Top 10 original titles for popular horror movies

Bruce Campbell in Sam Raimi’s ‘The Evil Dead’ — Courtesy of Renaissance Pictures

6. Book of the Dead (The Evil Dead)

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are lifelong friends, having known each other since childhood. They even got into the movie business together. The two of them worked together to raise the money for what would become the first Evil Dead movie. As we all know, the film would become a smash hit leading to the creation of one of horror’s best franchises.

The movie was set to be a full length remake of a short film Raimi had done called Within the Woods. While not raising the full amount Raimi had been hoping for, he went to work on the film with Campbell using a script called Book of the Dead. The title comes from Raimi’s love for H. P. Lovecraft, and makes sense given the Necronomicon being used in the story.

After the film was done shooting, Raimi was on the hunt for distributors. He met Irvin Shapiro, a film distributor who watched the film and had interest in helping Raimi put it out. However, Shapiro had a request — that they change the film’s name. Shapiro felt that Book of the Dead makes the movie sound too boring, and doesn’t give the unique film the justice it deserves.

After mulling over several options in his head, Raimi eventually settled upon The Evil Dead. In this case, I feel like Raimi’s unique style and Bruce Campbell’s charisma would have made this film a classic, regardless. It’s not like The Evil Dead is that much more creative than Book of the Dead, after all.