zer0hal0: What were your first thoughts when reading the script to
The Evil Dead?

I thought: hmm...., there's not much dialogue in this film.  I guess I
won't have to memorize a lot of lines.


zer0hal0: Can each of you please tell us one memory that you had on
or behind the set of The Evil Dead?

I remember eating dinner in the kitchen of the house the whole cast and
crew were living in, and watching Tom Sullivan stirring a pot full of
chicken bones for a prop next to our pot of chili.


Shu Tang: Ellen, you were the first of The Ladies of Evil Dead to
appear in Sam and Bruce’s Super 8 films, Within the Woods. Would
you tell me a little bit about how that came to be?

I went to high school with Sam and Bruce, where we were in plays
together, so they also occasionally cast me in whatever film project
they were working on at the time.
Shu Tang: After being in two of Sam and Bruce’s earliest films, did you know or think that they really had untapped
potential and would go on to much bigger and better things in the world of making movies?

I always knew they'd both be successful in the entertainment business - they always had a lot of talent and a lot of drive.


Shu Tang: I noticed that your daughter, Jessy Hodges, is getting involved in movies as well and that both of you were in
Satan’s Playground together. How was it working on a film with your daughter?

It was great. She's now graduated from NYU theatre school and is an actress in New York. She's very talented and has a bright
future ahead of her.
Ellen Sandweiss Interview
Interviewed on the 21st September, 2009
20th Anniversary Cast Reunion of 'The Evil Dead' at Detroit, February 2002
Left: Theresa Tilly (Shelly)          Middle: Betsy Baker (Linda)          Right: Ellen Sandweiss (Cheryl)
zer0hal0: What was it like to work with an inexperienced director Sam Raimi and also Bruce (the chin) Campbell, on and
behind-set?

They actually had a lot of film-making experience by that point, even if it wasn't feature film-making. But they were very
driven and determined to get every shot just right.


zer0hal0: In the 80s horror and sci-fi films where pretty much a played throughout the local drive inns. Even today i can
remember watching Evil Dead on the local drive inn when i was a child with my parents. Did you ever attend/sneak into a
cinema or drive inn, just  to see what type of reaction those who watched Evil Dead?

I was living in Asheville, North Carolina at the time and I went with some friends to see it at a drive-in theatre. Unfortunately
we were the only ones there!


zer0hal0: How long did it take to have the make-up and special effects applied before shooting a scene? And was there
any problems between takes?

My make-up took forever. Tom Sullivan was a real perfectionist.


Shu Tang: How did it feel for all of the Ladies of Evil Dead to be re-united once again in Brutal Massacre: A Comedy?

It was lots of fun, although we really didn't have any scenes together. What was really fun was making the web series Dangerous
Women, in which we really were able to act together, more than we even did in the Evil Dead.
Shu Tang: On Satan’s Playground, you had a chance to work with
legendary horror icon Felissa Rose of Sleepaway Camp fame and up
and coming scream queen Raine Brown (100 Tears, Sculpture, Timo
Rose’s Beast). After taking a hiatus from horror after The Evil Dead
and starting up a family and pursuing theater and drama, did you
feel the itch to get back into movies and, more specifically, horror
films? What were your reasons or motivations to act once again in a
horror film?

My children were older and I was starting to get back into acting again
when Dante Tomaselli, the director of Satan's Playground, contacted me
and asked me to be in the film. I jumped at the chance.


zer0hal0: In the scenes where Cheryl, Linda and Shelly were
possessed. Why did Sam use other actors (titled as Fake Shemps)
that were brought to play the your roles. Was it to do with budget
restraints, refusing to do certain scenes, last minute ideas add in or
something else?

After about two and a half months of what was supposed to just be a 6-
week shoot, some of us had to go home and resume our jobs or college
educations. That was when they had to bring in the shemps.
Shu Tang: What was most memorable about working on The Evil Dead?

Just being out of town making a feature film at age 20 was pretty exciting - that's how I'll always remember it.


Shu Tang: How did you feel about the scene in The Evil Dead where you are raped by a tree? Were you fully committed to
doing the scene when Raimi told you what was going to be happening in it?

Originally it was written as a "tree attack" scene, not a "tree rape" scene. The sexual aspect kind of evolved as we were shooting
so I didn't really have much time to think about it.


Shu Tang: Do you think you were chosen to be the one raped by trees due to you strikingly good looks or were you the
only one out of the three actresses that was willing to be in such a dark and extreme scene?

Thanks for the compliment, but honestly I think it was just part of Cheryl's character to go out in those woods, and it was a
device to move the plot along.


Shu Tang: In The Dread, you are reunited once again with Tom Sullivan who did the make-up and effects for The Evil
Dead. How was it too see him and work with him after all these years?

It was great working with Tom again, especially as an actor - he was really good!
Shu Tang: Having taken a hiatus from making
films from 1981 to around 2005, you chose
to finish college, get your Master’s Degree,
and do a little runway modelling. More
importantly, you started up a family and did
not make anymore films until your kids were
a bit older. Do you feel that so many actors
and actresses in Hollywood that are mothers
and fathers do not take the time to raise
their kids because they are overly concerned
about their own careers and becoming big in
movies? Do you feel that there really is no
way to balance making movies full-time and
raising a family properly?

I think it's extremely difficult to raise children
and work on movies full time. I think the
people who do it successfully are those who
limit the amount of movies they do. The rest
of them pretty much have other people raising
their children, which was not something I
wanted to do.
Shu Tang: Aside from acting in horror films, do you enjoy watching horror films? If not, what is your favourite genre of
films to watch? What is your favourite genre of film to be working in?

I really don't enjoy watching horror films - they're just not my cup of tea. I like many different genres - I mostly watch
independent films and art films. I'd love to do a nice romantic comedy!


Shu Tang: Would you say you enjoy working in theater more or being in films?

I really like them equally - they each involve quite a different skill set and I enjoy using them both.


zer0hal0: Are there any new projects or films we should know about?

I have two films that will be coming out on DVD shortly: The Dread and The Rain. And of course we have our web series,
Dangerous Women, starring all three of us and currently showing on www.strike.tv.