Welcome to Not Scared: A Horror Movie Podcast, where I talk to people about their favorite horror movies and why they are so special.
Today I talked with my outgoing new friend Betsy Tomszak, the bookstagrammer and podcaster behind Books with Betsy and curator of the Off Color Book Club, about an essential movie in her horror education, Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981). We chat a lot about the cursed production element of this movie, but we also cover the music, a fugly necklace, why this movie is NOT a slasher, and the brilliance of a low budget scare. We also discussed a slew of books that reminded us of The Evil Dead because we are both advanced library users. Of course Betsy would pick a horror movie with a book in it!
TW: rape. There is a tree rape scene in The Evil Dead that we mention throughout (in detail at 36:00-41:00) and so an extra layer of discretion is advised.
00:00-06:00 Intro / Book Talk
06:00-15:00 Why Betsy Loves Horror / How We First Saw The Evil Dead
15:00-36:00 Production / Brief Synopsis / Scariest Scenes / Music / Acting
36:00-41:00- Tree Scene
41:00-1:05:00 Sequels / Double Feature Ideas
1:05:00- Outro / Betsy’s Podcast & Book Club Info
Please note: timestamps are estimates.
References
“27 Things We Learned from The Evil Dead Commentary Track,” Film School Rejects
“Sam Raimi and the Raping Tree,” by Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader, October 17, 2012
“Why The Evil Dead is Still So Alive after 40 Years,” by Katie Rife, AV Club, October 29, 2021
Books mentioned:
* Uzumakiby Junji Ito
* Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom
* The Viy by Nikolai Gogol
* Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
* Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
* Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin (the next book club book at Betsy’s Off Color Bookclub, as of recording)
Find us online:
Betsy’s Instagram
Follow Off Color Brewing for info on Betsy’s Book Club. The Off Color Book Club meets 3rd Tuesday every month. Beer paired with each book. All are welcome if you live in Chicago :)
Chloe’s Letterboxd and Instagram
The music featured in this episode is, to our knowledge, composed by Joseph LoDuca from The Evil Dead soundtrack as well as a short clips from The Evil Dead (1981) used for educational purposes.
Thanks for listening!
