The Evil Dead - Promotion and Distribution

Promotion and Distribution

With the film completed, Raimi and the crew decided to celebrate with a "big premiere." They chose to screen the film at Detroit's Redford Theatre, where Campbell had visited often as a child. Raimi opted to have the most theatrical premiere that he could, using custom tickets and wind tracks set in the theater, and ordering ambulances outside the theater to build atmosphere. The premiere setup was inspired by horror director William Castle, who would often attempt to scare his audiences by using gimmicks. Local turnout for the premiere exceeded the cast's expectations, with a thousand patrons showing up. The audiences responded enthusiastically to the premiere, which led to Raimi's idea of "touring" the film to build hype.

Raimi showed the film to essentially anyone willing to watch it, booking meetings with distribution agents and anyone with experience in the film industry. Eventually Raimi came across Irvin Shapiro, the man who was responsible for the distribution of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and other famous horror films. Upon first viewing the film, he joked that while it "wasn't Gone with the Wind", it had commercial potential, and he expressed an interest in distributing it. It was his idea not to use the then-title Book of the Dead, because it made the film sound boring. Raimi brainstormed several ideas, eventually going with The Evil Dead which was deemed the "least worst". Shapiro also gave the advice to distribute the film worldwide to garner a larger income, though it required a further financial investment by Raimi, who managed to scrape together what little money he had.

Shapiro was a founder of the Cannes Film Festival, and allowed Raimi to screen the film at the 1982 festival out of competition. Stephen King was present at its screening and gave the film a rave review. USA Today released an article about King's favorite horror films; the author cited The Evil Dead as his fifth favorite film of the genre. The film severely impacted King, who commented that while watching the film at Cannes, he was "registering things had never seen in a movie before". He became one of the film's largest supporters during the early efforts to find a distributor, eventually describing it as the "most ferociously original film of the year", which was used in the film's promotional pieces. King's comments attracted the interest of critics, who otherwise would likely have dismissed the low-budget thriller.

The film's press attracted the attention of British film distribution agent Stephen Woolley. Though he considered the film a big risk, he decided to take on the job of releasing the film in the United Kingdom. The film was promoted in an unconventional manner for a film of its budget, receiving marketing that usually only larger budget films received. Dozens of promotional pieces, including film posters and trailers, were widely showcased in the U.K.; such heavy promotion which rarely would have been expended on a low-budget film. Woolley was impressed by Raimi, whom he called "charming", and was actually an admirer of the film, which led to him taking more risks with the film's promotion than he normally would have.

Fangoria started covering the film in late 1982, writing several articles about the film's long production history. Early critical reception at the time was very positive, and along with Fangoria, King, and Shapiro's approval, the film generated an impressive amount of interest before its commercial premiere. New Line Cinema was one of the distributors which took an interest in the film, and after negotiations, the company agreed to distribute the film domestically. The film had several "sneak previews" before its commercial release, including screenings in New York and Detroit. Audience reception at both screenings was widely enthusiastic, and enough interest was being built for the film that wider distribution was being planned. New Line Cinema wrote Raimi a check large enough to pay off all the investors, and decided to release the film in a unique manner. It was supposed to be released simultaneously into both cinemas and onto VHS, and received substantial domestic promotion.