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A Limited, Retired Tie-Dye Tee Celebrating 40 Years Of Evil Dead

2021 CAVITYCOLORS THE EVIL DEAD: JOIN US T-SHIRT (INKED IN BLOOD VARIANT)

DETAILS:

A Rare And Retired Cavity Colors Print!
The ultimate tribute to The Evil Dead would be to cover yourself in blood, the way Ash has a tendency to do - but unless you've got Deadites to dismember, we recommend this shirt as a bloody, tie-dye alternative. Limited run design created to celebrate one of the horror film greats for its 40th birthday - no longer produced. Note on color: due to the tie-dye coloring the t-shirt appears slightly gray-blue overall.

    Pouring blood-red screenprint on black/gray tie dye!

    Year Produced: 2021 (out-of-print)

    Product Line: The Evil Dead 40th Anniversary 

    Style: unisex tie-dye t-shirt

    Ultra soft 100% cotton
    Printed size tag / logo

    Officially Licensed

    Art By: Dismay Design

Size:

Adult size Medium (M). 19" body width, 28" body length.

Makes A Great Gift For Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness Film Series Fanatics And Collectors!

CONDITION:

New without tags. Please see photos.

To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK.

*ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.*

"Ashley Joanna "Ash" Williams[2] is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Evil Dead franchise. Created by Sam Raimi, he is portrayed by Bruce Campbell and is the only character to appear in each entry of the series, including a post-credits and audio cameo in the 2013 and 2023 soft reboot films, respectively. Throughout the series, Ash faces off against "Deadites", evil creatures possessed by the ancient evil of the Kandarian Demon. Ash, since his debut, has been considered a cultural icon and an iconic horror hero. In 2008, Ash was selected by Empire magazine as the 24th greatest movie character of all time,[7] and in 2013, was voted by Empire as the greatest horror movie character ever.[8]
Appearances
FilmsThe Evil Dead (1981)
Main article: The Evil Dead

Ash and his girlfriend Linda, sister Cheryl, and friends Scott and Shelly stay at a log cabin in the woods, where they find the "Naturom Demonto" (renamed or possibly translated to Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in the sequels), a Sumerian Book of the Dead, along with a tape recorder. The tape is a recording made by the cabin's owner Professor Knowby, who was translating a passage of the book. By playing the tape, the group unknowingly awaken the Kandarian Demon (the titular "Evil Dead") which can possess the living. They are possessed and killed one by one, until only Ash remains. He finally destroys the Book of the Dead by throwing it in the fireplace, and in doing so causes the possessed bodies of Scott and Cheryl to rapidly decay and "die". The film ends with Ash being suddenly attacked by the evil force (originally intended to portray his death).[9][10]
Evil Dead II (1987)
Main article: Evil Dead II

In an alternate recap of the previous film, only Ash and Linda are shown on the trip to the cabin. Picking up from the ending of the first film, Ash is carried off by the demonic force and briefly possessed, released from the spirit by the light of dawn and falling unconscious. Attempting to leave, Ash finds the only bridge out completely destroyed and is forced to spend another night in the cabin. As the evil force toys with Ash's mind, his right hand becomes possessed and he cuts it off at the wrist with his chainsaw.

Later, the cabin owner's daughter, Annie Knowby, and three others arrive to discover what became of Professor Knowby. Despite banding together in an attempt to survive, the others are killed off leaving only Ash and Annie. To better fight the deadites, Ash affixes the chainsaw in place of his right hand and wields a "boomstick" to match. Annie reads passages from the Necronomicon, first to force the Kandarian Demon to manifest physically, and then opening a space-time vortex to banish the now-corporeal demonic spirit. However, Annie is stabbed by Ash's possessed disembodied hand; succumbing to her wound, she is unable to close the vortex after the entity is sucked away. Ash is sucked into the vortex after the entity and sent back in time to 1300 AD Europe. After saving a group of knights from an attacking deadite, he is hailed as the hero "who has come from the sky"; Ash can only scream in anguish at his situation.[11]
Army of Darkness (1992)
Main article: Army of Darkness

After being accidentally transported to medieval Europe, Ash must retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home. Using his knowledge of modern technology, Ash constructs a mechanical prosthetic hand out of a gauntlet from a suit of armor. Bungling the magic words that will allow him to safely retrieve it, Ash unleashes an army of the dead led by his monstrous doppelganger "Bad Ash". After leading the medieval soldiers to victory, Ash is given a potion that will allow him to sleep until his own time. Back in the present, Ash returns to his job as a sales clerk at S-Mart; when the store is attacked by a deadite, he kills it and is again hailed as a hero.

In the original ending, a distracted Ash drinks one drop too many from the potion, awakening instead in post-apocalyptic London. The film then cuts to black as his insane laughter is heard.[3]
Evil Dead (2013)
Main article: Evil Dead (2013 film)

Ash makes an appearance in a post-credits scene, in which he says his signature catchphrase, "Groovy".
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Main article: Evil Dead Rise

In 2023, Bruce Campbell appears in Evil Dead Rise in a cameo role as a priest heard translating the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis on a vinyl record (recorded in 1923) discovered by Danny, leading to Ellie's possession.[12] In April 2023, the film's director Lee Cronin stated that Campbell's character in the film was one "that could very well be Ash Williams", displaced in time.[13] Cronin later clarified it was indeed Ash, but neglected to elaborate how or why he'd ended up in 1923.
Television
Ash vs Evil Dead
Main article: Ash vs Evil Dead

In 2015, an older Ash appears as the main character in Ash vs Evil Dead, a horror comedy series for Starz. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Campbell stated, "Ash has survivor's guilt. You could have a heyday with his PTSD. He's a war vet. He doesn't want to talk about it, and he'll lie about that stump on his hand to impress the ladies. This is a guy who's got some issues. He's emotionally stunted. But he's the guy you want in the foxhole next to you."[14]
Season 1 (2015–16)

In an attempt to impress a date, Ash accidentally releases the Kandarian Demon by reading from the Necronomicon while intoxicated. His former coworkers Pablo Bolivar and Kelly Maxwell join forces with him after their encounters with the Evil Dead. Ash eventually discovers that the key to dispelling the evil is returning the book to the cabin and bury it within its grounds.

At the cabin, the group is confronted by Ruby, an ancient being and the original author of Necronomicon. Ruby offers Ash a compromise: if he allows her to release her demonic children as well as lord over them, then she will not only spare Pablo and Kelly but also fulfill his dream of living a normal life with his friends in Jacksonville, Florida. Ash accepts, delighting in the idea of finally living a normal quiet life. As the trio drive off, a radio broadcast reveals mysterious sinkholes are erupting across the country.
Season 2 (2016)

Ash's partying in Jacksonville is cut short when deadites show up. Declaring that Ruby has sent them, one calls him "Ashy Slashy". It is revealed that, after escaping from the cabin Ash had returned home, only for no one to believe him about the deadites. Instead believing that Ash had killed his sister and friends, they gave him the nickname "Ashy Slashy" and drove him out of town.[5] Returning to Elk Grove to search for Ruby, Ash is reunited with his estranged father Brock who disowned him after Cheryl's death.

Ruby reveals that her children have betrayed her and attempted to take possession of the book themselves in order to summon a demon known as Baal; Ash and his friends form an alliance with Ruby to retrieve the Necronomicon and send the demon spawn back to hell. Reclaiming the book and throwing it into a portal to hell, the group unknowingly allows Baal to enter the mortal world.

After awakening in an asylum, Ash is confronted by a doctor (Baal in disguise) who tries to convince Ash that there were no demons but merely "delusions". As time goes on Ash appears to succumb to Baal's attempts, obeying commands to capture his former allies. However, it is revealed that Ash was merely playing along in order to gather the group to return Baal to hell; they succeed but Pablo is killed in the process.

Recalling previous adventures via time travel, Ash theorizes that it may be possible to bring Pablo back from the dead by going back in time to the cabin and preventing his younger self from ever finding the Necronomicon. Taken back into the past by Ruby, the group is confronted by Baal and a younger Ruby; when Ash finally defeats Baal the cabin is set ablaze and sinks into the depths of hell. The trio return to the present and the citizens of Elk Grove throw a parade in Ash's honor. In a grateful speech, Ash declares that he wants to stay in Elk Grove and defend the town if evil ever returns. A post credits scene reveals the Necronomicon on the cabin grounds, left behind by Ash.
Season 3 (2018)

After the Necronomicon is once again found and read, the Evil Dead makes a return to Elk Grove. Ash reunites with former lover Candace Barr, and learns he has a daughter, Brandy. Ash, Pablo, and Kelly unite against the younger Ruby who plans to kill Ash and turn his long-lost daughter against him. Also introduced are the Knights of Sumeria, an ancient order dedicated to defeating the evil that worship Ash and his destiny to save mankind.

Entering through a dimensional rift, the Dark Ones take revenge on Ruby for imprisoning them millennia ago and reclaim the Necronomicon. With the Dark Ones now in the mortal realm, evil dead are summoned worldwide and a massive creature, Kandar the Destroyer, is unleashed. In Elk Grove, while military forces evacuate citizens, Ash decides to stay behind in order to finally fulfill his destiny of defeating the evil. After saying a heartfelt goodbye to his friends and daughter, Ash commandeers an abandoned tank and fires the Kandarian dagger into the head of Kandar, destroying the evil and saving the world.

Awakening from a coma in the far distant, technologically advanced future, Ash is told that the Dark Ones are on the move. The series ends with Ash saying his iconic line "Groovy" as he embarks on another quest to save the world.
Video games

In the 2000s, Bruce Campbell voiced Ash in a trilogy of video games. The first was Hail to the King, released in 2000 on PlayStation, Dreamcast, and Windows. This game continues after Army of Darkness. Ash is dating Jenny, a fellow S-Mart employee. After she convinces him to return to the cabin to face his fears, his severed hand replays the tape and sets the evil loose again. The second game, A Fistful of Boomstick, released in 2003 on Xbox and PlayStation 2. In this game Ash mentions Jenny died in a bus accident previous to this game. Ash watches TV in a bar in Dearborn, Michigan, where a local TV show, "Mysteries of the Occult", reads the passages from the Necronomicon setting the evil loose and possessing most of the town. The game also features time-travel, including colonial times and the civil war era. The third and final game was Evil Dead: Regeneration, released in 2005 on Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Windows. This game plays through an alternate history: instead of being sucked into the vortex at the end of Evil Dead II, Ash has been placed in a mental institution for the criminally insane. His doctor has gone mad and, having obtained the Necronomicon, releases the deadites once again.

Ash appears in Telltale Games' Poker Night 2. The player participates in a poker tournament against Williams, Sam from Sam & Max, Claptrap from Borderlands, and Brock Samson from The Venture Bros.[15] There is a special conversation in the game where if the player chooses to play in an Evil Dead-inspired room, GLaDOS (the game's dealer) will reveal that Ash is actually Brock's ancestor through time travel as Ash had slept with a woman whose family line Brock is a member of some time during his adventure in Army of Darkness.[16] In another conversation between him and Brock, it is revealed that the store Ash previously worked for, S-Mart, is confirmed to exist in the Venture Bros. universe.

Ash Williams also makes an unofficial appearance as a player character in the run-and-gun platform game Broforce. In keeping with the game's naming convention, he is referred to as "Ash Brolliams". His weapon is a shotgun whose bullets shoot in three directions, and his melee and special is where he slices and dices enemies with his chainsaw hand.

A leak in the perk selection screen revealed that Ash would be making an appearance in Dead by Daylight.[17] He was later officially announced with a trailer on March 28,[18] and released on April 2.

Ash is playable in the indie video game Phantom Halls.

Ash is a playable character in the 2022 video game Evil Dead: The Game, appearing alongside characters and locations from throughout the franchise. Williams is portrayed in all of his incarnations throughout the series.[19]

Ash appears as a playable character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, as well as the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, as part of their sixth seasonal content update. His appearance is adapted from Evil Dead II.[20]

Ash appears as a playable character in RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead as well as being playable in RetroRealms: Halloween in a crossover appearance if both games are owned....Concept and creation

According to Sam Raimi, Ash's name is a reference to his originally intended fate at the end of The Evil Dead, stating "that's all that was going to be left of him in the end." Campbell, however, suggested the name was short for "Ashley"; the character is also referred to as "Ashley" by his sister Cheryl in the original Evil Dead. When creating Army of Darkness, Raimi toyed with giving him the full name "Ashley J. Williams",[32] which was later used by video games and comics involving the character. Campbell later confirmed in Cinefantastique that the full name was official.[33] The Ash vs. Evil Dead episode "Unfinished Business" also reveals that his middle name is Joanna (though the Army of Darkness comics had previously given his middle name as "James" after his grandfather, a fictitious member of the Untouchables[34]).

Bruce Campbell has stated Ash is incompetent at everything except fighting the Evil Dead.[35] Campbell also added that Ash is "a bad slow thinker and a good fast thinker". He knows some degree of hand-to-hand combat techniques, and shows prowess with a variety of weapons in various situations.[36] His main strength seems to be his ingenuity: although he is repeatedly noted in the audio commentaries for The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II for his stupidity and ignorance, he has from the second film on been shown creating such things ranging from his chainsaw bracket and shotgun harness, gunpowder from mainly referencing its elemental makeup in a chemistry book, a fully functional prosthetic hand from a metal gauntlet, and the short-lived "Deathcoaster".

His invention and ingenuity are further expanded on in the games: in Evil Dead: Regeneration, he creates fully functional weapons such as a flamethrower and a harpoon gun from spare parts that are merely laying about; and in Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick, the inventiveness seems to run in Ash's family, as his blacksmith ancestor in the Colonial Dearborn level is quickly able to make a flamethrower and a Gatling gun from spare parts Ash finds for him, when Ash says those things "haven't even been invented yet". In the 1992 comic adaptation of Army of Darkness written by Sam and Ivan Raimi, Ash says that he has a degree in engineering from Michigan State University.[37]

Ash's personality and state of mind change drastically throughout the franchise. In The Evil Dead and the beginning of Evil Dead II, he is something of a laid-back everyman, but by the middle of Evil Dead II and into Army of Darkness, he has grown into a much braver person, and becomes the voice of encouragement and confidence in Arthur's castle. It is at this point that Ash becomes known for his one-liners, and his personality takes on a more cynical, embittered tone. Raimi has said that he feels Ash's personality transformation in Darkness was very out of character.
Characteristics
In The Evil Dead, Ash is portrayed as being incapable of dealing with the events around him. Over the course of the film, Ash gradually overcomes his fears and manages to fight off his possessed friends. He is shown to take his predicament very seriously in the first film, rather than in a comedic manner, as in the subsequent films. Evil Dead II portrays Ash as a braver character. Campbell commented that in the film Ash is more than capable at fighting off monsters. The character gradually became more of an antihero within Evil Dead II and its sequel, Army of Darkness. Ash's most defining characteristic is the chainsaw attached to his right arm, placed after cutting off his possessed hand in Evil Dead II.

Since Army of Darkness, Ash has been portrayed consistently as in Bruce Campbell's words "a guy who doesn't know anything, a big talker".[citation needed] Ash rarely takes situations seriously and is very incompetent as a hero or protagonist; He's often causing the conflict that drives the story forward rather than solving it while having a selfish, self-serving attitude towards others at the same time. In Ash vs. Evil Dead, many of his neighbors call him an "asshole" and complain about his narcissistic cocky attitude while his boss frequently hounds him for making up excuses for getting out of work. At the same time, Ash has been portrayed as a womanizer and in the television series has been shown to flat out lie and invent sympathetic anecdotes to sleep with women at local bars. Ash vs. Evil Dead reveals that his father Brock Williams was often overly competitive with him as a child and it seems that many of Ash's traits have originated from his father's behavior. Despite his immature conceited attitude, Ash has been shown to have a softer, more heroic side. In Army of Darkness he chooses to stay behind and help the people of Arthur's castle fight the deadite army despite having nothing to gain from doing so. Over the course of the television series, Ash bonds with Pablo and Kelly, at one point calling Kelly the "daughter he never had." He also shows regret and remorse when he's forced to kill his elderly neighbor when she's becomes possessed and tries to kill him.

