The Evil Dead films are some of horror's craziest, no-holds-barred splatter fests, but for all their gleeful insanity, their shooting locations are remarkably restrained. Part of what makes the franchise so effectively chaotic is that almost all the entries are bottle films, where a lone cabin in the woods confines the action like a bloody pressure cooker waiting to explode. Only Army of Darkness has a large scope in terms of setting, but that, too, is reliant on its filming environment for the gags and gore.
While The Evil Dead was far from the first horror movie to take place in a singular, isolated location in the middle of nowhere, it did help popularize the widely recognized "cabin in the woods" trope. The original film's low budget and gonzo filmmaking style meant that the cast and crew had to depend on their on-location set more than most productions. The tough shooting environment, which was fraught with physically uncomfortable conditions and emotional tensions, would thankfully go down as one of the most iconic settings in horror movie history.
As The Evil Dead reached cult status in its highly controversial but successful release, director Sam Raimi became more of a recognizable name and received more funding for future films in the franchise. Still, Raimi always thought about the immense importance of his locations even when he was gifted with more money to spend. After all, there's nothing quite like the chilling sensation of watching that cabin's foreboding stature, its windows and porch resembling some twisted face beckoning people inside its demonic fairy tale form.
The Evil Dead
The first film was shot in Morristown, Tennessee, though originally the crew intended to shoot the picture in Raimi's hometown of Royal Oak, Michigan. Tennessee, however, supported the production more than any other state, so like almost everything else regarding the movie's creation, resources dictated that the shoot would take place there. There was no formal location scout, so the cast and crew had to go searching themselves, eventually settling on a remote cabin with few working amenities and far from medical assistance. The only scenes not shot there were in the cellar, which took place in Michigan at producer Robert Taper's farmhouse and Sam Raimi's own garage.
Bruce Campbell's autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, gives amusing insight into the type of conditions on the set. The cabin also served as the living quarters for thirteen crew members, though the lack of plumbing meant that bathing and heating were nigh-impossible. The crew infamously resorted to burning furniture towards the end of the shoot to keep themselves warm. The set designer, Steve Frankel, got the position due to his skills as a carpenter and created any exterior props needed on the spot with a trusty buzzsaw. Otherwise, the cabin and its surrounding woods proved creepy enough to mostly shoot on their own.
Unfortunately for anyone seeking to uncover the location, the cabin tragically burned down in 1982. It remains a mystery to this day how the disaster happened, though considering the beer bottles left behind, the most likely culprit was trespassers who were known to frequent the spot. Sam Raimi has stated that he burned down the cabin himself, though this seems like more of a joke as more information is released. In any case, the chimney is the only part that survives, and those who trespass on the undisclosed property are known to take bricks as a memoir.
Evil Dead II
The second film in the series, though still imbued with the moxie of its predecessor, was more of a traditionally-funded picture since legendarily prolific producer Dino De Laurentiis agreed to support the project. The small town of Wadesboro, North Carolina, close to De Laurentiis' offices in nearby Wilmington, served as the main shooting location. The cabin exterior, which was constructed by the crew this time, has also fallen to ruin, though the workshed was reassembled and shipped around horror conventions. Interior scenes were filmed separately on sets built in the gymnasium of the town's J.R. Faison Junior High School.
The crew luckily got to stay in much more comfortable accommodations for the duration of the shoot. A white farmhouse, which was previously utilized as a set for Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, was located on the same property as the cabin in the woods and served as the production office. In addition, reshoots involving the most complicated special effects took place outside of Detroit, Michigan in a warehouse studio.
Army of Darkness
There are no cabins in the woods in the medieval romp, Army of Darkness, so the crew traveled to the famous Californian desert for the on-location shoots. Due to the switch to the Los Angeles area, the locations here share DNA with other well-known productions. The castle was constructed on the Polsa Rosa Ranch in Acton, a popular filming site. Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, an iconic location that is most notable for its use in the original Star Trek series, was where Ash went on his journey to find the Necronomicon. Bronson Canyon, most famously used as the Batcave, is where Ash accidentally takes too much sleeping potion in the originally planned ending.
However, Sam Raimi had to shoot at least two-thirds of Army of Darkness in one of Hollywood's Introvision soundstages due to the heavy use of stop-motion special effects. Previously shot background and foreground images were projected onto a mirror in front of the camera, then bounced back to a projection screen behind the actor. This allowed Raimi to incorporate miniatures since the stop-motion scenes were filmed separately from the actors, though Bruce Campbell got frustrated with fighting demons he couldn't see.
Evil Dead Remake
The 2013 remake of Evil Dead, directed by Fede Alvarez, was the first in the series to be shot outside of the United States. The Auckland, New Zealand area provided the location for the film, which was atypically shot in almost chronological order so the blood and gore could continue to pile up without having to be cleaned up. The cabin exteriors and woods were shot in Woodhill Forest near the popular Muriwai Beach, while the interior sets were built in an office space that was converted into a studio closer to central Aukland.