From there, Italy released two more official La Casa films and simply repackaged two other titles with the “La Casa” moniker. The first unofficial Evil Dead sequel was known as Ghosthouse here in the states and La Casa 3 in its home country. It wasn’t long before director/producer J D’Amato ( Beyond the Darkness, Anthropophagus) and his production company, Filmirage, decided they weren’t keen to wait for Raimi to release a third in the series. Rami’s film, of course, proved to be quite the success and Evil Dead 2 (released as La Casa 2 in Italy) was an even bigger moneymaker. The Italians took a far simpler tact with their release, The Evil Dead was simply known as La Casa, or “The House”. There was Diabólico (“Devilish”) as it was titled in Uruguay, Tanz der Teufel (“Dance of the Devil”) in Germany, Kauhun riivaamat (“Horror Obsessed”) in Finland, and even Brazil’s title, Uma Noite Alucinante: A Morte do Demônio (“An Unexpected Night – The Death of the Devil”). The Evil Dead was retitled various different times by overzealous foreign distributors looking to turn a quick profit. We must take a look at the film’s various foreign releases for a clue as to where all of this is headed. After all, Sam Raimi’s 1981 genre-redefining masterwork was a fully independent American production. You might be wondering what any of this has to do with The Evil Dead. However, for the most part, the Italians hold the key to my heart. Occasionally, I do stumble upon a film or two that genuinely tests my patience (we’ll touch on one such film in a bit).
I can sit through some of the most wretched, poorly dubbed trash for 90-minute chunks of time with an undeterred smile on my face. Italian horror films of the 70’s and 80’s are possibly my favorite thing ever.
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