involved with those films, if I couldn't make it to the pick-up shoot, they wouldn't have been there, either.

Josh working with Rich during the re-shoots (1980)

The Rennaissance Offices in Ferndale, Michigan (1981)