By the time of Ash vs. Evil Dead, decades after the original films, Ash has aged considerably; he now wears dentures, a "man girdle", and dyes his hair. According to Bruce Campbell, "we're milking the age thing now. He was the wrong guy thirty-five years ago, and now he's really the wrong guy for the job and that made it an interesting character to play".[39]

In the films, Ash has fought with several demonic depictions of himself, referred to in Army of Darkness as "Bad Ash", and also as "Evil Ash" by fans.[40] The first illusion was in Evil Dead II, where Ash experiences a hallucination wherein his reflection torments him over dismembering his girlfriend Linda with a chainsaw, and proceeds to choke him, only for Ash to realize he is choking himself. The second appearance was as a clone in Army of Darkness, becoming "Bad Ash". Ash seemingly kills his clone and buries him, but "Bad Ash" is revived after Ash incorrectly recites the Necronomicon incantations. Bad Ash later leads the Army to Arthur's castle to retrieve the Necronomicon, even corrupting Ash's then-love interest Sheila. He battles "Good Ash" for the Necronomicon, gets burnt with a torch, and continues fighting as a skeleton. Finally, Ash cuts off Bad Ash's right hand and catapults him into the sky on a lit sack of gunpowder, which then explodes.[3]

A new version of Bad Ash appears in the TV series Ash vs Evil Dead, spawned from Ash's dismembered hand from Evil Dead II. While essentially the same character, it has more in common with Ash in terms of personality, and even sharing old injuries and ailments which Ash uses to his advantage during their fight. Rather than being overtly evil and openly hostile, it is more subtle and comes across as a psychopath, being friendly and flirty towards Amanda at first but becomes unstable and aggressive when she rejects him. It appears in the third season of the show; born as an infant (but demonstrating superhuman abilities), it soon grows to again resemble the adult Ash. In contrast to the independence of other incarnations, this one is noticeably subservient to its creator, Ruby.
Reception

Ash ranked eleventh on UGO.com's Top 100 Heroes of All Time list, describing him as "an egomaniacal, complaining, misogynistic goon", but also the best "demon and zombie killer ever to be portrayed on the silver screen". They additionally praised the character for his humility at the conclusion of Army of Darkness, in returning to his own time.[41] Empire ranked him the 24th Greatest Movie Character on their list of 100, calling him a "truly iconic horror hero", and a "delirious, delicious, dimwitted" parody of action heroes.[42] He was also ranked number 77 on Fandomania's list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters.[43]

The Evil Dead films and the character of Ash influenced many 1990s first-person shooters such as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, and Blood. Duke Nukem quotes so many lines from Ash that Bruce Campbell stated that he was angered by not being paid for them.[44][45]

Another notable video game character influenced by Ash is Alisa Bosconovitch. Speaking on Alisa's creation, Tekken project director and chief producer Katsuhiro Harada explained, "Alisa was something we created based on internal staff feedback. We really wanted a character with chainsaws on her arms [...] I'm a huge fan of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead."" (wikipedia)

"The Evil Dead is a 1981 American independent supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, and Theresa Tilly as five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in the woods, where they find an audio tape that, when played, releases a legion of demons and spirits. Four members of the group suffer from demonic possession, forcing the fifth member, Ash Williams (Campbell), to survive an onslaught of increasingly gory mayhem.

Raimi, Campbell, producer Robert G. Tapert, and their friends produced the 1978 short film Within the Woods as a proof of concept to build the interest of potential investors, which secured US$90,000 to begin work on The Evil Dead. Principal photography took place on location in a remote cabin in Morristown, Tennessee, in a filming process that proved extremely uncomfortable for the cast and crew. The film's extensive prosthetic makeup and stop-motion effects were created by artist Tom Sullivan. The completed film had its world premiere at the Redford Theatre in Detroit on October 15, 1981, and attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Horror author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which resulted in New Line Cinema acquiring its distribution rights and giving it a wide theatrical release on April 15, 1983.

The Evil Dead grossed $2.4 million in the United States and between $2.9 and $29.4 million worldwide. Both early and later critical reception were universally positive; in the years since its release, the film has developed a reputation as one of the most significant cult classics, having been cited among the greatest horror films of all time, and one of the most successful independent films. It launched the careers of Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell, who have continued to collaborate on several films together, such as Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

The Evil Dead spawned a media franchise, beginning with two direct sequels written and directed by Raimi, Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), a fourth film, Evil Dead (2013), which serves as a soft reboot and continuation, a follow-up television series, Ash vs Evil Dead, which aired from 2015 to 2018, and a fifth film, Evil Dead Rise (2023); the franchise also includes video games and comic books. The film's protagonist Ash Williams is considered to be a cultural icon.[6]
Plot

Five Michigan State University students – Ash Williams, his girlfriend Linda, his sister Cheryl, their friend Scott, and Scott's girlfriend Shelly – vacation at an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee. Approaching the cabin, the group notices the porch swing move on its own but suddenly stop as Scott grabs the door key. While Cheryl draws a picture of a clock, the clock stops, and she hears a faint, demonic voice tell her to "join us". Her hand becomes possessed, turns pale and draws a picture of a book with a demonic face on its cover. Although shaken, she does not mention the incident.

When the cellar trapdoor flies open during dinner, Shelly, Linda, and Cheryl remain upstairs as Ash and Scott investigate the cellar. They find the Naturom Demonto, a Sumerian version of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, along with archaeologist Raymond Knowby's tape recorder, and they take the items upstairs. Scott plays a tape of incantations that resurrect a demonic entity. Cheryl yells for Scott to turn off the tape recorder, and a tree branch breaks one of the cabin's windows. Later that evening, an agitated Cheryl goes into the woods to investigate strange noises and she's attacked and  by the vines and branches of demonically possessed trees. When she escapes and returns to the cabin bruised and anguished, Ash agrees to take her back into town, only to discover that the bridge to the cabin has been destroyed. Cheryl panics as she realizes that they are now trapped and the demonic entity will not let them leave. Back at the cabin, Ash learns from the tape that the only way to kill the entity is to dismember a possessed host. As Linda and Shelly play spades, Cheryl correctly calls out the cards without looking at them, turns into a Deadite and begins levitating. In a raspy, demonic voice, she demands to know why they disturbed her sleep and threatens to kill everyone. She stabs Linda in the ankle with a pencil and throws Ash into a shelf. Scott knocks Cheryl into the cellar and locks her inside.

Everyone fights about what to do. Having become paranoid upon seeing Cheryl's demonic transformation, Shelly goes to her room but is drawn to look out of her window, where a demon crashes through and attacks her, turning her into a Deadite. She attacks Scott before he throws her into the fireplace, slashes her wrist and then stabs her in the back with a Sumerian dagger, apparently killing her. When she reanimates, Scott dismembers her with an axe. Ash and Scott then bury her remains. Shaken by the experience, Scott decides to leave in order to find a way back to town. He returns shortly after, mortally wounded from the possessed trees, and dies while warning Ash that the trees will not let them escape alive. When Ash checks on Linda, he is horrified to find that she has become possessed. She attacks him, but he stabs her with the Sumerian dagger. Unwilling to dismember her, he buries her instead. She revives and attacks him, forcing him to decapitate her with a shovel. Her headless body bleeds on his face as it tries to  him. He manages to escape as Linda dies, and then retreats back to the cabin.

Back inside, Ash discovers that Cheryl has escaped the cellar. Cheryl eludes Ash, and attempts to choke him. Ash escapes her grasp, then shoots Cheryl in the jaw. As Ash is barricading the door, Scott's dead body reanimates into a Deadite. Scott attacks Ash, and inadvertently knocks the book close to the fireplace. Ash gouges Scott's eyes out and pulls a tree branch from Scott's stomach, causing him to bleed out and fall to the ground. Cheryl breaks through the door and knocks Ash to the floor. As Scott and Cheryl continue to attack Ash on the ground, Ash grabs the book and throws it into the fireplace. While the book burns, the Deadites freeze in place, then begin to rapidly decompose. Large appendages burst from both corpses, covering Ash in blood. The bodies of Scott and Cheryl then completely decompose. Dawn breaks, and Ash stumbles outside.

As Ash walks away from the cabin, an unseen demon moves rapidly through the forest, rushes through the cabin, and attacks him as he screams in terror.
Cast

    Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams
    Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl Williams
    Richard DeManincor (as Hal Delrich) as Scott
    Betsy Baker as Linda
    Theresa Tilly (as Sarah York) as Shelly

Uncredited

    Sam Raimi as Local Fisherman and the voice of the Evil Dead[7]
    Robert G. Tapert as Local Fisherman[7]
    Bob Dorian as Professor Knowby's voice

Production
A man sitting next to a microphone placed on a table.
Sam Raimi wrote and directed the short film Within the Woods to generate the interest of investors for The Evil Dead.
Background and writing

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell grew up together, and have been friends from an early age.[8] The duo made several low-budget Super 8 mm film projects together.[9] Several were comedies, including Clockwork and It's Murder!.[10][11] Shooting a suspense scene in It's Murder! inspired them to approach careers in the horror genre; after researching horror cinema at drive-in theaters, Raimi was set on directing a horror film, opting to shoot a proof of concept short film – described by the director as a "prototype" – that would attract the interest of financiers, and use the funds raised to shoot a full-length project.[11][12] The short film that Raimi created was called Within the Woods, which was produced for $1,600.[13] For The Evil Dead, Raimi required over $100,000.[14]

To generate funds to produce the film, Raimi approached Phil Gillis, a lawyer to one of his friends.[14][15] Raimi showed him Within the Woods, and although Gillis was not impressed by the short film, he offered Raimi legal advice on how to produce The Evil Dead. With his advice in mind, Raimi asked a variety of people for donations, and even eventually "begged" some.[14] Campbell had to ask several of his own family members, and Raimi asked every individual he thought might be interested.[14] He eventually raised enough money to produce a full-length film, though not the full amount he originally wanted.[14] Raimi said the film cost $375,000.[3]

With enough money to produce the film, Raimi and Campbell set out to make what was then titled Book of the Dead, a name inspired by Raimi's interest in the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.[11][16] The film was supposed to be a remake of Within the Woods, with higher production values and a full-length running time. Raimi turned 20 just before shooting began, and he considered the project his "rite of passage".[17]
Pre-production and casting
Betsy Baker, Ellen Sandweiss, and Theresa Tilly in 2009

Raimi asked for help and assistance from several of his friends and past collaborators to make The Evil Dead.[17] Campbell offered to produce the film alongside Tapert, and was subsequently cast as Ash Williams, the main character, since his producing responsibilities made him the only actor willing to stay during the production's entirety.[18] To acquire more actors for the project, Raimi put an ad in The Detroit News. Betsy Baker was one of the actresses who responded, and Ellen Sandweiss, who appeared in Within the Woods, was also cast.[17] The crew consisted almost entirely of Raimi and Campbell's friends and family. The special make-up effects artist for Within the Woods, Tom Sullivan, was brought on to compose the effects after expressing a positive reaction to working with Raimi.[18] He helped create many of the film's foam latex and fake blood effects, and added coffee as an extra ingredient to the traditional fake blood formula of corn syrup and food coloring.[19][20]

Without any formal assistance from location scouts, the cast had to find filming locations on their own. The crew initially attempted to shoot the film in Raimi's hometown of Royal Oak, Michigan, but instead chose Morristown, Tennessee, as it was the only state that expressed enthusiasm for the project. The crew quickly found a remote cabin located several miles away from any other buildings. During pre-production, the 13 crew members had to stay at the cabin, leading to several people sleeping in the same room. The living conditions were notoriously difficult, with several arguments breaking out between crew members.[21]

Steve Frankel was the only carpenter on set, which made him the art direction's sole contributor.[22] For exterior shots, Frankel had to produce several elaborate props with a circular saw. Otherwise, the cabin mostly remained the way it was found during production. The cabin had no plumbing, but phone lines were connected to it.[21][23]
Principal photography

The film was made on Kodak 16mm film stock with a rented camera.[24] The inexperienced crew made filming a "comedy of errors".[25] The first day of filming led to them getting lost in the woods during a scene shot on a bridge.[25] Several crew members were injured during the shoot, and because of the cabin's remoteness, securing medical assistance was difficult.[26] One notably gruesome moment on set involved ripping off Baker's eyelashes during removal of her face-mask.[22] Because of the low budget, contact lenses as thick as glass[clarification needed] had to be applied to the actors to achieve the "demonic eyes" effect.[22] The lenses took ten minutes to apply, and could only be left on for about 15 minutes because eyes could not "breathe" with them applied.[22] Campbell later commented that to get the effect of wearing these lenses, they had to put "Tupperware" over their eyes.[22]

Raimi developed a sense of mise en scène, coming up with ideas for scenes at a fast rate.[15] He had drawn several crude illustrations to help him break down the flow of scenes. The crew was surprised when Raimi began using Dutch angles during shots to build atmosphere during scenes.[27] To accommodate Raimi's style of direction, several elaborate, low-budget rigs had to be built, since the crew could not afford a camera dolly. One involved the "vas-o-cam", which relied on a mounted camera that was slid down long wooden platforms to create a more fluid sense of motion.[27]
Sam Raimi's brother Ted Raimi was the "fake shemp" in several scenes.

A camera trick used to emulate a Steadicam inexpensively was the "shaky cam", which involved mounting the camera to a piece of wood and having two camera operators sprint around the swamp.[28] During scenes involving the unseen force in the woods watching the characters, Raimi had to run through the woods with the makeshift rig, jumping over logs and stones.[27] This often proved difficult due to mist in the swamp.[29] The film's final scene was shot with the camera mounted to a bike, while it was quickly driven through the cabin to create a seamless long take.[27]

Raimi had been a big fan of The Three Stooges during his youth, which inspired him to use "Fake Shemps" during production.[10][15][30] In any scene that required a background shot of a character, he used another actor as a substitute if the original actor was preoccupied.[31] During a close-up involving Richard DeManicor's hand opening a curtain, Raimi used his own hand in the scene since it was more convenient.[citation needed] His brother Ted Raimi was used as a "Fake Shemp" in many scenes when the original actor was either busy or preoccupied.[31]

Raimi enjoyed "torturing" his actors.[32][33] Raimi believed that to capture pain and anger in his actors, he had to abuse them a little at times, saying, "if everyone was in extreme pain and misery, that would translate into a horror".[32] Producer Robert Tapert agreed with Raimi, commenting that he "enjoyed when an actor bleeds."[32] While shooting a scene with Campbell running down a hill, Campbell tripped and injured his leg.[34] Raimi enjoyed poking Campbell's injury with a stick he found in the woods. Because of the copious amounts of blood in the film, the crew produced gallons of fake blood with Karo corn syrup.[26][34] It took Campbell hours to remove the sticky substance from himself.[34] Several actors had inadvertently been stabbed or thrown into objects during production.[32][34] During the last few days on set, the conditions had become so extreme the crew began burning furniture to stay warm. Since at that point only exterior shots needed to be filmed, they burned nearly every piece of furniture left.[35] Several actors went days without showering, and because of the freezing conditions, several caught colds and other illnesses. Campbell later described the filming process as nearly "twelve weeks of mirthless exercise in agony", though he allowed that he did manage to have fun while on set.[34] On January 23, 1980, filming was finished and almost every crew member left the set to return home, with Campbell staying with Raimi.[35] While looking over the footage that had been shot, Raimi discovered that a few pick-ups were required to fill in missing shots. Four days of re-shoots were then done to complete the film.[36] The final moment involved Campbell having "monster-guts" splattered on him in the basement.[36]

Summing up the production decades later, Campbell remarked: "It's low-budget, it's got rough edges," but even so, "there are parts of that movie that are visually stunning."[37]
Editing
Two men in button-up shirts smiling.
Joel Coen (pictured right) of the Coen brothers helped to edit the film.

