There are very few musicals in the world that mix singing, chainsaws, and bloody dismemberment. Yet, Evil Dead: The Musical checks all of these boxes and then some.

This season, the Iowa City Community Theater is bringing this unique experience to the public.

Based on the 1981 film Evil Dead and its 1987 sequel, Evil Dead: The Musical takes all the aspects from the beloved cult classic films and brings them into the theater in all its B-movie glory.

The musical draws heavily from the films, but theater directors William Asmus and Jessica Palmer said knowing the source material is not at all depended on for the enjoyment of the show.

“The basic story of the musical is these five college students are going to stay in this old abandoned cabin in the woods, which sounds very normal and not creepy at all, and then they find the Necronomicon [The Book of the Dead] and all hell breaks loose, literally,” said Palmer, the music director for the show.

In a story where the monsters can only be destroyed through dismemberment, one can bet there is a lot of blood, and the theater’s production is not lacking in that department. But the bloodshed won’t only stay on stage. This event is actually offering tickets for seats in a “splatter zone,” and Palmer guaranteed people’s shirts will be more red than any other color by the end of the show.

The show offers a surprisingly large variety of musical theater styles in its two hour run-time. The musical parodies iconic Broadway songs, so it is for sure an interesting theater experience, Palmer said.

The show finds itself in a unique position. The films have such a strong and passionate fan base that they might find it hard to look past the iconic performance of actor Bruce Campbell from the series.

Asmus said he knew he was working with a character that fans have a diehard-love for, but he wasn’t tying himself down to past versions of the chainsaw-wielding lead.

“When I was casting it, I left it with a wide net,” Asmus said. “I think it’s interesting to see how new people can interpret the role and also I am very aware that Bruce Campbell is iconic, not just the Ash character, but Bruce Campbell is iconic.”

Even with the blood aside, Evil Dead: The Musical is a special-effects heavy show. With laughing stuffed animals, sentient trees, and chainsaw decapitations, the production has been the most special-effects driven show that Asmus has ever directed.

“The main challenge of getting special effects on stage are we are a volunteer organization which means we don’t have someone there every day working on things,” Asmus said. “But the cool thing is that everyone is game for it, everyone is so excited to be working on this show that they, it just pushes them through.”

The special effects-heavy show brought some unique challenges for makeup and effects designer Willa Martin and her team. Martin said they found creativity was the best weapon for a limited budget, and her assistant Mia Huxely agreed.

“I think it’s all the better it’s on this low budget, because that’s what makes Evil Dead,” Huxely said. “Evil Dead is about a bunch of nerds coming together and creating some super gross, awesome stuff, that’s what it is at its core — to create all this.”

Evil Dead: The Musical is sure to bring laughs, scares, and lots of blood to theatergoers starting Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Iowa City Community Theater and running through Nov. 3, including a Halloween night performance.