The Evil Dead Turns 45: Its Gooiest Scene Was Made With Oatmeal, Marshmallows, and Real Cockroaches

Six Evil Dead movies. Different directors, from Fede Álvarez to Lee Cronin and Sébastien Vaniček (Evil Dead Burn, 2026), each delivered their own filmmaking stamps with varying degrees of success. But it is Sam Raimi who still reigns supreme with his original Evil Dead trilogy. Looking back at his first movie in particular, which celebrates its 45th anniversary, it’s amazing how the then-20-year-old Raimi expertly put together his very first feature film, The Evil Dead.

Of course, this wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for his 32-minute short film Within the Woods, where he shot with his best friends Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert at just $1,600 using a Super 8 camera in the late 1970s. The short film was deliberately done as a portfolio for potential investors, hoping they could turn it into a feature-length production.

How Sam Raimi Funded The Evil Dead: Lawyer Phil Gillis and the Limited Partnership Behind It

So, he and producer Tapert tried targeting local professionals, including lawyer Phil Gillis, who was the lawyer for one of Raimi’s friends. Instead of agreeing to put up cash upfront, since Gillis wasn’t amazed by Raimi’s short film, he offered him legal advice as the next best alternative, reportedly taking shares in the film in place of his fee. This included guiding Raimi and his two best friends to “drop a limited partnership” to form a production company, naming it Renaissance Pictures.

This gave them leverage in terms of corporate legitimacy rather than simply showing up as a trio of wannabe filmmakers asking for money. They managed to raise around $85,000 to $90,000, and went on to make the film under the then-working title The Book of the Dead.

The Evil Dead Behind the Scenes: A Freezing Cabin, Budget Chaos, and the “Fake Shemps”

Then came the reality check: They realized the money wasn’t enough to complete the film. If that’s not enough, they were plagued by chaotic on-set production, including minor injuries from using actual gunfire and even suffering from freezing temperatures while shooting the film in an abandoned cabin in Morristown, Tennessee, to the point that the camera failed to operate properly, forcing them to thaw it near the fireplace.

Although they pressed on with principal photography well past schedule, Raimi faced another setback when most of the main cast members quit the production, leaving the director, Bruce Campbell, and Rob Tapert with no choice but to use body doubles and stand-ins to complete much of the rest of the movie.

Raimi popularized the term “Fake Shemps” for anyone stepping in to play a role whose face won’t be shown on camera. The term, of course, originated from The Three Stooges when Shemp Howard unexpectedly died of a reported heart attack in 1955. However, the remaining group was still contractually obligated to film four more short films, so the production relied on a stand-in, Joe Palma, to replace Shemp.

For Raimi, it may have been a gruelling shoot, but The Evil Dead managed to reach the finish line after successfully securing more budget, totalling approximately $375,000 by Raimi’s own account, with Campbell himself going as far as putting up his family’s Northern Michigan property as collateral. It was a risky gamble, but they did it at the end of the day after The Evil Dead became a surprise box-office hit worldwide with reported grosses of $29.4 million.

No doubt that Raimi is a gifted filmmaker who has an eye for gonzo, anything-goes horrorfest. From the roving POV shot of an invisible, demonic force that bookends the movie to the gruesome makeup effects and relentless gore, The Evil Dead is one hell of a macabre ride that, even revisiting the movie by today’s standards, still holds up pretty well (Rotten Tomatoes: 85%).

RELATED: Evil Dead Burn Review – Gore, Grief, and In-Law Hell

How the Evil Dead Melting Scene Was Made: Oatmeal, Marshmallows, and Real Cockroaches

One of the most memorable scenes in the first movie is the climactic third act where the surviving Ash (Bruce Campbell) tosses the cursed Book of the Dead into the fireplace, causing the Deadites to melt like life-sized candles. Accomplishing such an effect wasn’t an easy feat, but Raimi and special effects artist Tom Sullivan, along with effects collaborator Bart Pierce, managed to pull it off by thinking outside the box.

To highlight the gross-out gore of the Deadites’ melting bodies, they relied on everyday items such as oatmeal and marshmallow strings, as well as snakes. They also included real Madagascar cockroaches to make them look as if the maggot-infested melting flesh could move around.

With everything in place, they filmed the scene in stop-motion animation, a process that reportedly took around three and a half months, proving that an effect-laden, low-budget horror movie is doable using a mix of imagination and improvisation.

RELATED: Evil Dead Burn Had a Scene So Brutal the Director Was Forced to Cut It for an R Rating

The success of The Evil Dead helped launch the careers of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Evil Dead is available for rent or purchase on Apple TV, Prime Video, and Fandango At Home. You can also stream for free on Xumo Play (availability as of October 2026).