After the extensive filming process, Raimi had a "mountain of footage" that he had to put together.[26][38] He chose a Detroit editing association, where he met Edna Paul, to cut the film. Paul's assistant was Joel Coen of the Coen brothers, who helped with the film's editing.[38][39] Paul edited a majority of the film, although Coen edited the shed sequence. Coen had been inspired by Raimi's Within the Woods and liked the idea of producing a prototype film to help build the interest of investors.[39][40] Joel used the concept to help make Blood Simple with his brother Ethan, and he and Raimi became friends following the editing process.[16][40]

The film's first cut ran at around 117 minutes, which Campbell called an impressive achievement in light of the 65-minute length of the screenplay. The cut scenes were to focus on the main character's lamentation of not being able to save the victims from their deaths, but was edited down to make the film less "grim and depressing" and to be a more marketable 85 minutes.[38] Raimi was inspired by the fact that Brian De Palma was editing his own film Blow Out with John Travolta at the same sound facility.[38] One of the most intricate moments during editing was the stop-motion animation sequence where the corpses "melted", which took hours to cut properly.[38] The film had unique sounds that required extensive recording from the crew.[38][41] Several sounds were not recorded properly during shooting, which meant the effects had to be redone in the editing rooms. Dead chickens were stabbed to replicate the sounds of mutilated flesh, and Campbell had to scream into a microphone for several hours.[38]

Much like Within the Woods, The Evil Dead needed to be blown up to 35mm, the industry standard, to be played at movie theaters.[38] The relatively large budget made this a much simpler process with The Evil Dead than it had been with the short film.
Promotion and distribution rights
View of a movie theater marquee.
The Evil Dead premiered at the Redford Theatre because Bruce Campbell watched films there as a child.

With the film completed, Raimi and the crew decided to celebrate with a "big premiere".[42] They chose to screen the film at Detroit's Redford Theatre, which Campbell had often visited as a child.[26] Raimi opted to have the most theatrical premiere possible, using custom tickets and wind tracks[clarification needed] set in the theater, and ordering ambulances outside the theater to build atmosphere.[42][43] The premiere setup was inspired by horror director William Castle, who would often attempt to scare his audiences by using gimmicks. Local turnout for the premiere exceeded the cast's expectations, with a thousand patrons showing up. The audiences responded enthusiastically to the premiere, which led to Raimi's idea of "touring" the film to build hype.[42]

Raimi showed the film to anyone willing to watch it, booking meetings with distribution agents and anyone with experience in the film industry.[44] Eventually Raimi came across Irvin Shapiro, the man who was responsible for the distribution of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and other famous horror films.[45][46] Upon first viewing the film, he joked that while it "wasn't Gone with the Wind", it had commercial potential, and he expressed an interest in distributing it.[44] It was his idea not to use the then-title Book of the Dead, because he thought it made the film sound boring. Raimi brainstormed several ideas, eventually going with The Evil Dead, deemed the "least worst" title.[44] Shapiro also advised distributing the film worldwide to garner a larger income, though it required a further financial investment by Raimi, who managed to scrape together what little money he had.[44]
Close-up of a man wearing glasses.
Stephen King cited The Evil Dead as one of his favorite films, which brought the interest of New Line Cinema.

Shapiro was a founder of the Cannes Film Festival, and allowed Raimi to screen the film at the 1982 festival out of competition.[47][48] Stephen King was present at its screening and gave the film a rave review. USA Today released an article about King's favorite horror films; the author cited The Evil Dead as his fifth favorite film of the genre.[48] The film severely affected King, who commented that while watching the film at Cannes, he was "registering things [he] had never seen in a movie before".[49] He became one of the film's largest supporters during the early efforts to find a distributor, eventually describing it as the "most ferociously original film of the year", a quote used in the film's promotional pieces.[16][50] King's comments attracted the interest of critics, who otherwise would likely have dismissed the low-budget thriller.[49][51]

The film's press attracted the attention of British film distribution agent Stephen Woolley.[52][53] Though he considered the film a big risk, Woolley decided to take on the job of releasing the film in the United Kingdom.[54] The film was promoted in an unconventional manner for a film of its budget, receiving marketing on par with that of larger budget films.[51][55] Dozens of promotional pieces, including film posters and trailers, were showcased in the UK, heavy promotion rarely expended on such a low-budget film.[56] Woolley was impressed by Raimi, whom he called "charming", and was an admirer of the film, which led to his taking more risks with the film's promotion than he normally would have.[55][57]

Fangoria started covering the film in late 1982, writing several articles about the film's long production history.[58] Early critical reception at the time was very positive, and along with Fangoria, King and Shapiro's approval, the film generated an impressive amount of interest before its commercial premiere.[51] New Line Cinema, one of the distributors interested in the film, negotiated an agreement to distribute it domestically.[45] The film had several "sneak previews" before its commercial release, including screenings in New York and Detroit. Audience reception at both screenings was widely enthusiastic, and interest was built for the film to such an extent that wider distribution was planned. New Line Cinema wrote Raimi a check large enough to pay off all the investors, and decided to release the film in an unusual manner:[45] simultaneously into both cinemas and onto VHS, with substantial domestic promotion.[47]
Release
Theatrical

Because of its large promotional campaign, the film performed above expectations at the box office.[47] However, the initial domestic gross was described as "disappointing."[59] The movie opened in 15 theaters and grossed $108,000 in its opening weekend.[59] Word of mouth later spread, and the film became a "sleeper hit". It grossed $2,400,000 domestically, nearly eight times its production budget. Sources differ as to whether it grossed $261,944 overseas, for a worldwide gross of $2,661,944, or $27 million overseas, for a worldwide gross of $29.4 million.[60][5][59] Raimi said in 1990 that the film "did very well overseas and did very poorly domestically" and that its investors earned a return of "about five times their initial investment."[3]
Rating

The film's release was met with controversy, as Raimi had made the film as gruesome as possible with neither interest in nor fear of censorship. Writer Bruce Kawin described The Evil Dead as one of the most notorious splatter films of its day, along with Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit on Your Grave.[41][61]

In the UK, the film was trimmed by 49 seconds before it was granted an X certificate for cinema release. This censored version was also released on home video; at the time there was no requirement that films had to be classified for video release. An anti-media organization campaign led to the film being branded a "video nasty". When the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984, the video version was banned. In 1990, an additional 66 seconds were cut from the already censored version, earning the film an 18 certificate for home video release. Finally, in 2000, the uncut version received an 18 certificate for both cinema and home video....Sequels

The Evil Dead was followed by a series of sequels. The franchise is noted from attracting attention for each sequel featuring more comedic qualities than the last, progressing into "weirder" territory with each film.[97] Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn was a black comedy-horror film which released in 1987, and was a box-office success.[98] It received general acclaim from critics, and is often considered to be superior to the first film.[97] This was followed by Army of Darkness, a comedy fantasy-horror film released in 1992. At that time, Raimi had become a successful director, attracting Hollywood's interest.[99] His superhero film Darkman (1990) was another box-office success, which led to an increased budget for Army of Darkness.[97][100][101] Army of Darkness had 22.8 times the budget of the original Evil Dead, though it was not considered to be a box-office success like its two predecessors.[99][102] It was met with mostly positive critical reception.[97] After any additional installments suffered through development hell, a supernatural-horror soft reboot/legacy sequel titled Evil Dead was released in 2013, featuring Jane Levy as the main character Mia Allen. Directed and co-written by Fede Álvarez, the film was produced by Raimi and Campbell. The film, which was a departure from the humor of the previous two films, was a moderate box office success and was praised for its dark and bloody story. While various projects going through varying stages of development, a continuation was released as a television series titled, Ash vs. Evil Dead. Created and executive produced by Sam Raimi, the series aired from 2015-2018.

After further film installments once again remained in development hell for a number of years, a fifth feature film titled Evil Dead Rise was announced to be in development. The project began filming in June 2021, with Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin serving as writer/director. Though Campbell reprised his role as Ashley "Ash" J. Williams in each of the proceeding sequels, he did not appear in the film.[99][97] The film was released theatrically on April 21, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures.[103]
Foreign market
Unofficial sequels were made in Italy, where the film was known as La Casa ("The House"). Produced by Joe D'Amato's Filmirage, two mostly unrelated films were released and marketed as sequels to Evil Dead II: Umberto Lenzi's La Casa 3: Ghosthouse and La Casa 4: Witchery starring Linda Blair and David Hasselhoff. The final film was released in 1990 and titled, La Casa 5: Beyond Darkness.[92][104] The film House II: The Second Story was reissued and retitled in Italy as La Casa 6; followed by The Horror Show which was released in Italy as La Casa 7....Legacy

The original Evil Dead trilogy of films has been recognized as one of the most successful cult film series in history.[59][105][106] David Lavery, in his book The Essential Cult TV Reader, surmised that Campbell's "career is a practical guide to becoming a cult idol".[106] The film launched the careers of Raimi and Campbell, who have since collaborated frequently.[107] Raimi has worked with Campbell in virtually all of his films since, and Campbell has appeared in cameo roles in all three of Raimi's Spider-Man films[107] (as well as a very brief appearance at the end of Darkman), which have become some of the highest-grossing films in history.[107][108] Though it has often been considered an odd choice for Raimi, a director known for his violent horror films, to direct a family-friendly franchise, the hiring was mostly inspired by Raimi's passion for comic books as a child.[107][109] Raimi returned to the horror-comedy genre in 2009 with Drag Me to Hell.[110]

Critics have often compared Campbell's later performances to his role in Evil Dead, which has been called his defining role.[111][112] Campbell's performance as Ash has been compared to roles ranging from his performance of Elvis Presley in the film Bubba Ho-tep to the bigamous demon in The X-Files episode "Terms of Endearment".[113][114] Campbell's fan base gradually developed after the release of Evil Dead II and his short-lived series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr..[115] He is a regular favorite at most fan conventions and often draws sold-out auditoriums at his public appearances.[116] The Evil Dead developed a substantial cult following throughout the years, and has often been cited as a defining cult classic.[59][115]

The Evil Dead has spawned a media franchise. A video game adaptation of the same name was released for the Commodore 64 in 1984, as was a trilogy of survival horror games in the 1990s and early 2000s: Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration.[117] Ted Raimi did voices for the trilogy, and Campbell returned as the voice of Ash. The character Ash became the main character of a comic book franchise.[118] Ash has fought both Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees in the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash series, Herbert West in Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator, zombie versions of the Marvel Comics superheroes in Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness, and has even saved the life of a fictional Barack Obama in Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama.[119][120] In January 2008, Dark Horse Comics began releasing a four-part monthly comic book mini-series, written by Mark Verheiden and drawn by John Bolton, based on The Evil Dead.[121] The film has also inspired a stage musical, Evil Dead: The Musical, which was produced with the permission of Raimi and Campbell. The musical has run on and off since its inception in 2003.[122]

After the film was released, many people began to trespass onto the filming location in Morristown. In 1982, the cabin was burned down by drunken trespassers. Although the cabin is now gone, the chimney remains, which many people now take stones from when they trespass onto the location.[123]

In 2022, a video game adaptation of the series called Evil Dead: The Game was released.

In 2021, heavy metal band Ice Nine Kills released a song titled "Ex-Mørtis" on their album The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood, which is composed of songs each explicitly linked to specific horror media per the album's booklet of liner notes; "Ex-Mørtis" is stated to be inspired by The Evil Dead." (wikipedia)

"Evil Dead II (also known in publicity materials as Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn)[6] is a 1987 American comedy horror film directed by Sam Raimi, who co-wrote it with Scott Spiegel. The second installment in the Evil Dead film series, it is considered both a remake and sequel (or "re-quel")[7] to The Evil Dead (1981).[8][9][10] It stars Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, who vacations with his girlfriend to a remote cabin in the woods. He discovers an audio tape of recitations from a book of ancient texts, and when the recording is played, it unleashes a number of demons which possess and torment him.

After the critical and commercial failure of Crimewave (1985), Raimi, producer Robert Tapert, and Campbell began work on a sequel to The Evil Dead at the insistence of their publicist Irvin Shapiro. Having endorsed the original film, author Stephen King brought the project to the attention of producer Dino De Laurentiis, with whom he had been making his directorial debut Maximum Overdrive (1986). De Laurentiis agreed to provide financial backing, and assigned the filmmakers a considerably larger budget than they had worked with on the original film. Although Raimi had devised a premise set in the Middle Ages and involving time travel, De Laurentiis requested that the film be similar to its predecessor.

Evil Dead II was shot in Wadesboro, North Carolina and Detroit, Michigan in 1986, and featured extensive stop-motion animation and prosthetic makeup effects created by a team of artists that included Mark Shostrom, Greg Nicotero, Robert Kurtzman and Tom Sullivan, the latter of whom returned from the original film. The finished film was released in the United States on March 13, 1987; due to its high level of violence, it was released through a pseudonymous distributor to curb an anticipated X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Much like The Evil Dead, it was widely acclaimed by critics, who praised its humor, Raimi's direction, and Campbell's performance; many have considered it superior to its predecessor and similarly as one of the greatest horror films ever made. Despite being given a somewhat limited release, it was a minor box office success, grossing just under $6 million.

As with the first film, Evil Dead II has accumulated a large, international cult following. In 1992, it was followed by the direct sequel Army of Darkness, which utilized Raimi's original premise; in 2013, it was followed by the soft reboot and continuation Evil Dead; and in 2015, it was followed by the television series Ash vs Evil Dead. A fifth film in the series, Evil Dead Rise, was released on April 21, 2023.
Plot

Ash Williams and his girlfriend, Linda, take a romantic vacation to a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods. While in the cabin, Ash plays a tape of archaeologist Raymond Knowby, the cabin's previous inhabitant, reciting passages from the "Book of the Dead", Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, which he has discovered during an archaeological dig. The recorded incantation unleashes an evil force (also known as the Kandarian Demon) that kills and later possesses Linda, turning her into a "deadite". Ash is then forced to decapitate her with a shovel and bury her in a shallow grave near the cabin. At dawn, the evil force throws Ash through the woods. He briefly becomes possessed by the demon, but when day breaks, he is inexplicably returned to normal.

He attempts to flee the area but finds that the bridge to the cabin has been destroyed. The spirit chases him back to the cabin, where Linda's revived head attacks him and bites his hand. He runs to the shed, where her headless body attacks him with a chainsaw, but he overpowers and slashes the deadite Linda to death. His right hand becomes possessed and tries to kill him, and he severs it with the chainsaw before attempting to shoot it with a shotgun, but the hand mocks him and ultimately escapes. Meanwhile, Knowby's daughter Annie, and her research partner, Ed Getley, return from the dig with the missing pages of the Necronomicon, only to find the destroyed bridge. They enlist repairman Jake and his girlfriend Bobby Joe to show them another route to the cabin, where they find an embattled Ash covered in blood. Thinking that he murdered Annie's parents, Annie and the others lock him in the cellar.

The four new arrivals listen to the rest of Knowby's recording, detailing how his wife Henrietta was possessed by the Kandarian Demon, and that he killed her and buried her in the cellar. Henrietta, now a deadite, possesses Ed; Ash dismembers him with an axe. Bobby Joe tries to escape, but demonically possessed trees attack and drag her to her death. Annie translates two of the Necronomicon's pages before Jake turns on them and throws the pages into the cellar, forcing them at gunpoint to find Bobby Joe. Ash becomes possessed once again and attacks Jake. Annie retreats to the cabin and accidentally stabs Jake (mistaking him for the possessed Ash) before Henrietta kills him. Deadite Ash tries to kill Annie, but returns to his normal self upon seeing Linda's necklace.

With Annie's help, Ash modifies the chainsaw, attaches it to the stump of his right arm, and cuts the shotgun's barrel. After finding the missing pages of the Necronomicon in the cellar, Ash kills Henrietta. The trees outside begin to destroy the cabin. Annie reveals that she has only read the first half of the incantation and attempts to finish the second half. As she reads it, Ash's severed hand uses a Kandarian dagger to stab her in the back. She manages to complete the incantation before succumbing to her wound. The incantation opens up a whirling temporal vortex which not only draws in the demon, but also Ash and his Oldsmobile Delta 88.

