The British Board of Film Classification recently posted an article on their website that described, in step-by-step detail, the hard time they gave Sam Raimi’s classic debut film The Evil Dead (watch it HERE) back in the ’80s. When they tweeted out the link to their article, Evil Dead franchise hero Bruce Campbell saw it – and had something to say about the way they treated the first film back in the day:
The British Board of Film Classification first viewed The Evil Dead in August of 1982, and according to the article on their website the members of the board were split between “those who felt the film was so ridiculously ‘over the top’ that it could not be taken seriously, and those who found it ‘nauseating’.” They decided to give the film an X rating only after 49 seconds had been whittled out of it. “This included reducing the number of blows with an axe, reducing the length of an eye gouging, and reducing the number of times that a pencil was twisted into a person’s leg.” But that wasn’t the end of the film’s troubles. It went on to be banned as a “video nasty”, and shop owners who sold copies of it were charged with “supplying an obscene article”. Removed from the video nasties list in September of 1985, it was still kept from getting a proper release by the BBFC and the Video Recordings Act of 1984. A decision on whether or not to release The Evil Dead on video in the UK was put off until 1989 – at which time it was decided that another 66 seconds had to be taken out of the film before it could be approved for home viewing. This cut was given an 18 rating in January of 1990. The uncut version of the film wouldn’t be re-evaluated and given an 18 itself until 2000.
The article posted on the BBFC site is an interesting read that reveals the way they treated the film was quite nonsensical. Check it out at THIS LINK.
The Evil Dead has the following synopsis:
Ashley “Ash” Williams (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend and three pals hike into the woods to a cabin for a fun night away. There they find an old book, the Necronomicon, whose text reawakens the dead when it’s read aloud. The friends inadvertently release a flood of evil and must fight for their lives or become one of the evil dead. Ash watches his friends become possessed, and must make a difficult decision before daybreak to save his own life.
Campbell was joined in the cast by Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich (a.k.a. Richard DeManincor), Betsy Baker, and Sarah York (a.k.a. Theresa Tilly).