In 1978, Sam Raimi persuaded a cinema owner to screen one of his horror shorts alongside The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The short in question went by the name of “Within The Woods” and, on the strength of its success with audiences, Raimi soon set to work on a feature film that would ultimately launch him to international stardom. The project came to fruition three years later when, on 15 October 1981, “The Evil Dead” premiered at the Redford Theatre in Detroit. Telling the tale of how a group of friends wind up possessed and savagely slaughtered by evil forces in a remote cabin in the woods, the film blended comic book fantasy with (then) recent genre gems such as Carrie and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the film that the master of horror himself, Stephen King proclaimed to be the most original horror film of that year, SCREAM reminisced with two of the leading ladies, Betsy Baker who played Linda and Theresa Tilly who played Shelly. During our conversation they revealed their initial embarrassment for having appeared in the film, how they have remained oblivious to the film’s success for well over a decade before they went on to discuss their relationship with Sam Raimi over the years and what we can expect from the impending release of Evil Dead: The Game…
Words: Howard Gorman