Ash and his Oldsmobile land in the Middle Ages. A group of knights confront him and initially mistake him for a deadite, but are quickly distracted when a real harpy-like deadite appears. Ash blasts it with his shotgun and they hail him as a hero who has come to save them. Realizing that he was the hero prophesied in the book, Ash breaks down and screams in anguish as they hail him.
Cast

    Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams
    Sarah Berry as Annie Knowby
    Dan Hicks as Jake
    Kassie Wesley as Bobby Joe
    Denise Bixler as Linda
        Snowy Winters as Dancing demon Linda[11]
    Richard Domeier as Professor Ed Getley
    John Peaks as Professor Knowby
    Lou Hancock as Henrietta Knowby
        Ted Raimi as Possessed Henrietta
    William Preston Robertson as the voice of the Evil Dead

Production
Development

The concept of a sequel to The Evil Dead was discussed during location shooting on the first film. Irvin Shapiro, the film's publicist, pushed writer/director Sam Raimi to devise a premise for such a film. Working with screenwriter Sheldon Lettich, Raimi settled on a story in which Ash was sucked through a time portal to the Middle Ages, where he would encounter more deadites. Shapiro was enticed by the concept, and took out advertisements in trade magazines to promote the project, then titled Evil Dead II: Evil Dead and the Army of Darkness, in May 1984. After Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox passed on it, the sequel was shelved in favor of Raimi's next film, Crimewave (1985), a comedy/crime film co-written with Joel and Ethan Coen.[12]

After Crimewave was released to critical and audience disinterest, Raimi and his partners at Renaissance Pictures, producer Robert Tapert and actor/co-producer Bruce Campbell, took Shapiro up on his sequel offer, knowing that another flop would further stall their already-lagging careers. Development of Evil Dead II initially began in collaboration with Embassy Pictures, which had co-financed and distributed Crimewave, but the filmmakers eventually felt that they were being stalled after five months' pre-production work, and began conducting interviews with prospective cast and crew members.[12] Around this time, producer Dino De Laurentiis, the owner of production and distribution company De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), asked Raimi if he would be interested in directing an adaptation of the Stephen King novel Thinner. Raimi turned down the offer, but De Laurentiis remained in touch with the young filmmaker.[13]: 135 

The Thinner adaptation was part of a deal between De Laurentiis and King to produce several adaptations of King's successful horror novels and short stories. At the time, King was directing the first such adaptation, Maximum Overdrive (1986), based on his short story "Trucks". He had dinner with a crew member who had been among those interviewed by Raimi and his colleagues about Evil Dead II, and told King that the film was having trouble attracting funding. Upon hearing this, King, who had written a glowing review of the first film that helped it become an audience favorite at Cannes, called De Laurentiis and asked him to fund the film.[13]: 104  While he was initially skeptical, De Laurentiis met with Renaissance, who highlighted the first film's extremely high revenue in the Italian market. Within twenty minutes, De Laurentiis agreed to finance Evil Dead II for $3.6 million. Raimi and Tapert had desired $4 million for the production, but De Laurentiis requested a film that was similar to its predecessor instead of their original medieval-themed proposal, which was instead used for the second sequel, Army of Darkness (1992).[13]: 106 
Writing

Despite Raimi's crew having only recently received the funding necessary to produce the film, the script had been written for some time, having been composed largely during the production of Crimewave. Raimi contacted his old friend Scott Spiegel, who had collaborated with Campbell and others on the Super 8 mm films they had produced during their childhood in Michigan. Most of these films had been comedies, and Spiegel felt that Evil Dead II should be less straight horror than the first. Initially, the opening sequence included all five of the original film's characters; however, in an effort to save time and money, all but Ash and Linda were cut from the final draft. The film went through several other drafts, including a group of escaped convicts holding Ash captive in the cabin while searching for buried treasure.[13]: 109–110 

Spiegel and Raimi wrote most of the film in their house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, where they were living with the aforementioned Coen brothers, as well as actors Frances McDormand, Kathy Bates, and Holly Hunter (the primary inspiration for the Bobby Joe character). Due both to the distractions of their house guests and the films they were involved with, Crimewave and Josh Becker's Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except, the script took a long time to finish.[13]: 109 

Among the film's many inspirations include the Three Stooges and slapstick comedy films. Ash's fights with his disembodied hand come from a film made by Spiegel as a teenager titled Attack of the Helping Hand, which was itself inspired by television commercials advertising Hamburger Helper. The "laughing room" scene, where all the objects in the room seemingly come to life and begin to cackle maniacally along with Ash, came about after Spiegel jokingly used a gooseneck lamp to visually demonstrate a Popeye-esque laugh. Spiegel's humorous influence can be seen throughout the film, perhaps most prominently in certain visual jokes. For instance, when Ash traps his rogue hand under a pile of books, on top is A Farewell to Arms.[13]: 111 

While Raimi and Campbell have stated that Evil Dead II was intended as a direct sequel, there are differences between the first installment and the recap at the beginning of the second: for example, the Necronomicon is destroyed in a fire by Ash during the conclusion of The Evil Dead, but remains intact in Evil Dead II. The corpses of Ash's friends from the first are absent, and are never mentioned. The cabin itself remains perfectly intact until the events of this film, despite much of it having been destroyed in the original film.
Filming

With the script completed and a production company secured, principal photography began on Evil Dead II. The production commenced in Wadesboro, North Carolina, not far from De Laurentiis' offices in Wilmington. De Laurentiis had wanted them to film in his elaborate Wilmington studio, but the production team felt uneasy being so close to the producer, so they moved to Wadesboro, approximately three hours away. Steven Spielberg had previously filmed The Color Purple in Wadesboro, and the large white farmhouse used as an exterior location in that film became the production office for Evil Dead II. Most of the film was shot in the woods near that farmhouse, or J.R. Faison Junior High School, where the interior cabin set was located.[13]: 113 

Mark Shostrom served as the film's makeup effects supervisor, and delegated work to Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger of KNB EFX Group.[14] The shot of undead Henrietta's flying eyeball was accomplished using a ping pong ball provided and painted by KNB EFX.[15] Effects artist Verne Hyde, who joined the North Carolina unit in 1986 after filming had already begun, experimented with various rigs in order to achieve the effect Raimi desired.[15] It was ultimately achieved by mounting the eyeball on a small, spinning motor, attached to a wand bolted directly onto the camera.[15]

Ted Raimi, director Sam's younger brother, had been briefly involved in the first film, acting as a fake Shemp. However, in Evil Dead II, he plays a larger role as the undead Henrietta. Raimi wore a full-body, latex costume, and was also made to crouch in a small hole in the floor acting as a "cellar"; on one day, he did both. Raimi became extremely overheated to the point that his costume was filled with liters of sweat; Nicotero describes pouring the fluid into several Dixie cups so as to get it out of the costume. The sweat is also visible on-screen, dripping out of the costume's ear, in the scene where Henrietta spins around over Annie's head.[13]: 125 

For Ash's chainsaw hand, effects artist Verne Hyde modified a real chainsaw, replacing its gasoline engine with a small, 12-volt electric motor, leaving space for Campbell to insert his hand into the body of the saw.[15] The teeth of the saw were filed down for safety purposes, and tobacco smoke was pumped through a plastic tube that ran up Campbell's leg to simulate chainsaw smoke.[15]

The crew sneaked various in-jokes into the film itself, such as the clawed glove of Freddy Krueger (the primary antagonist of Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street series of slasher films) which hangs in the cabin's basement and tool shed. This was, at least partially, a reference to a scene in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, where the character Nancy Thompson (portrayed by Heather Langenkamp) dozes off watching the original Evil Dead on a television set in her room. In turn, that scene was a reference to the torn The Hills Have Eyes poster seen in the original Evil Dead film, which was itself a reference to a torn Jaws poster in The Hills Have Eyes.[citation needed] The real life clawed glove appearing in Evil Dead II has been attributed to Shostrom, who was also working on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors at around the same time as Evil Dead II, suggesting he borrowed it from the Dream Warriors set for a day.[16] The rat seen in the cellar was nicknamed "Señor Cojones" by the crew ("cojones" is Spanish slang for "testicles").[citation needed]

At the film's wrap party, the crew held a talent contest where Raimi and Campbell sang the Byrds' "Eight Miles High", with Nicotero on guitar.[17]
Music

The score was composed by Joseph LoDuca, who also composed the other two scores in the Evil Dead trilogy. In 2017, Waxwork Records released the soundtrack on vinyl for the film's 30th anniversary.[18]
Release
Pre-release

Like the original film, Evil Dead II had censorship difficulties due to its high level of violence. Because DEG was a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Raimi was contractually obliged to shoot the film with the intention of it earning an R rating. Upon reviewing the completed film, DEG's executives felt that Evil Dead II would almost certainly receive an X rating, which would limit its commercial prospects.[12] Lawrence Gleason, the company's president of marketing and distribution, felt that if it were to be cut for an R, the film "would have been about 62 minutes long" and that both Raimi's vision and the audience's enjoyment would have been sabotaged as a result.[19]

Ultimately, DEG decided not to submit Evil Dead II to the MPAA for review or be credited onscreen for their involvement in it. Instead, Rosebud Releasing Corporation, a shell company run by De Laurentiis' son-in-law Alex De Benedetti, was set up to handle the film's US release, allowing it to be shown unrated. Although Rosebud technically did not have a distribution network, DEG had already booked the film in 340 cinemas across the country, and had created and paid for the film's advertising campaign.[19] Rosebud's logo, a rose blooming in time-lapse photography against a painted sky backdrop, was designed and shot by Raimi himself....In popular culture

The Elvis Dead, an English comic stage show, retells Evil Dead II in the style of Elvis Presley.

The 1993 hit first-person shooter video game Doom was inspired by Evil Dead II. The game's programmer John Carmack came up with the game's concept about using technology to fight demons, inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns the team played, combining the styles of Evil Dead II and Aliens.[43][44]

The 1991 hit song "People Are Still Having Sex" by LaTour contains a dialogue sample of the, "... hello lover!" line from the film.

The 2023 music video for "Bogus Operandi" by The Hives is heavily inspired by Evil Dead 2. The music video features a demonic tape, forest point-of-view shots, and white eyed zombies." (wikipedia)

"Army of Darkness[a] is a 1992 American dark fantasy comedy film directed, co-written, and co-edited by Sam Raimi.[3][4] The film is the third installment in the Evil Dead film series and the sequel to Evil Dead II (1987). Starring Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz, it follows Ash Williams (Campbell) as he is trapped in the Middle Ages and battles the undead in his quest to return to the present.

The film was produced as part of a production deal with Universal Pictures after the financial success of Darkman (1990). Filming took place in California in 1991. The makeup and creature effects for the film were handled by two different companies: Tony Gardner and his company Alterian, Inc. were responsible for the makeup effects for Ash and Sheila, while Kurtzman, Nicotero & Berger EFX Group was credited for the remaining special makeup effects characters.[5] Tom Sullivan, who had previously worked on Within the Woods, The Evil Dead, and Evil Dead II, also contributed to the visual effects.[6][7]

Army of Darkness had its premiere at the Sitges Film Festival on October 9, 1992, and was released in the United States on February 19, 1993. It grossed $21.5 million total over its $11 million budget and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Raimi's direction, humor, visuals and Campbell's performance, though criticism was aimed at the lighter tone compared to the previous films.

Despite not being a box office success in the U.S., it became a success on video release and later garnered a cult following from fans of the series, along with the other two films in the trilogy. The film was dedicated to The Evil Dead sales agent and Evil Dead II executive producer Irvin Shapiro, who died before the film's production in 1989.
Plot

Having been accidentally transported to the Middle Ages,[b] Ash Williams is captured by Lord Arthur's men, who suspect him of being a spy for Duke Henry, with whom Arthur is at war. He is enslaved along with the captured Henry, his shotgun and chainsaw are confiscated, and he is taken to Arthur's castle. Ash is thrown in a pit where he kills a Deadite and regains his weapons from Arthur's Wise Man. After demanding that Henry and his men be set free and killing a Deadite publicly, Ash is celebrated as a hero. He grows attracted to Sheila, the sister of one of Arthur's fallen knights.

According to the Wise Man, the only way that Ash can return to his time is through the magical Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Ash then starts his search for the Necronomicon. As he enters a haunted forest, an unseen force pursues Ash into a windmill, and he crashes into a mirror. Small reflections of Ash in the mirror shards come to life and antagonize him, with one becoming a life-sized copy of him, which Ash dismembers and buries.

When he arrives at the Necronomicon's location, he finds three books instead of one, and has to determine which one is real. Realizing at the last moment that he has forgotten the last word of the phrase that will allow him to remove the book safely – "Klaatu barada nikto" – he tries to mumble and cough his way through the pronunciation. He grabs the book and begins rushing back. Meanwhile, unknown to Ash, his ruse has failed and his body's copy rises from the dead, uniting other Deadites into the Army of Darkness.

Upon his return, Ash demands to be returned to his own time. However, Sheila is abducted by a flying Deadite and later transformed into one by "Evil Ash". Ash becomes determined to lead the outnumbered humans against the Army, and the people reluctantly agree. Using knowledge from textbooks in his 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 and enlisting the help of Duke Henry, Ash successfully leads the soldiers to victory over the Deadites, blows up "Evil Ash", saves Sheila, and brings peace between Arthur and Henry. Using a passage from the Necronomicon, the Wise Man tells him how to return to the present by giving him a potion after reciting the same phrase as earlier.

