I had a sneaky feeling the seller was wrong about the measurements thats why I went ahead and fired a bid out on it (just had no idea it was gonna go that high). Its gotta be an international of some sort but the tricky part is when was it printed and for what release. One things for sure I have never seen this poster before and that is so cool! The thing that is throwing me off the most is the fact that it is rolled. What are the chances of this poster that no one has ever seen before popping up rolled from the early 80s. Crazy odds. You would think it would be some beat up old folded poster.
Did you win it Severen? If so congrats!
I asked the seller to verify the dimensions and he said he made a mistake... it is 27"x41" so it is the correct size for the time period. He also said he's had it for "25+ years" so that is also good news if true.
As for the name difference (Evil Dead vs. The Evil Dead), I've been doing some research there as well. The original name was actually Book of the Dead when it premiered in Michigan in 1981.
Raimi then met Irvin Shapiro who helped trying to get a wider release... he was the one who suggested the name change. According to this
awesome site on the film's production and release (great read by the way!), his naming suggesting was "The Evil Dead", but I found this Variety ad (dated May 3rd, 1982) which shows that they also dropped the "The" for at least some of the early US screenings (sorry for the large image).
Notice any similarities in the image, title font and tagline? That Chainsaw-over-the-head still image was commissioned well after filming had wrapped by Shapiro as he wanted better marketing materials.
According to IMDB, the movie was shown off and on throughout the world between 1981 and early 1983 at various small screenings and film festivals... and (per the above link) it actually was picked up for UK distribution (and nearly immediate video release)
starting in March 1982, well before New Line picked it up for a wide release in the US. That means those full size 30x40 Evil Dead quads (w/white borders) pre-date the 1-sheet by more than a year! For those of you familiar with the quad, it is also titled "The Evil Dead," not just "Evil Dead." However, I think the US and UK are the only regions where they kept the "The" for the final release. As we have seen (so far at least), The Netherlands, Turkey and Australia all use the same title font as this mystery poster and they drop the "The" in the title.
This all lends credence to this poster being an international 1-sheet, which, ta daaa... that
Evil Dead site's collectible page shows and indeed lists it as an int'l 1-sheet poster (folded and everything)! To see their poster section, scroll WAAAAYYYY down towards the bottom.
Even in that small, shitty picture above, it clearly looks to be a matte finish poster as it would have reflections along the folds otherwise.
So is this case closed? Are we confirming it to be an official New Line printed, really rare and really awesome int'l 1-sheet?
