Sam Raimi did his horror movie homework while preparing to make his feature directorial debut with THE EVIL DEAD, and one of the movies he watched while preparing to make his own was Wes Craven's 1977 classic THE HILLS HAVE EYES. While watching HILLS, Raimi noticed that a JAWS poster was torn during a horrific event, and took that as Craven saying his film was much more terrifying than the blockbuster from two years earlier. So he responded by putting a torn HILLS HAVE EYES poster in the cellar of the EVIL DEAD cabin. Taking note of this, Craven had his A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET heroine Nancy Thompson watch THE EVIL DEAD on TV. Raimi responded again, putting the razor-clawed glove of ELM STREET's iconic villain Freddy Krueger in EVIL DEAD II.
Freddy's glove can be spotted hanging on the wall in two different locations in EVIL DEAD II. It's hanging above the door in the work shed, and it's also in the cabin's fruit cellar (pictured above).
The back and forth between Raimi and Craven eventually faded (if New Line had managed to get FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH off the ground back in 2004, it would have been a hell of a culmination to all of this), but it hasn't been forgotten.
Nearly thirty years after the release of EVIL DEAD II, the franchise's hero Ash, so amazingly brought to life by Bruce Campbell, returned to that cabin of horrors during the course of the first season of the Starz television series Ash vs. Evil Dead. In the season finale, he again ventured into the fruit cellar… and there, hanging on the wall, was Freddy Krueger's glove (pictured below).
It's just a bit of fun, but it's great to see the nods to Craven continue on the TV show, especially now that the master of horror is no longer with us.
The ten episode run of Ash vs. Evil Dead season one is complete, but season two has already received a green light. Maybe we'll be seeing more references like the Freddy glove next year.