Back in the present, Ash recounts his story to a fellow employee at the S-Mart department store. As he talks to a female co-worker who is interested in his story, a surviving Deadite, present because Ash once again forgot the last word, attacks the customers. Ash kills it using a Winchester rifle and exclaims, "Hail to the king, baby", before passionately kissing the co-worker.
Original ending

For the film's original ending, using a passage from the Necronomicon, the Wise Man tells Ash to swallow six drops of the potion to return to the present; unfortunately, due to a distraction by falling rocks, Ash miscalculates the amount of potion needed to be able to correctly return to his own time, swallowing seven instead of six. As a result, Ash wakes up in a post-apocalyptic London where human civilization is destroyed, and he screams in dismay at having overslept. Universal Pictures objected to this climax, feeling that it was too negative and depressing in tone; as such, a more positive and optimistic ending was filmed and ultimately incorporated into the theatrical cut.[8][9][10]
Cast

    Bruce Campbell as Ashley "Ash" J. Williams and "Evil Ash"
    Embeth Davidtz as Sheila
    Marcus Gilbert as Lord Arthur
    Ian Abercrombie as Wise Man
    Richard Grove as Duke Henry the Red
    Timothy Patrick Quill as Blacksmith
    Michael Earl Reid as Gold Tooth
    Bridget Fonda as Linda
    Bill Moseley as Deadite captain
    Patricia Tallman as Possessed witch
    Ted Raimi as Cowardly warrior/Second supportive villager/S-Mart clerk/Skeleton voices
    Angela Featherstone as Girl in S-Mart (uncredited)[citation needed]

Production
Development

Plans to make a third Evil Dead film had been circulating for a number of years, even prior to the production of Darkman.[11] Evil Dead II made enough money internationally that Dino De Laurentiis was willing to finance a sequel.[11] Director and script writer Sam Raimi drew from a variety of sources, including literature with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, The Three Stooges, and Conan the Barbarian. Evil Dead II, according to Bruce Campbell, "was originally designed to go back into the past to 1300, but we couldn't muster it at the time, so we decided to make an interim version, not knowing if the 1300 story would ever get made".[12] Promotional drawings were created and published in Variety during the casting process before the budget was deemed too little for the plot. The working title for the project was Medieval Dead, before it was later known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness.[13][14] The title "Army of Darkness" came from an idea by Irvin Shapiro, during the production of Evil Dead II.[15]
Writing

Initially, Raimi invited Scott Spiegel to co-write Army of Darkness because he had done a good job on Evil Dead II, but he was busy on rewrites for the Clint Eastwood film The Rookie.[16] After the good experience of writing the screenplay for a film called Easy Wheels, Sam and his brother Ivan decided to co-write the film together.[17] They worked on the script throughout the pre-production and production of Darkman.[11] After filming Darkman, they took the script out and worked on it in more detail. Raimi says that Ivan "has a good sense of character" and that he brought more comedy into the script.[17] Campbell remembers, "We all decided, 'Get him out of the cabin.' There were earlier drafts where part three still took place there, but we thought, 'Well, we all know that cabin, it's time to move on.' The three of us decided to keep it in 1300, because it's more interesting".[12] Campbell and Tapert would read the script drafts, give Raimi their notes and he would decide which suggestions to keep and which ones to discard.[18]
Pre-production

The initial budget was $8 million; during pre-production, however, it became obvious that this was not going to be enough.[11] Darkman was also a financial success and De Laurentiis had a multi-picture deal with Universal and so Army of Darkness became one of the films. The studio decided to contribute half of the film's $12 million budget.[19] However, the film's ambitious scope and its extensive effects work forced Campbell, Raimi and producer Robert Tapert to put up $1 million of their collective salaries to shoot a new ending and not film a scene where a possessed woman pushes down some giant pillars.[11] Visual effects supervisor William Mesa showed Raimi storyboards he had from Victor Fleming's film Joan of Arc that depicted huge battle scenes and he picked out 25 shots to use in Army of Darkness.[20] A storyboard artist worked closely with the director in order to blend the shots from the Joan of Arc storyboards with the battle scenes in his film.[20]

Traci Lords was among the actresses auditioning for the film, saying in 2001, "I didn't get the part but I clicked with Bruce [Campbell]," with whom she would later work as a guest star in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.[21]
Filming

Principal photography took place between soundstage and on-location work. Army of Darkness was filmed in Bronson Canyon and Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park. The interior shots were filmed on an Introvision stage in Hollywood. Raimi's use of the Introvision process was a tribute to the stop-motion animation work of Ray Harryhausen.[20] Introvision uses front-projected images with live actors instead of the traditional rear projection that Harryhausen and others used. Introvision blended components with more realistic-looking results. To achieve this effect, Raimi used 60-foot-tall Scotchlite front-projection screens, miniatures and background plates.[20] According to the director, the advantage of using this technique was "the incredible amount of interaction between the background, which doesn't exist, and the foreground, which is usually your character".[22]

Shooting began in mid-1991, and it lasted for about 100 days.[23] It was a mid-summer shoot and while on location on a huge castle set that was built near Acton, California, on the edge of the Mojave Desert, the cast and crew endured very hot conditions during the day and very cold temperatures at night.[24] Most of the film took place at night and the filmmakers shot most of the film during the summer when the days were longest and the nights were the shortest. It would take an hour and a half to light an area leaving the filmmakers only six hours left to shoot a scene.[25] Money problems forced cinematographer Bill Pope to shoot only for certain hours Monday through Friday because he could not be paid his standard fee. Mesa shot many of the action sequences on the weekend.[26]

It was a difficult shoot for Campbell who had to learn elaborate choreography for the battle scenes, which involved him remembering a number system because the actor was often fighting opponents that were not really there.[27] Mesa remembers, "Bruce was cussing and swearing some of the time because you had to work on the number system. Sam would tell us to make it as complicated and hard for Bruce as possible. 'Make him go through torture!' So we'd come up with these shots that were really, really difficult, and sometimes they would take thirty-seven takes".[27] Some scenes, like Evil Ash walking along the graveyard while his skeleton minions come to life, blended stop-motion animation with live-action skeleton puppets that were mechanically rigged, with prosthetics and visual effects.[27]

During the filming of a scene in which Campbell flipped a stuntman down a set of stairs, the lower part of his face contacted with a piece of armor, which resulted in him bleeding.[28] Campbell was brought to a local emergency room to have the wound mended by a plastic surgeon, who, upon seeing the number of artificial cuts and slashes on Campbell's face, asked, "Which one is it?"[28] In order to maintain the continuity of the injuries and dirt on Ash's face, the on-set makeup specialist utilized a plastic template that fit over Campbell's face.[28]

The filmmakers initially intended to reshoot the shot from Evil Dead II in which Ash and the Oldsmobile fall from the sky onto the ground of medieval England, with Campbell later stating that the reason they sought to reshoot it rather than reusing the footage from the previous film was due to "a rights issue".[29] Campbell was initially supposed to jump from a ladder onto the ground, and the Oldsmobile dropped from its suspension on an aircraft cable attached to a crane on a nearby access road.[30] However, the support legs under the crane gave out, causing the car to prematurely crash to the ground and the crane to fall off a cliff into a gravel pit.[30] Campbell noted that, "Ironically, after all the hassle, we wound up using the footage from 1986."[30]
Post-production

While Dino De Laurentiis gave Raimi and his crew freedom to shoot the film the way they wanted, Universal took over during post-production.[8] Universal was not happy with Raimi's cut, specifically its ending in which Ash wakes up in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic wasteland, as they felt it was too negative.[8] A more upbeat ending was shot a month later in a lumber store in Malibu, California. (Raimi later noted, "Actually, I kind of like the fact that there are two endings, that in one alternate universe Bruce is screwed, and in another universe he's some cheesy hero".)[31] Two months after principal filming was finished, a round of re-shoots began in Santa Monica and involved Ash in the windmill and the scenes with Bridget Fonda.[8]

Raimi needed $3 million to finish his film, but Universal was not willing to give him the money and delayed its release due to a dispute with De Laurentiis over the rights to the Hannibal Lecter character which Universal needed so that they could film a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.[32] The matter was finally resolved, but the release date for Army of Darkness was pushed back from summer of 1992 to February 1993.

For the film's poster, Universal brought Campbell in to take several reference head shots and asked him to strike a sly look on his face. They showed him a rough of the Frank Frazetta-like painting. The actor had a day to approve it or, as he was told, there would be no ad campaign for the film.[33] Raimi ran into further troubles when the Motion Picture Association of America gave it an NC-17 rating for a shot of a female Deadite being killed early on in the film. Universal wanted a PG-13 rating, so Raimi made a few cuts and was still stuck with an R rating.[34] In response, Universal turned the film over to outside film editors who cut the film to 81 minutes and another version running 87 minutes that was eventually released in theaters, still with an R rating.[34]
Music

Danny Elfman, who composed the score for Darkman, wrote the "March of the Dead" theme for Army of Darkness.[34] After the re-shoots were completed, Joseph LoDuca, who composed the music for The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, returned to score the film.[35] The composer used his knowledge of synthesizers and was able to present many cues in a mock-up form before he recorded them with the Seattle Symphony.[34] A vinyl release of the score was revealed during the MondoCon in Austin, Texas, on October 3 and 4, 2015 over Mondo Records." (wikipedia)

"Halloween or Hallowe'en[7][8] (less commonly known as Allhalloween,[9] All Hallows' Eve,[10] or All Saints' Eve)[11] is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It is at the beginning of the observance of Allhallowtide,[12] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.[3][13][14][15] In popular culture, the day has become a celebration of horror, being associated with the macabre and supernatural.[16]

One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan roots.[17][18][19][20] Some go further and suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallow's Day, along with its eve, by the early Church.[21] Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallow's Day.[22][23][24][25] Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century,[26][27] and then through American influence various Halloween customs spread to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century.[16][28]

Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror or Halloween-themed films.[29] Some people practice the Christian observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead,[30][31][32] although it is a secular celebration for others.[33][34][35] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.[36][37][38][39]
Etymology

The word Halloween or Hallowe'en ("Saints' evening"[40]) is of Christian origin;[41][42] a term equivalent to "All Hallows Eve" is attested in Old English.[43] The word hallowe[']en comes from the Scottish form of All Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day):[44] even is the Scots term for "eve" or "evening",[45] and is contracted to e'en or een;[46] (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en became Hallowe'en.
History
Christian origins and historic customs

Halloween is thought to have influences from Christian beliefs and practices.[47][23] The English word 'Halloween' comes from "All Hallows' Eve", being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November.[48] Since the time of the early Church,[49] major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'.[50][47] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time when Western Christians honour all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime.[51] In 4th-century Roman Edessa it was held on 13 May, and on 13 May 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs".[52] This was the date of Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead.[53]

In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III (731–741) founded an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors".[47][54] Some sources say it was dedicated on 1 November,[55] while others say it was on Palm Sunday in April 732.[56][57] By 800, there is evidence that churches in Ireland[58] and Northumbria were holding a feast commemorating all saints on 1 November.[59] Alcuin of Northumbria, a member of Charlemagne's court, may then have introduced this 1 November date in the Frankish Empire.[60] In 835, it became the official date in the Frankish Empire.[59] Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea,[59] although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.[61] They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of 'dying' in nature.[59][61] It is also suggested the change was made on the "practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it", and perhaps because of public health concerns over Roman Fever, which claimed a number of lives during Rome's sultry summers.[62][47]
On All Hallows' Eve, Christians in some parts of the world visit cemeteries to pray and place flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones.[63] Top: Christians in Bangladesh lighting candles on the headstone of a relative. Bottom: Lutheran Christians praying and lighting candles in front of the central crucifix of a graveyard.

By the end of the 12th century, the celebration had become known as the holy days of obligation in Western Christianity and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for souls in purgatory. It was also "customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls".[64] The Allhallowtide custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls,[65] has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating.[66] The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century[67] and was found in parts of England, Wales, Flanders, Bavaria and Austria.[68] Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives. This was called "souling".[67][69][70] Soul cakes were also offered for the souls themselves to eat,[68] or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives.[71] As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating they were baked as alms.[72] Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593).[73] While souling, Christians would carry "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips", which could have originally represented souls of the dead;[74][75] jack-o'-lanterns were used to ward off evil spirits.[76][77] On All Saints' and All Souls' Day during the 19th century, candles were lit in homes in Ireland,[78] Flanders, Bavaria, and in Tyrol, where they were called "soul lights",[79] that served "to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes".[80] In many of these places, candles were also lit at graves on All Souls' Day.[79] In Brittany, libations of milk were poured on the graves of kinfolk,[68] or food would be left overnight on the dinner table for the returning souls;[79] a custom also found in Tyrol and parts of Italy.[81][79]

Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh linked the wearing of costumes to the belief in vengeful ghosts: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes".[82] In the Middle Ages, churches in Europe that were too poor to display relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead.[83][84] Some Christians observe this custom at Halloween today.[85] Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom.[86] Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse macabre, which was often depicted in church decoration.[87] Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that the danse macabre urged Christians "not to forget the end of all earthly things".[88] The danse macabre was sometimes enacted in European village pageants and court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and this may be the origin of Halloween costume parties.[89][90][91][74]

In Britain, these customs came under attack during the Reformation, as Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish" doctrine incompatible with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. State-sanctioned ceremonies associated with the intercession of saints and prayer for souls in purgatory were abolished during the Elizabethan reform, though All Hallow's Day remained in the English liturgical calendar to "commemorate saints as godly human beings".[92] For some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined; "souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits".[93] Other Protestants believed in an intermediate state known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham).[94] In some localities, Catholics and Protestants continued souling, candlelit processions, or ringing church bells for the dead;[48][95] the Anglican church eventually suppressed this bell-ringing.[96] Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl write that "barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth".[97] After 1605, Hallowtide was eclipsed in England by Guy Fawkes Night (5 November), which appropriated some of its customs.[98] In England, the ending of official ceremonies related to the intercession of saints led to the development of new, unofficial Hallowtide customs. In 18th–19th century rural Lancashire, Catholic families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen'lay.[99] There was a similar custom in Hertfordshire, and the lighting of 'tindle' fires in Derbyshire.[100] Some suggested these 'tindles' were originally lit to "guide the poor souls back to earth".[101] In Scotland and Ireland, old Allhallowtide customs that were at odds with Reformed teaching were not suppressed as they "were important to the life cycle and rites of passage of local communities" and curbing them would have been difficult.[26]

In parts of Italy until the 15th century, families left a meal out for the ghosts of relatives, before leaving for church services.[81] In 19th-century Italy, churches staged "theatrical re-enactments of scenes from the lives of the saints" on All Hallow's Day, with "participants represented by realistic wax figures".[81] In 1823, the graveyard of Holy Spirit Hospital in Rome presented a scene in which bodies of those who recently died were arrayed around a wax statue of an angel who pointed upward towards heaven.[81] In the same country, "parish priests went house-to-house, asking for small gifts of food which they shared among themselves throughout that night".[81] In Spain, they continue to bake special pastries called "bones of the holy" (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and set them on graves.[102] At cemeteries in Spain and France, as well as in Latin America, priests lead Christian processions and services during Allhallowtide, after which people keep an all night vigil.[103] In 19th-century San Sebastián, there was a procession to the city cemetery at Allhallowtide, an event that drew beggars who "appeal[ed] to the tender recollections of one's deceased relations and friends" for sympathy.[104]
Gaelic folk influence

Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots.[105] Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived".[106] The origins of Halloween customs are typically linked to the Gaelic festival Samhain.[107]

Samhain is one of the quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and has been celebrated on 31 October – 1 November[108] in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.[109][110] A kindred festival has been held by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival begins the evening before 1 November by modern reckoning.[111] Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century,[112] and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.
Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.[114][115] It was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos Sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active.[116][117] Most scholars see them as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs".[118] They were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings.[119][120] At Samhain, the Aos Sí were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for them.[121][122][123] The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.[124] Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them.[125] The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures.[68] In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".[126]

Throughout Ireland and Britain, especially in the Celtic-speaking regions, the household festivities included divination rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage.[127] Apples and nuts were often used, and customs included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others.[128] Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke, and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers.[114] In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them.[112] It is suggested the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun and held back the decay and darkness of winter.[125][129][130] They were also used for divination and to ward off evil spirits.[76] In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes.[131] In Wales, bonfires were also lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth".[132] Later, these bonfires "kept away the devil".[133]
photograph

From at least the 16th century,[135] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.[136] This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to 'souling'. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them.[137] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses – some of which had pagan overtones – in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune.[138] In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[136] F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked or blackened with ashes from the sacred bonfire.[135] In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod.[136] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.
Elsewhere in Europe, mumming was part of other festivals, but in the Celtic-speaking regions, it was "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".[136] From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween did not spread to England until the 20th century.[136] Pranksters used hollowed-out turnips or mangel wurzels as lanterns, often carved with grotesque faces.[136] By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits,[136] or used to ward off evil spirits.[139][140] They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century,[136] as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of Britain and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.[136]
Spread to North America

Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott write that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland "recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars",[141][142] although the Puritans of New England strongly opposed the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas.[143] Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America.[26]

It was not until after mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in America.[26] Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from the Irish and Scots,[27][144] though "In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside".[145] Originally confined to these immigrant communities, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and was celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial, and religious backgrounds by the early 20th century.[146] Then, through American influence, these Halloween traditions spread to many other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century, including to mainland Europe and some parts of the Far East.
Symbols
At Halloween, yards, public spaces, and some houses may be decorated with traditionally macabre symbols including skeletons, ghosts, cobwebs, headstones, and witches.

Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits.[75][148] There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern,[149] which in folklore is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":[150]

    On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.[151]

In Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween,[152][153] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger, making it easier to carve than a turnip.[152] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837[154] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.[155]
Decorated house in Weatherly, Pennsylvania

The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources, including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and Dracula) and classic horror films such as Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932).[156][157] Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions;[158] skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme.[159] Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils", a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum.[160] One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "bogles" (ghosts),[161] influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785).[162] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters.[163] Black cats, which have been long associated with witches, are also a common symbol of Halloween. Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween's traditional colors.[164]
Trick-or-treating and guising
Main article: Trick-or-treating
Trick-or-treaters in Sweden

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.[66] The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling.[165] John Pymm wrote that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."[166] These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday.[167][168] Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe,[169] involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence".

