12 Things You Didn't Know About The Evil Dead Movies
2. Sam Raimi Regrets The Tree Rape Scene
The first Evil Dead was as notorious as it was famous. Before it became a cult classic the film gained celebrity of a sort by being branded a “Video Nasty” in the UK, a backlash against the low-budget schlock-fests that were being released on the then-new VHS. A lot of that was down to all the blood, guts and maggots that appeared on-screen.
But most ire was reserved, quite rightly, for the scene early in the film where Ash's sister Cheryl runs off from the spooky cabin just as the Deadite invasion is beginning. Turns out the Necronomicon also caused the trees in the woods to be possessed by demons, which leads to a disturbing scene of Cheryl being sexually assaulted by branches and vines.
It made The Evil Dead's name, for better or for worse, but Sam Raimi later said he regretted including the scene that likely made his career. In an interview with Jonathan Ross – who got his start fronting a show where he interviewed cult movie directors of the eighties – he said it was the work of an immature director and he shouldn't have done it.