The Evil Dead is a 1981 American
supernatural horror film written and directed by
Sam Raimi and executive produced by Raimi and
Bruce Campbell, who also stars alongside
Ellen Sandweiss and
Betsy Baker. The film focuses on five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area. After they find an audiotape that releases a legion of
demons and
spirits, members of the group suffer from
demonic possession, leading to increasingly gory mayhem. Raimi and the cast produced the short film
Within the Woods as a "prototype" to build the interest of potential investors, which secured Raimi US$90,000 to produce
The Evil Dead. The film was shot on location in a remote cabin located in
Newport, Tennessee, in a difficult filming process that proved extremely uncomfortable for the majority of the cast and crew.