In England, from the medieval period,[171] up until the 1930s,[172] people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic,[95] going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends.[69] In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluluwa and is practiced on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas.[29] People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.[29]

In Scotland and Ireland, guising – children disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coins – is a secular Halloween custom.[173] It is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[153][174] In Ireland, the most popular phrase for kids to shout (until the 2000s) was "Help the Halloween Party".[173] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America was first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[175]

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America".[176] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[177]

While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[178] The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald, of Alberta, Canada.[179]
An automobile trunk at a trunk-or-treat event at St. John Lutheran Church and Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois

The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating.[180] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice in North America until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934,[181] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[182]

A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgating), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot.[102][183] In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme,[184] such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles.[185] Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".
Costumes
Halloween costumes were traditionally modeled after figures such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, scary looking witches, and devils.[66] Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.

Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century.[153] A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[174] In Ireland and Scotland, the masks are known as 'false faces',[41][188] a term recorded in Ayr, Scotland in 1890 by a Scot describing guisers: "I had mind it was Halloween . . . the wee callans (boys) were at it already, rinning aboot wi’ their fause-faces (false faces) on and their bits o’ turnip lanthrons (lanterns) in their haun (hand)".[41] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the US in the 1920s and 1930s.[179][189]

Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori.[190][191]
The annual New York Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is the world's largest Halloween parade, with millions of spectators annually.

"Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising program to support UNICEF,[66] a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.[192][193]

The yearly New York's Village Halloween Parade was begun in 1974; it is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience.[194]

Since the late 2010s, ethnic stereotypes as costumes have increasingly come under scrutiny in the United States.[195][196][197]
Pet costumes

According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumblebee in third place.[198]
Games and other activities

There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices.[199] In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain.[127] They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom.[200] Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona.
The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th–20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today. One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called "dooking" in Scotland)[201] in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round, and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth.
Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one's future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[203][204] Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match.[205][206] A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst.[207] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror.[208] The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards[209] from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Another popular Irish game was known as púicíní ("blindfolds"); a person would be blindfolded and then would choose between several saucers. The item in the saucer would provide a hint as to their future: a ring would mean that they would marry soon; clay, that they would die soon, perhaps within the year; water, that they would emigrate; rosary beads, that they would take Holy Orders (become a nun, priest, monk, etc.); a coin, that they would become rich; a bean, that they would be poor.[210][211][212][213] The game features prominently in the James Joyce short story "Clay" (1914).[214][215][216]
Barmbrack (showing ring found inside) at Halloween in 2020

In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food – usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon – and portions of it served out at random. A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.[217]

Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.[112] In Mexico, children create altars to invite the spirits of deceased children to return (angelitos).[218]

Telling ghost stories, listening to Halloween-themed songs and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday.
Haunted attractions
Main article: Haunted attraction (simulated)

Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides,[219] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown.

The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam.[220][221] The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection.

It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children's Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children's Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis.[222]

The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969.[223] Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973.[224] Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first "hell houses" in 1972.[225]

The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was cosponsored by WSAI, an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982.[226] Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a "Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes" in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today.[227]

On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished.[228] The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum.[229][230] Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.[231][232][233]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks became a notable figure in the Halloween business. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott's Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America's obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States.[234] The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance.
Food
On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day.[236]
A candy apple

Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States.[237] While there is evidence of such incidents,[238] relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.[239]

One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish: báirín breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking.[240] It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it.[240] It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany. Halloween-themed foods are also produced by companies in the lead up to the night, for example Cadbury releasing Goo Heads (similar to Creme Eggs) in spooky wrapping.[241]
A Halloween cake decorated with ghosts, spider webs, skulls and long bones, and spiders. The cake is topped with a jack-o'-lantern.

Foods such as cakes will often be decorated with Halloween colors (typically black, orange, and purple) and motifs for parties and events. Popular themes include pumpkins, spiders, and body parts.[242][243][244]

List of foods associated with Halloween:

    Barmbrack (Ireland)
    Bonfire toffee (Great Britain)
    Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain and Ireland)
    Candy apples, candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America)
    Monkey nuts (peanuts in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland)
    Caramel apples
    Caramel corn
    Colcannon (Ireland; see below)
    Sweets/candy/chocolate, often with novelty shapes like skulls, pumpkins, bats, etc.
    Roasted pumpkin seeds
    Roasted sweet corn
    Soul cakes
    Pumpkin pie

Christian observances

On Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows' Eve.[245] In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows' Eve as a meat-free day and serving pancakes or colcannon instead.[246]

The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting.[247] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[248][249] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom.[250][251] After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day.[252][253] In England, Light Parties are organized by churches after worship services on Halloween with the focus on Jesus as the Light of the World.[254] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candles there, they "are known as valomeri, or seas of light".
Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow's Eve.[256][257] Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services.[1][4][5]

    O LORD our God, increase, we pray thee, and multiply upon us the gifts of thy grace: that we, who do prevent the glorious festival of all thy Saints, may of thee be enabled joyfully to follow them in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. —Collect of the Vigil of All Saints, The Anglican Breviary

Other Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows' Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow's Eve or independently from it.[259] This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows' Eve.[260] Often, "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation Festivals" are held on All Hallows' Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers.[261] In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe'en celebrations.[262] Others order Halloween-themed Scripture Candy to pass out to children on this day.
In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween's Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools, such as in the United States,[270][271] while schools throughout Ireland also close for the Halloween break.[272][273] Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use "Hell houses" and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.[274] Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration.[275] Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows' Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, the Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows' Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations.[276]
Analogous celebrations and perspectives
Judaism
Main article: Jews and Halloween

According to Alfred J. Kolatch in the Second Jewish Book of Why, in Judaism, Halloween is not permitted by Jewish Halakha because it violates Leviticus 18:3, which forbids Jews from partaking in gentile customs. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both "martyrs and for one's own family".[277] Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins.[278] Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that "There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween" while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews' observing the holiday.[279] Purim has sometimes been compared to Halloween, in part due to some observants wearing costumes, especially of Biblical figures described in the Purim narrative.[280]
Islam

Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, has ruled that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that "participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter, ... it is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix".[281] It has also been ruled to be haram by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia because of its alleged pagan roots stating "Halloween is celebrated using a humorous theme mixed with horror to entertain and resist the spirit of death that influence humans".[282][283] Dar Al-Ifta Al-Missriyyah disagrees provided the celebration is not referred to as an 'eid' and that behaviour remains in line with Islamic principles.[284]
Hinduism

Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony "to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest". It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September.[285] The celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali sometimes conflicts with the date of Halloween; but some Hindus choose to participate in the popular customs of Halloween.[286] Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have "begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals".[287]
Neopaganism

There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November,[288] some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both "the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween". Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe'en, stating that it "trivializes Samhain",[289] and "avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters".[290] The Manitoban writes that "Wiccans don't officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan's day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don't try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the dead – a possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations."[288]
Geography
Main article: Geography of Halloween


The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. In Scotland and Ireland, traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising", holding parties, while other practices in Ireland include lighting bonfires, and having firework displays.[173][291][292] In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors.[293] Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations.[173] This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Brazil, Ecuador, Chile,[294] Australia,[295] New Zealand,[296] (most) continental Europe, Finland,[297] Japan, and other parts of East Asia.[16]
Cost

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $12.2 billion on Halloween in 2023, up from $10.6 billion in 2022. Of this amount, $3.9 billion is projected to be spent on home decorations, up from $2.7 billion in 2019. The popularity of Halloween decorations has been growing in recent years, with retailers offering a wider range of increasingly elaborate and oversized decorations.

Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.[265] Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[266] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on Halloween.[267] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[268] Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death"." (wikipedia)

"Halloween is a celebration observed on October 31, the day before the feast of All Hallows, also known as Hallowmas or All Saint's Day. The celebrations and observances of this day occur primarily in regions of the Western world, albeit with some traditions varying significantly between geographical areas.
Origins

Halloween is the eve of vigil before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) which is observed on November 1. This day begins the triduum of Hallowtide, which culminates with All Souls' Day. In the Middle Ages, many Christians held a folk belief that All Hallows' Eve was the "night where the veil between the material world and the afterlife was at its most transparent".[2]
Americas
Canada

Scottish emigration, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought the Scottish version of the holiday to each country. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911 when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street "guising" on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops, and neighbours to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs.[3] Canadians spend more on candy at Halloween than at any time apart from Christmas. Halloween is also a time for charitable contributions. Until 2006 when UNICEF moved to an online donation system, collecting small change was very much a part of Canadian trick-or-treating.[4] Quebec offers themed tours of parts of the old city and historic cemeteries in the area.[5] In 2014 the hamlet of Arviat, Nunavut moved their Halloween festivities to the community hall, cancelling the practice of door-to-door "trick or treating", due to the risk of roaming polar bears.[6][7] In British Columbia it is a tradition to set off fireworks at Halloween.[8]
United States

In the United States, Halloween did not become a holiday until the 19th century. The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849) brought the holiday to the United States.

American librarian and author Ruth Edna Kelley wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the U.S., The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America": "All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries. The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Robert Burns's poem Halloween as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now."[9] The main event for children of modern Halloween in the United States and Canada is trick-or-treating, in which children, teenagers, (sometimes) young adults, and parents (accompanying their children) disguise themselves in costumes and go door-to-door in their neighborhoods, ringing each doorbell and yelling "Trick or treat!" to solicit a gift of candy or similar items.[10] Teenagers and adults will more frequently attend Halloween-themed costume parties typically hosted by friends or themed events at nightclubs either on Halloween itself or a weekend close to the holiday.
At the turn of the 20th century, Halloween had turned into a night of vandalism, with destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people.[11] Around 1912, the Boy Scouts, Boys Clubs, and other neighborhood organizations came together to encourage a safe celebration that would end the destruction that had become so common on this night.

The commercialization of Halloween in the United States did not start until the 20th century, beginning perhaps with Halloween postcards (featuring hundreds of designs), which were most popular between 1905 and 1915.[12] Dennison Manufacturing Company (which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909) and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items.[13][14] German manufacturers specialised in Halloween figurines that were exported to the United States in the period between the two World Wars.

Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes is also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. The National Confectioners Association (NCA) reported in 2005 that 80% of American adults planned to give out candy to trick-or-treaters.[15] The NCA reported in 2005 that 93% of children planned to go trick-or-treating.[16] According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat, and clown.[17][when?] Each year, popular costumes are dictated by various current events and pop culture icons. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest 31 October hosting many costume parties. Other popular activities are watching horror movies and visiting haunted houses. Total spending on Halloween is estimated to be $8.4 billion.[18]
Events

Many theme parks stage Halloween events annually, such as Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando, Mickey's Halloween Party and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Disneyland Resort and Magic Kingdom respectively, and Knott's Scary Farm at Knott's Berry Farm. One of the more notable parades is New York's Village Halloween Parade. Each year approximately 50,000 costumed marchers parade up Sixth Avenue.[19] Salem, Massachusetts, site of the Salem witch trials, celebrates Halloween throughout the month of October with tours, plays, concerts, and other activities.[20] A number of venues in New York's lower Hudson Valley host various events to showcase a connection with Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Van Cortlandt Manor stages the "Great Jack o' Lantern Blaze" featuring thousands of lighted carved pumpkins.[21]

Some locales have had to modify their celebrations due to disruptive behavior on the part of young adults. Madison, Wisconsin hosts an annual Halloween celebration. In 2002, due to the large crowds in the State Street area, a riot broke out, necessitating the use of mounted police and tear gas to disperse the crowds.[22] Likewise, Chapel Hill, site of the University of North Carolina, has a downtown street party which in 2007 drew a crowd estimated at 80,000 on downtown Franklin Street, in a town with a population of just 54,000. In 2008, in an effort to curb the influx of out-of-towners, mayor Kevin Foy put measures in place to make commuting downtown more difficult on Halloween.[23] In 2014, large crowds of college students rioted at the Keene, New Hampshire Pumpkin Fest, whereupon the City Council voted not to grant a permit for the following year's festival,[24] and organizers moved the event to Laconia for 2015.
Brazil
Main article: Saci Day

The Brazilian non-governmental organization named Amigos do Saci created Saci Day as a Brazilian parallel in opposition to the "American-influenced" holiday of Halloween that saw minor celebration in Brazil. The Saci is a mischievous evil character in Brazilian folklore. Saci Day is commemorated on October 31, the same day as Halloween, and is an official holiday in the state of São Paulo. Despite official recognition in São Paulo and several other municipalities throughout the country, few Brazilians celebrate it.[26][27]
Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic it has been gaining popularity, largely due to many Dominicans living in the United States and then bringing the custom to the island. In the larger cities of Santiago or Santo Domingo it has become more common to see children trick-or-treating, but in smaller towns and villages it is almost entirely absent, partly due to religious opposition. Tourist areas such as Sosua and Punta Cana feature many venues with Halloween celebrations, predominantly geared towards adults.[28]
Mexico (Día de Muertos)

Observed in Mexico and Mexican communities abroad, Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) celebrations arose from the syncretism of indigenous Aztec traditions with the Christian Hallowtide of the Spanish colonizers. Flower decorations, altars and candies are part of this holiday season. The holiday is distinct from Halloween in its origins and observances, but the two have become associated because of cross-border connections between Mexico and the United States through popular culture and migration, as the two celebrations occur at the same time of year and may involve similar imagery, such as skeletons. Halloween and Día de Muertos have influenced each other in some areas of the United States and Mexico, with Halloween traditions such as costumes and face-painting becoming increasingly common features of the Mexican festival.[29][30][31]
Asia
China

The Chinese celebrate the "Hungry Ghost Festival" in mid-July, when it is customary to float river lanterns to remember those who have died. By contrast, Halloween is often called "All Saints' Festival" (Wànshèngjié, 萬聖節), or (less commonly) "All Saints' Eve" (Wànshèngyè, 萬聖夜) or "Eve of All Saints' Day" (Wànshèngjié Qiányè, 萬聖節前夕), stemming from the term "All Hallows Eve" (hallow referring to the souls of holy saints). Chinese Christian churches hold religious celebrations. Non-religious celebrations are dominated by expatriate Americans or Canadians, but costume parties are also popular for Chinese young adults, especially in large cities. Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park (Halloween Bash) host annual Halloween shows.

