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The Evil Dead - The Treasures Collection

Although I put this DVD release together as a specifically Evil Dead 1 standalone disc, it's still part of djsmokingjam's overall treasures collection of DVDs. It has been finished for a few weeks now and a number of copies have already been sent out to various people, but I've just got round to posting this info. The finished DVD is NTSC & 7GB big, and I've only made a dual layer version of this DVD, as quality wise its really too much to squeeze onto one single layer. For the first time this DVD release brings together & preserves some of the rarest Evil Dead treasures.

'The Evil Dead' - The Japanese 1985 'Herald Videogram' laserdisc version expertly transferred to DVD.

A superior quality copy of the short film 'Within The Woods'.

'Book Of The Dead' to 'The Evil Dead' - The version differences.

A 'Book Of The Dead' workprint trailer.

Finally A PC viewable DVD-ROM folder packed with over a gigabyte of rare Evil Dead trilogy material painstakingly collected over many years, with major contributions by a number of die hard Evil Dead fans.

'The Evil Dead' - The Japanese 1985 'Herald Videogram' laserdisc version

The 1985 Japanese Herald Videogram laserdisc is arguably the best transfer of Evil Dead ever made available. Two major things separate this version from every other; its colour timing, and its picture framing, although it does suffer from burnt in Japanese subtitles, but they’re fairly unobtrusive.As far as is known, Evil Dead was transferred twice in its early home viewing days. The first transfer was used on the 1985 Japanese HV laserdisc. At some point a second transfer was made and was then used on every subsequent release. The colour timing for this second transfer was much warmer in tone than the bluer & colder HV laserdisc version. This subtle change seemed to alter the whole ‘feel’ of the movie and the HV laserdisc seems much scarier because of it. Additionally there is also quite a difference in picture framing between the two versions. The second transfer seems to have been zoomed in around 10-15%, meaning the HV laserdisc version has more visual information on each side of the frame. The 1982 Palace Pictures VHS, 1995 Japanese Beam laserdisc, 1999 US Elite laserdisc, along with every DVD version all seem to use that second transfer, only differing very slightly on colour timing, brightness levels. The Evil Dead was originally composed to be shown in a matted 1.66:1 AR, but it was only ever shown in this format once for its premiere, thereafter it was screened in the standard AR of 1.37:1. A number of DVD releases have taken this and matted it to achieve a 1.85:1 AR, then marketed as the ’widescreen’ version. The HV version is shown in that full un-matted ratio, which also contains the original mono audio track, before it was re-mixed to stereo and later 5.1 surround.

Within The Woods

In order to raise initial financing for Evil Dead; Sam, Bruce & Rob along with Ellen Sandweiss, Scott Spiegel & Mary Valenti made this 31 minute short film at the Tapert family farmhouse near Marshall, Michigan. Shooting over a total of 6 days during the spring of 1979, and with a budget of $1600, it was a far bigger super8 production than any of the renaissance team had attempted previously. It combines script elements of both the first and second Evil Dead movies, but with a much tighter, and arguably more effective plotline. Anchor Bay had restored ‘Within The Woods’, for their 2002 Book Of The Dead release. The short was pulled at the last moment, although the exact reason for this was never explained. It had been speculated that they had problems with music rights, although this wasn’t the case as their version had already been re-scored with new music, especially for that release. Last minute reluctance on Sam Raimi’s part or legal issues involving one of the actresses have also been speculated as possible reasons. This version was taken from a bootleg VHS ‘mix’ tape, Although many versions of this tape exist in higher or lower generational copies, this is the best quality version I have seen yet. Further to this, I have digitally cleaned, sharpened & brightened the picture using professional software.

'Book Of The Dead' to 'The Evil Dead' - The version differences

Before being re-titled for its theatrical release, The Evil Dead was called Book Of The Dead. This original version was never released to theatres or on home video, with the sole execption of a 1985 greek VHS tape. This version has 4 differences from the final release; the movie title, and alternate sunrise shot, Ash's scream resonates before the end credits, and the end credits title. The following sequence edited from that VHS tape, shows those 4 differences.

Book Of The Dead Trailer

In the spring of 1980, with principal photography; re-shoots & effects sequences completed, the renaissance team traveled from Michigan to New York, to work with editor Edna Ruth Paul. Sorting through over 100,000 feet of footage, a rough 97 minute cut was put together. Once Rob, Sam & Bruce returned back to Michigan they cut a four minute trailer narrated by John Cameron in order to raise more funding, enabling further editing work, and the final completion of the then re-titled 'The Evil Dead'. Because it was edited from the 97 rather than the 85 minute version, there are snippets of footage you’ll not see in the final movie.

DVD-ROM folder

I Have produced alot of Evil Dead trilogy related creative material over the last 15 years, as it had a big impression on me when I first saw them when I was 13. I decided to compile it all in one place and release it on this Evil Dead DVD, Along with some of the rarer items I have built up over the years found on random sites present & past on the internet. With the exception of the 'Misc Internet Sourced Evil Dead Stuff' folder and 'Evil Dead Rare Magazine PDFs', everything else was either entirely my own original work, or modified my me.

General Internet & Outsourced Projects/Collections
Evil Dead Rare Magazine PDFs
Evil Dead Fan Films
Evil Dead Various Photos, Pictures & Artwork
Various Offline Evil Dead Related Forums
Related YouTube Videos

My Pet Projects
BOTD Sculpt (Uncompleted) Project (2006)
BOTD (Uncompleted Evil Dead Re-Edit) Project Test Clips (2008)
Cinefantastique Cover (Writing Removed) (2008)
Evil Dead 1 Lego Plans & Stop Motion Animation (2005)
Evil Dead 2 Crew T-Shirt Logo (2008)
Evil Dead BBFC Certification Title Card (2002)
Evil Dead Credits Jazz Track (2008)
Evil Dead Palace Pictures VHS Pre-Cert - Artwork Only (2008)
Evil Dead Palace VHS Artwork Plate (2002)
Evil Dead Signed Artwork Plate (2002)
EvilDeadChainsaws.com (2002 - 2008)
From Within The Woods (1996)
Sam Raimi Shorts DVD Covers (2007)
School Projects (1996)
Scripts & Text Files (2006)
Within The Woods Score (Uncompleted) (2002 - 2008)#

    Project Title: The Evil Dead - The Treasures Collection
     Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/
    User Rating: 7.6/10 (34,934 votes)
       Country: USA
Release Date: 01/01/09

   DVD Format: NTSC DVD9 (DVD+R ONLY)
       Ratio: 1.33:1
Language(s): English
     Subtitle(s): None

Content Title: The Evil Dead
Running Time: 01:25:35
Video Format: MPEG-2 / 720x480 / NTSC / 1.33:1
Audio Format: AC3 / 1ch / 48kHz / 96k
         Source: Retail Japanese Laserdisc

Content Title: Within The Woods
Running Time: 00:30:44
Video Format: MPEG-2 / 720x480 / NTSC / 1.33:1
Audio Format: AC3 / 2ch / 48kHz / 256k
         Source: Bootleg VHS Tape

Content Title: Book Of The Dead Differences Compilation
Running Time: 00:04:28
Video Format: MPEG-2 / 720x480 / NTSC / 1.33:1
Audio Format: AC3 / 2ch / 48kHz / 192k
         Source: Retail Greek VHS Tape

Content Title: Book Of The Dead Trailer
Running Time: 00:03:37
Video Format: MPEG-2 / 720x480 / NTSC / 1.33:1
Audio Format: AC3 / 2ch / 48kHz / 256k
         Source: Bootleg VHS Tape