Rare Evil Dead Videos

[MCT28]

General thread for rare Evil Dead-related interviews, press stuff, or whatever. I'm not talking stuff that's been on YouTube for ages or material from any home video release... this is for stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in a long time, or has slipped through the cracks of the general public.

To kick off this thread, I present my humble finding (sourced directly from the master tape) of Bruce Campbell on PBS LateNight, which aired on May 6th, 1983. There's no serious earth-shattering revelations or stories about the production of Evil Dead that haven't been heard before, but it's just a fascinating bit of history I'd like to share. PBS LateNight was filmed at WTVS Studios in Detroit and broadcast on PBS stations all around the country, allowing viewers to call in and ask the host and guest questions pertaining to whatever their topic of discussion was. The show's jazzy theme was composed by Joseph LoDuca.

 

[MCT28]

General thread for rare Evil Dead-related interviews, press stuff, or whatever. I'm not talking stuff that's been on YouTube for ages or material from any home video release... this is for stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in a long time, or has slipped through the cracks of the general public.

To kick off this thread, I present my humble finding (sourced directly from the master tape) of Bruce Campbell on PBS LateNight, which aired on May 6th, 1983. There's no serious earth-shattering revelations or stories about the production of Evil Dead that haven't been heard before, but it's just a fascinating bit of history I'd like to share. PBS LateNight was filmed at WTVS Studios in Detroit and broadcast on PBS stations all around the country, allowing viewers to call in and ask the host and guest questions pertaining to whatever their topic of discussion was. The show's jazzy theme was composed by Joseph LoDuca.

Also, here is the song Bruce mentions at 5:56 (although he gets the title slightly wrong), entitled Another Half Hour Till Sunrise by The Tall Boys. Maybe one of, if not THE earliest example of Evil Dead's influence in music.

 

[MCT28]

Another treat, not so much a rare video as it is audio. Bruce Campbell's appearance on the NPR series To the Best of Our Knowledge, which aired on October 14th, 2001. Campbell was promoting his book If Chins Could Kill. Once again there's no new stories or anecdotes in here that one with a below surface-level knowledge of the original Evil Dead's production would not know.

 

[MCT28]

Reviving this thread because another super rare video discovery has been made! Reddit user u/No-Win795 has aquired an original 1987 3/4-inch U-Matic S cassette from De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) containing the rough cuts of 5 Evil Dead 2 TV spots!

Also contained is a letter from the Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt advertising agency, dated February 26, 1987—exactly two weeks before the film hit US theaters. It's hand-signed by the agency rep and bears a physical blue ink station "RECEIVED" stamp from March 2, 1987.

Because these internal rough cuts were legally mandated to be destroyed or recorded over by station engineers once the final broadcast cuts arrived, the survival rate of something like this is essentially zero. It's an incredible look into the legal and logistical framework of putting a legendary splatter film on television in 1987.

Now the video hasn't been digitized yet, but as soon as it is I will post it in this thread!