Mainland China has been less influenced by Anglo traditions than Hong Kong and Halloween is generally considered "foreign". As Halloween has become more popular globally it has also become more popular in China, however, particularly amongst children attending private or international schools with many foreign teachers from North America.
Hong Kong

Traditional "door-to-door" trick or treating is not commonly practiced in Hong Kong due to the vast majority of Hong Kong residents living in high-rise apartment blocks. However, in many buildings catering to expatriates, Halloween parties and limited trick or treating is arranged by the management. Instances of street-level trick or treating in Hong Kong occur in ultra-exclusive gated housing communities such as The Beverly Hills populated by Hong Kong's super-rich and in expatriate areas like Discovery Bay and the Red Hill Peninsula. For the general public, there are events at Tsim Sha Tsui's Avenue of the Stars that try to mimic the celebration.[33] In the Lan Kwai Fong area of Hong Kong, known as a major entertainment district for the international community, a Halloween celebration and parade has taken place for over 20 years, with many people dressing in costume and making their way around the streets to various drinking establishments.[34] Many international schools also celebrate Halloween with costumes, and some put an academic twist on the celebrations such as the "Book-o-ween" celebrations at Hong Kong International School where students dress as favorite literary characters.
Japan

Halloween arrived in Japan mainly as a result of American pop culture. In 2009 it was celebrated only by expats.[35] The wearing of elaborate costumes by young adults at night has since become popular in areas such as Amerikamura in Osaka and Shibuya in Tokyo, where, in October 2012, about 1700 people dressed in costumes to take part in the Halloween Festival.[36] Celebrations have become popular with young adults as a costume party and club event.[37] Trick-or-treating for Japanese children has taken hold in some areas. By the mid-2010s, Yakuza were giving snacks and sweets to children.
Philippines

The period from 31 October through 2 November is a time for remembering dead family members and friends. Many Filipinos travel back to their hometowns for family gatherings of festive remembrance.[39]

Trick-or-treating is gradually replacing the dying tradition of Pangangaluluwâ, a local analogue of the old English custom of souling. People in the provinces still observe Pangangaluluwâ by going in groups to every house and offering a song in exchange for money or food. The participants, usually children, would sing carols about the souls in Purgatory, with the abúloy (alms for the dead) used to pay for Masses for these souls. Along with the requested alms, householders sometimes gave the children suman (rice cakes). During the night, various small items, such as clothing, plants, etc., would "mysteriously" disappear, only to be discovered the next morning in the yard or in the middle of the street. In older times, it was believed that the spirits of ancestors and loved ones visited the living on this night, manifesting their presence by taking an item.[40]

As the observation of Christmas traditions in the Philippines begins as early as September, it is a common sight to see Halloween decorations next to Christmas decorations in urban settings.[citation needed]
Saudi Arabia

Starting 2022, Saudi Arabia began to celebrate Halloween in the public in Riyadh under its Vision 2030[41]
Singapore

Around mid-July Singapore Chinese celebrate "Zhong Yuan Jie / Yu Lan Jie" (Hungry Ghosts Festival), a time when it is believed that the spirits of the dead come back to visit their families.[42] In recent years, Halloween celebrations are becoming more popular, with influence from the west.[43] In 2012, there were over 19 major Halloween celebration events around Singapore.[44] SCAPE's Museum of Horrors held its fourth scare fest in 2014.[45] Universal Studios Singapore hosts "Halloween Horror Nights".[46]
South Korea

The popularity of the holiday among young people in South Korea comes from English academies and corporate marketing strategies, and was influenced by Halloween celebrations in Japan and America.[47] Despite not being a public holiday, it is celebrated in different areas around Seoul, especially Itaewon and Hongdae.[48]
Taiwan

Traditionally, Taiwanese people celebrate "Zhong Yuan Pudu Festival", where spirits that do not have any surviving family members to pay respects to them, are able to roam the Earth during the seventh lunar month. It is known as Ghost Month.[49] While some have compared it to Halloween, it has no relations and the overall meaning is different. In recent years, mainly as a result of American pop culture, Halloween is becoming more widespread amongst young Taiwanese people. Halloween events are held in many areas across Taipei, such as Xinyi Special District and Shilin District where there are many international schools and expats.[50] Halloween parties are celebrated differently based on different age groups. One of the most popular Halloween event is the Tianmu Halloween Festival, which started in 2009 and is organised by the Taipei City Office of Commerce.[51] The 2-day annual festivity has attracted more than 240,000 visitors in 2019. During this festival, stores and businesses in Tianmu place pumpkin lanterns outside their stores to identify themselves as trick-or-treat destinations for children.
OceaniaAustralia
Halloween display in Sydney, Australia

Non-religious celebrations of Halloween modelled on North American festivities are growing increasingly popular in Australia despite not being traditionally part of the culture.[53] Some Australians criticise this intrusion into their culture.[54][55] Many dislike the commercialisation and American pop-culture influence.[55][56] Some supporters of the event place it alongside other cultural traditions such as Saint Patrick's Day.[57]

Halloween historian and author of Halloween: Pagan Festival to Trick or Treat, Mark Oxbrow says while Halloween may have been popularised by depictions of it in US movies and TV shows, it is not a new entry into Australian culture.[58] His research shows Halloween was first celebrated in Australia in Castlemaine, Victoria, in 1858, which was 43 years before Federation. His research shows Halloween traditions were brought to the country by Scottish miners who settled in Victoria during the Gold Rush.

Because of the polarised opinions about Halloween, growing numbers of people are decorating their letter boxes to indicate that children are welcome to come knocking. In the past decade, the popularity of Halloween in Australia has grown.[59] In 2020, the first magazine dedicated solely to celebrating Halloween in Australia was launched, called Hallozween,[60] and in 2021, sales of costumes, decorations and carving pumpkins soared to an all-time high[61] despite the effect of the global ....-19 pandemic limiting celebrations.
New Zealand

In New Zealand, Halloween is not celebrated to the same extent as in North America, although in recent years non-religious celebrations have become more common.[62][63] Trick-or-treat has become increasingly popular with minors in New Zealand, despite being not a "British or Kiwi event" and the influence of American globalisation.[64] One criticism of Halloween in New Zealand is that it is overly commercialised—by The Warehouse, for example.[64]
Europe

Over the years, Halloween has become more popular in Europe and has been partially ousting some older customs like the Rübengeistern [de] (English: turnip ghosts, beet spirit), Martinisingen, and others.[65]
France
Halloween was introduced to most of France in the 1990s.[66] In Brittany, Halloween had been celebrated for centuries and is known as Kalan Goañv (Night of Spirits). During this time, it is believed that the spirits of the dead return to the world of the living led by the Ankou, the collector of souls.[67] Also during this time, Bretons bake Kornigou, a pastry shaped like the antlers of a stag.
Germany

Halloween was not generally observed in Germany prior to the 1990s, but has been increasing in popularity. It has been associated with the influence of United States culture, and "Trick or Treating" (German: Süßes sonst gibt's Saures) has been occurring in various German cities, especially in areas such as the Dahlem neighborhood in Berlin, which was part of the American zone during the Cold War. Today, Halloween in Germany brings in 200 million euros a year, through multiple industries.[68] Halloween is celebrated by both children and adults. Adults celebrate at themed costume parties and clubs, while children go trick or treating. Complaints of vandalism associated with Halloween "Tricks" are increasing, particularly from many elderly Germans unfamiliar with "Trick or Treating".[69]
Greece

In Greece, Halloween is not celebrated widely and it is a working day, with little public interest, since the early 2000s. Recently, it has somewhat increased in popularity as both a secular celebration; although Carnival is vastly more popular among Greeks. For very few, Halloween is [when?] considered the fourth most popular festival in the country after Christmas, Easter, and Carnival. Retail businesses, bars, nightclubs, and certain theme parks might organize Halloween parties. This boost in popularity has been attributed to the influence of western consumerism.

Since it is a working day, Halloween is not celebrated on 31 October unless the date falls on a weekend, in which case it is celebrated by some during the last weekend before All Hallow's Eve, usually in the form of themed house parties and retail business decorations. Trick-or-treating is not widely popular because similar activities are already undertaken during Carnival. The slight rise in popularity of Halloween in Greece has led to some increase in its popularity throughout nearby countries in the Balkans and Cyprus. In the latter, there has been an increase in Greek-Cypriot retailers selling Halloween merchandise every year.
Ireland

On Halloween night, adults and children dress up as various monsters and creatures, light bonfires, and enjoy fireworks displays; Derry in Northern Ireland is home to the largest organized Halloween celebration on the island, in the form of a street carnival and fireworks display.

Games are often played, such as bobbing for apples, in which apples, peanuts, other nuts and fruits, and some small coins are placed in a basin of water.[73] Everyone takes turns catching as many items possible using only their mouths. Another common game involves the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling. Games of divination are also played at Halloween.[74] Colcannon is traditionally served on Halloween.[73]

31 October is the busiest day of the year for the Emergency Services.[75] Bangers and fireworks are illegal in the Republic of Ireland; however, they are commonly smuggled in from Northern Ireland where they are legal.[76] Bonfires are frequently built around Halloween.[77] Trick-or-treating is popular amongst children on 31 October and Halloween parties and events are commonplace.

October Holiday occurs on the last Monday of October and may fall on Halloween. Its Irish names are Lá Saoire i Mí Dheireadh Fómhair or Lá Saoire Oíche Shamhna, the latter translating literally as 'Halloween holiday'.
Italy

In Italy, All Saints' Day is a public holiday. On 2 November, Tutti i Morti or All Souls' Day, families remember loved ones who have died. These are still the main holidays.[78] In some Italian tradition, children would awake on the morning of All Saints or All Souls to find small gifts from their deceased ancestors. In Sardinia, Concas de Mortu (Head of the deads), carved pumpkins that look like skulls, with candles inside are displayed.[79][80][81] Halloween is, however, gaining in popularity, and involves costume parties for young adults.[82] The traditions to carve pumpkins in a skull figure, lighting candles inside, or to beg for small gifts for the deads e.g. sweets or nuts, also belong to North Italy.[83] In Veneto these carved pumpkins were called lumère (lanterns) or suche dei morti (deads' pumpkins).[84]
Poland

Since the fall of Communism in 1989, Halloween has become increasingly popular in Poland. Particularly, it is celebrated among younger people. The influx of Western tourists and expats throughout the 1990s introduced the costume party aspect of Hallowe'en celebrations, particularly in clubs and at private house parties. Door-to-door trick or treating is not common. Pumpkin carving is becoming more evident, following a strong North American version of the tradition. Poland is the biggest pumpkin producer in the European Union.[85]
Romania

Romanians observe the Feast of St. Andrew, patron saint of Romania, on 30 November. On St. Andrew's Eve ghosts are said to be about. A number of customs related to divination, in other places connected to Halloween, are associated with this night.[86] However, with the popularity of Dracula in western Europe, around Halloween the Romanian tourist industry promotes trips to locations connected to the historical Vlad Tepeș and the more fanciful Dracula of Bram Stoker. One of the most successful Halloween Parties in Transylvania takes place in Sighișoara, the citadel where Vlad the Impaler was born. This party include magician shows, ballet show and The Ritual Killing of a Living Dead[87] The biggest Halloween party in Transylvania take place at Bran Castle, aka Dracula's Castle from Transylvania.[88]

Both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Romania discourage Halloween celebrations, advising their parishioners to focus rather on the "Day of the Dead" on 1 November, when special religious observances are held for the souls of the deceased.[89] Opposition by religious and nationalist groups, including calls to ban costumes and decorations in schools in 2015, have been met with criticism.[90][91][92] Halloween parties are popular in bars and nightclubs.
Russia

In Russia, most Christians are Orthodox, and in the Orthodox Church, Halloween is on the Saturday after Pentecost, and therefore 4 to 5 months before western Halloween. Celebration of western Halloween began in the 1990s around the downfall of the Soviet regime, when costume and ghoulish parties spread in night clubs throughout Russia. Halloween is generally celebrated by younger generations and is not widely celebrated in civic society (e.g. theaters or libraries). In fact, Halloween is among the Western celebrations that the Russian government and politicians—which have grown increasingly anti-Western in the early 2010s—are trying to eliminate from public celebration.[94][95][96]
Spain

In Spain, celebrations involve eating castanyes (roasted chestnuts), panellets (special almond balls covered in pine nuts), moniatos (roast or baked sweet potato), Ossos de Sant cake and preserved fruit (candied or glazed fruit). Moscatell (Muscat) is drunk from porrons.[97] Around the time of this celebration, it is common for street vendors to sell hot toasted chestnuts wrapped in newspaper. In many places, confectioners often organise raffles of chestnuts and preserved fruit.

The tradition of eating these foods comes from the fact that during All Saints' night, on the eve of All Souls' Day in the Christian tradition, bell ringers would ring bells in commemoration of the dead into the early morning. Friends and relatives would help with this task, and everyone would eat these foods for sustenance.[98]

Other versions of the story state that the Castanyada originates at the end of the 18th century and comes from the old funeral meals, where other foods, such as vegetables and dried fruit were not served. The meal had the symbolic significance of a communion with the souls of the departed: while the chestnuts were roasting, prayers would be said for the person who had just died.[99]

The festival is usually depicted with the figure of a castanyera: an old lady, dressed in peasant's clothing and wearing a headscarf, sitting behind a table, roasting chestnuts for street sale.

In recent years, the Castanyada has become a revetlla of All Saints and is celebrated in the home and community. It is the first of the four main school festivals, alongside Christmas, Carnestoltes and St George's Day, without reference to ritual or commemoration of the dead.[100]

Galicia is known to have the second largest Halloween or Samain festivals in Europe and during this time, a drink called Queimada is often served.[citation needed]
Sweden

On All Hallow's Eve, a Requiem Mass is widely attended every year at Uppsala Cathedral, part of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.[101]

Throughout the period of Allhallowtide, starting with All Hallow's Eve, Swedish families visit churchyards and adorn the graves of their family members with lit candles and wreaths fashioned from pine branches.[101]

Among children, the practice of dressing in costume and collecting candy gained popularity beginning around 2005.[102] The American traditions of Halloween have however been met with skepticism among the older generations, in part due to conflicting with the Swedish traditions on All Hallow's Eve and in part due to their commercialism.[103] In Sweden, All Saint's Day/ All Hallow's Eve is observed on the Saturday occurring between October 31 and November 6, whereas Halloween is observed on October 31, every year.
Switzerland

In Switzerland, Halloween, after first becoming popular in 1999, is on the wane, and is most popular with young adults who attend parties. Switzerland already has a "festival overload" and even though Swiss people like to dress up for any occasion, they do prefer a traditional element, such as in the Fasnacht tradition of chasing away winter using noise and masks.[104][105]
United Kingdom and Crown dependencies
England
See also: Mischief Night and Allantide

In the past, on All Souls' Eve families would stay up late, and little "soul cakes" were eaten. At the stroke of midnight, there was solemn silence among households, which had candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes and a glass of wine on the table to refresh them. The tradition of giving soul cakes that originated in Great Britain and Ireland was known as souling, often seen as the origin of modern trick or treating in North America, and souling continued in parts of England as late as the 1930s, with children going from door to door singing songs and saying prayers for the dead in return for cakes or money.[106]

Trick or treating and other Halloween celebrations are extremely popular, with shops decorated with witches and pumpkins, and young people attending costume parties.[107]
Scotland

The name Halloween is first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller All-Hallow-Even, that is, the night before All Hallows' Day.[108] Dumfries poet John Mayne's 1780 poem made note of pranks at Halloween "What fearfu' pranks ensue!". Scottish poet Robert Burns was influenced by Mayne's composition, and portrayed some of the customs in his poem Halloween (1785).[109] According to Burns, Halloween is "thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands".[110]

Among the earliest record of Guising at Halloween in Scotland is in 1895, where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit and money.[111] If children approached the door of a house, they were given offerings of food. The children's practice of "guising", going from door to door in costumes for food or coins, is a traditional Halloween custom in Scotland.[3] These days children who knock on their neighbours doors have to sing a song or tell stories for a gift of sweets or money.[112]

A traditional Halloween game includes apple "dooking",[113] or "dunking" or (i.e., retrieving one from a bucket of water using only one's mouth), and attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle/jam-coated scone hanging on a piece of string.

Traditional customs and lore include divination practices, ways of trying to predict the future. A traditional Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[114]

In Kilmarnock, Halloween is also celebrated on the last Friday of the month, and is known colloquially as "Killieween".[115]
Isle of Man
See also: Hop-tu-Naa

Halloween is a popular traditional occasion on the Isle of Man, where it is known as Hop-tu-Naa.
Elsewhere
Saint Helena
In Saint Helena, Halloween is actively celebrated, largely along the American model, with ghosts, skeletons, devils, vampires, witches and the like. Imitation pumpkins are used instead of real pumpkins because the pumpkin harvesting season in Saint Helena's hemisphere is not near Halloween. Trick-or-treating is widespread. Party venues provide entertainment for adults." (wikipedia)

"A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generally made of stretchy, light, and inexpensive fabric and are easy to clean. The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century and, in the mid-20th century, transitioned from undergarments to general-use casual clothing.

They are typically made of cotton textile in a stockinette or jersey knit, which has a distinctively pliable texture compared to shirts made of woven cloth. Some modern versions have a body made from a continuously knitted tube, produced on a circular knitting machine, such that the torso has no side seams. The manufacture of T-shirts has become highly automated and may include cutting fabric with a laser or a water jet.

T-shirts are inexpensive to produce and are often part of fast fashion, leading to outsized sales of T-shirts compared to other attire.[1] For example, two billion T-shirts are sold worldwide per year,[2] and the average person in Sweden buys nine T-shirts a year.[3] Production processes vary but can be environmentally intensive and include the environmental impact caused by their materials, such as cotton, which uses large amounts of water and pesticides....
The T-shirt was easily fitted, easily cleaned, and inexpensive; for these reasons, it became the shirt of choice for young boys. Boys' shirts were made in various colors and patterns. The word T-shirt became part of American English by the 1920s, and appeared in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

By the Great Depression, the T-shirt was often the default garment to be worn when doing farm or ranch chores, as well as other times when modesty called for a torso covering but conditions called for lightweight fabrics.[7] Following World War II, it was worn by Navy men as undergarments and slowly became common to see veterans wearing their uniform trousers with their T-shirts as casual clothing. The shirts became even more popular in the 1950s after Marlon Brando wore one in A Streetcar Named Desire, finally achieving status as fashionable, stand-alone, outerwear garments.[8] Often boys wore them while doing chores and playing outside, eventually opening up the idea of wearing them as general-purpose casual clothing.

Printed T-shirts were in limited use by 1942 when an Air Corps Gunnery School T-shirt appeared on the cover of Life magazine.[9] In the 1960s, printed T-shirts gained popularity for self-expression as well as for advertisements, protests, and souvenirs.

Current versions are available in many different designs and fabrics, and styles include crew-neck and V-neck shirts. T-shirts are among the most worn garments of clothing used today. T-shirts are especially popular with branding for companies or merchandise, as they are inexpensive to make and purchase....
Trends

T-shirts were originally worn as undershirts, but are now worn frequently as the only piece of clothing on the top half of the body, other than possibly a brassiere or, rarely, a waistcoat (vest). T-shirts have also become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and photographs on display.[10]

A T-shirt typically extends to the waist. Variants of the T-shirt, such as the V-neck, have been developed. Hip hop fashion calls for tall-T shirts which may extend down to the knees. A similar item is the T-shirt dress or T-dress, a dress-length T-shirt that can be worn without pants.[11] Long T-shirts are also sometimes worn by women as nightgowns. A 1990s trend in women's clothing involved tight-fitting cropped T-shirt or crop tops short enough to reveal the midriff. Another less popular trend is wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt of a contrasting color over a long-sleeved T-shirt, which is known as layering. T-shirts that are tight to the body are called fitted, tailored or baby doll T-shirts.

With the rise of social media and video sharing sites also came numerous tutorials on DIY T-shirt projects.[12] These videos typically provided instructions on how to modify an old shirt into a new, more fashionable form....
It has also been commonly used to commemorate an event or to make a political or personal statement. Since the 1990s, it has become common practice for companies of all sizes to produce T-shirts with their corporate logos or messages as part of their overall advertising campaigns. Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent designer-name logos have become popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. These garments allow consumers to flaunt their taste for designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative....These examples also include representations of rock bands, among other obscure pop-culture references. Licensed T-shirts are also extremely popular. Movie and TV T-shirts can have images of the actors, logos, and funny quotations from the movie or TV show. Often, the most popular T-shirts are those that characters wore in the film itself ...The early first decade of the 21st century saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic....The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the first decade of the 21st century, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society. These statements range from completely harmless to statements or quotes that may be found to be offensive, shocking, or...
In the 1960s, the ringer T-shirt appeared and became a staple fashion for youth and rock-n-rollers. Ringer T-shirts are a solid-color shirt with bands of a second color around the collar and the lower edges of the sleeves, with or without an additional front decoration.

The decade also saw the emergence of tie-dyeing and screen-printing on the basic T-shirt and the T-shirt became a medium for wearable art, commercial advertising, souvenir messages, and protest art messages....
Screen printing
A woman wearing a T-shirt with an architectural motif

The most common form of commercial T-shirt decoration is screen printing. In screen printing, a design is separated into individual colors. Plastisol or water based inks are applied to the shirt through mesh screens partially coated with an emulsion which limits the areas where ink is deposited. In most commercial T-shirt printing, a limited number (typically one to four) of spot colors are used to print the design. To achieve a wider color spectrum with a limited number of colors, process printing (using only cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink) or simulated process (using only white, black, red, green, blue, and gold ink) is effective. Process printing is best suited for light colored shirts.[20] The simulated process is best suited for dark colored shirts.

In 1959, the invention of plastisol provided an ink more durable and stretchable than water-based ink, allowing much more variety in T-shirt designs. Very few companies continue to use water-based inks on their shirts. The majority of companies that create shirts prefer plastisol due to the ability to print on varying colors without the need for color adjustment at the art level.

Specialty inks trend in and out of fashion and include shimmer, puff, discharge, and chino based[21] inks. A metallic foil can be heat pressed and stamped onto any plastisol ink. When combined with shimmer ink, metallics give a mirror like effect wherever the previously screened plastisol ink was applied. Specialty inks are more expensive to purchase as well as screen and tend to appear on garments in boutiques.

Other methods of decoration used on T-shirts include airbrush, applique, embroidery, impressing or embossing, and the ironing on of either flock lettering, heat transfers, or dye-sublimation transfers. Laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special toner containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat-transferred to T-shirts. ...Dye-sublimation printing

Dye-sublimation printing is a direct-to-garment digital printing technology using full color artwork to transfer images to polyester and polymer-coated substrate based T-shirts. Dye-sublimation (also commonly referred to as all-over printing) came into widespread use in the 21st century, enabling some designs previously impossible. Printing with unlimited colors using large CMYK printers with special paper and ink is possible, unlike screen printing which requires screens for each color of the design. All-over print T-shirts have solved the problem with color fading and the vibrancy is higher than most standard printing methods but requires synthetic fabrics for the ink to take hold. The key feature of dye-sublimated clothing is that the design is not printed on top of the garment, but permanently dyed into the threads of the shirt, ensuring that it will never fade.

Dye-sublimation is economically viable for small-quantity printing; the unit cost is similar for short or long production runs. Screen printing has higher setup costs, requiring large numbers to be produced to be cost-effective, and the unit cost is higher. ...Other methods of decorating shirts include using paints, markers, fabric transfer crayons, dyes and spray paint. Some techniques that can be used include sponging, stenciling, daubing, stamping, screen printing, bleaching, and many more.[23] Some new T-shirt creators have used designs with multiple advanced techniques, which includes using glow-in-the-dark inks, heat-sensitive fabrics, foil printing and all-over printing." (wikipedia)

"Tie-dye is a term used to describe a number of resist dyeing techniques and the resulting dyed products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment, before binding with string or rubber bands, followed by the application of dye or dyes.[1] The manipulations of the fabric before the application of dye are called resists, as they partially or completely prevent ('resist') the applied dye from coloring the fabric. More sophisticated tie-dye may involve additional steps, including an initial application of dye before the resist, multiple sequential dyeing and resist steps, and the use of other types of resists (stitching, stencils) and discharge.

Unlike regular resist-dyeing techniques, modern tie-dye is characterized by the use of bright, saturated primary colors and bold patterns. These patterns, including the spiral, mandala, and peace sign, and the use of multiple bold colors, have become clichéd to become symbols of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. However tie dye wasn't as pronounced in fashion even among the counterculture as it would be in later years and the present day. The vast majority of tie-dye garments and objects produced for wholesale distribution use these designs, with many being mass-produced.

In the 21st century, a revived interest in more 'sophisticated' tie-dye techniques emerged in the fashion and hobby industry, characterized by simple motifs, monochromatic color schemes, a focus on fashionable garments and fabrics other than cotton,[2] and the pursuit of tie-dye as an art form, rather than a commodity.
Dyes, fabrics, and discharge agents
A variety of dyes are used in tie-dyeing, including household, fiber reactive, acid, and vat dyes. Most early (1960s) tie-dyes were made with retail household dyes, particularly those made by Rit[citation needed]. These dyes were designed for use on a number of different fibre types, and consisted of several different dyes, making them less effective[how?] and less colourfast than purely fiber-reactive dyes....

Designs and patterns
A tie-dyed spiral pattern

Tie-dye can be used to create a wide variety of designs on fabric, from standard patterns such as the spiral, peace sign, diamond, sunburst, and the marble effect to beautiful works of art. Using techniques such as stencils (as in screen printing using dyes or discharge pastes), clamped-on shaped blocks, and tritik (stitching and gathering), tie-dye can produce almost any design desired. If a modern kit is used, then it is easier to accomplish a spiral or circle....Tie-dye in the Western world
Tie dye vendor, July 2013
A tie-dyed lab coat

Tie-dyeing was known in the US by 1909, when Professor Charles E. Pellow of Columbia University acquired some samples of tie-dyed muslin and subsequently gave a lecture and live demonstration of the technique.[15]

Although shibori and batik techniques were used occasionally in Western fashion before the 1960s, modern psychedelic tie-dyeing did not become a fad until the late 1960s following the example set by rock stars such as Janis Joplin and John Sebastian (who did his own dyeing)....Although the process is closer to paper marbling, in the accompanying narrative, the travelers claim credit for inventing tie-dyeing.[17]

Tie-dyeing, particularly after the introduction of affordable dyes, became popular as a cheap and accessible way to customize inexpensive T-shirts, singlets, dresses, jeans, army surplus clothing, and other garments into psychedelic creations." (wikipedia)

"Cavitycolors, LLC. (also spelled Cavity Colors) is an American company known for releasing horror and Halloween-themed[1] apparel, accessories, and other items. Founded in 2012, the company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.[2]
History

Prior to the establishment of Cavitycolors, company co-founder Aaron Crawford was a freelance artist designing artwork for clothing and other merchandise for metal bands.[2][3] In May 2012, he founded Cavitycolors as a means of releasing shirts and prints.[2]

Cavitycolors has since collaborated with a number of different artists, and have acquired licensing rights to produce merchandise for a variety of properties, including Creep,[4] Elvira, Mistress of the Dark,[5] The Fog,[6] Hatchet,[7] Killer Klowns from Outer Space,[8] Terminator 2: Judgment Day,[9][10] and the Scream franchise." (wikipedia)

"Evil Dead is an American comedy horror franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of five feature films and a television series. The series originally revolves around the grimoire the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc upon a group of cabin inhabitants in a wooded area in Tennessee.

The protagonist, Ashley Joanna "Ash" Williams (Bruce Campbell), appears in the original trilogy including The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992), all written and directed by Raimi, produced by Robert G. Tapert and starring Campbell. The franchise has since expanded into other formats, including a television series, video games, comic books and a musical.

The film franchise was resurrected in 2013 with Evil Dead, both a reboot and a loose continuation of the series directed by Fede Álvarez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. It was produced by Raimi, Campbell and Tapert, featuring a new protagonist in Mia Allen (Jane Levy). A television series, Ash vs. Evil Dead, premiered on cable network Starz in 2015, lasted for three seasons, and ended in 2018, with Campbell announcing an animated revival to be in active development in July 2022.[1] It starred Bruce Campbell as Ash and was executive produced by Campbell, Raimi and Tapert.[2][3] A fifth film in the franchise, titled Evil Dead Rise, was theatrically released on April 21, 2023, with Lee Cronin serving as writer and director, Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan starring as sisters Ellie and Beth Bixler, Tapert serving as a producer, and Raimi and Campbell both acting as executive producers.[4][5][6][7]

Each film of the franchise has received generally positive reviews from critics, with the original trilogy developing a cult following, and has grossed a collective $300 million worldwide.
Films
Film     U.S. release date     Director(s)     Screenwriter(s)     Producer(s)
The Evil Dead     October 15, 1981     Sam Raimi     Sam Raimi     Robert Tapert
Evil Dead II     March 13, 1987     Sam Raimi & Scott Spiegel
Army of Darkness     February 19, 1993     Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi
Evil Dead     April 5, 2013     Fede Álvarez     Fede Álvarez & Rodo Sayagues     Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell
Evil Dead Rise     April 21, 2023     Lee Cronin     Robert Tapert
Evil Dead Burn     2026     Sébastien Vaniček     Sébastien Vaniček & Florent Bernard     Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert
Untitled seventh film     TBA     Francis Galluppi     Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert
Original trilogy
The Evil Dead (1981)
Main article: The Evil Dead

Filmed in 1979 and released in 1981, this is the first film in the series. It introduces the series' protagonist Ash, the Book of the Dead, and the Deadites.
Evil Dead II (1987)
Main article: Evil Dead II

Released in 1987, this film is a sequel to the original, continuing where the last film ended (a recap of the previous film is shown in the beginning). This entry shows the horrors of Ash's continuing battle with the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and the Deadites. It also introduces elements of slapstick humor that came to define the series.
Army of Darkness (1992)
Main article: Army of Darkness

Filmed in 1991 and released in spring of 1993 in the United States, this is the third film in the franchise (and the last featuring Ash Williams taking a lead role so far), taking Ash back in time to England in 1300 AD. The movie has horror attributes, but is based mainly on slapstick and action.
Standalone films
Evil Dead (2013)
Main article: Evil Dead (2013 film)

Evil Dead is the title of a film that serves as a soft reboot and a continuation of the Evil Dead franchise. Unlike the first three films, this one does not feature the character of Ash Williams in a major role (Ash only appears briefly in a post-credits scene) and instead follows a new protagonist named Mia Allen. The film is considered a continuation of the franchise, and plans to feature both Ash and Mia in future installments have been discussed.
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Main article: Evil Dead Rise

In October 2019, Raimi announced at the New York Comic Con that a new film was officially green-lit and in development. Robert G. Tapert was set to produce, while Raimi and Campbell served as executive producers only, all under their Ghost House Pictures banner.[8] In June 2020, Lee Cronin was chosen as a director with a script he wrote. Raimi chose the filmmaker from a list of potential directors to continue the franchise. Officially titled Evil Dead Rise, the project was announced to be developed by New Line Cinema and released on HBO Max. Principal photography commenced on June 6, 2021, in New Zealand.[4][6][9] In May 2021, Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan had been cast in the film,[6] followed by Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, and Nell Fisher in June,[10] and Mia Challis in July.[11] Cronin stated the production was halfway completed by July 2021,[12] and filming concluded on October 27, 2021. The filmmaker stated that the project used over 6,500 liters of fake blood during production.[13] Evil Dead Rise was theatrically released on April 21, 2023.[14][7]
Future

In March 2023, Sam Raimi expressed interest in developing multiple sequels with Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash Williams in a starring role, while also expressing hope for future developments also featuring Mia Allen from Evil Dead (2013).[15] Later that month, Campbell stated that after positive experiences as a producer on Evil Dead Rise, he would consider reprising his lead role in a future film if Raimi were to return as director, reversing his previous "retirement" from the role following the cancellation of Ash vs Evil Dead.[16]

By April of the same year, writer/director Lee Cronin stated that he has ideas for a series of future Evil Dead installments serving as direct sequels to Evil Dead Rise, that he hopes to see realized.[17] That same month, Campbell announced that Sam and Ivan Raimi were co-writing a bible to outline the future of the franchise; stating that films that follow will adhere to the overall outline, with current plans including releasing a new film in the franchise "every couple" years, as opposed to the most recent activity of once every decade.[18]
Evil Dead Burn (2026)

In February 2024, it was announced that a spin-off film is currently in development. Sébastien Vaniček will serve as director from a script he co-wrote with Florent Bernard.[19] Selected by Raimi to helm the new installment in the series, the film's plot is currently under wraps. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert will serve as producers, with Ghost House Pictures producing the project.[20][21] In December 2024, Vaniček revealed the title to be Evil Dead Burn along with a release sometime in 2026 via Instagram.[22]
Untitled seventh film
In April 2024, it was announced that a spin-off film is currently in development. Francis Galluppi will serve as writer and director. Selected by Raimi to helm the new installment in the series, the film's plot is currently under wraps. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert will serve as producers, with Ghost House Pictures producing the project." (wikipedia)