There are few things on Earth purer than the first Evil Dead. It’s the kind of first movie that so many people dream of making. Just you and your friends getting in the dirt and hurting your poor star by dropping bookcases on his head and covering him in gallons of fake blood. Not to mention, it launches your burgeoning film career, spawns a series of wildly influential cult classics, and makes an icon of its star.
After director Sam Raimi’s time swinging around New York City came to a close, we’ve gotten sporadic updates and sometimes new installments in the Evil Dead franchise. There was that 2013 reboot that no one remembers and three seasons of Ash Vs. The Evil Dead, a pretty great little show that no one ever saw.
Well, the Evil Dead is back, or should we say, the Evil Dead has risen in the upcoming Evil Dead Rise. In what sounds like something between a reboot and a sequel (and very similar to the 2013 movie), Evil Dead Rise moves the mayhem to a city and stars Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings) and Lily Sullivan (Picnic At Hanging Rock), but not Bruce Campbell. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is going to HBO Max, and it’s unclear if it will be receiving a theatrical release.
Still, the whole team is back, including Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi, both producing, and they’re throwing their support behind the film’s director Lee Cronin (The Hole In The Ground).
“I’m thrilled to bring Evil Dead back to its original home at New Line 40 years after the release of the first film. The company’s history as pioneers of horror speaks for itself,” Sam Raimi said in a statement. “I’m equally excited to be working with Lee Cronin, whose gifts as a storyteller make him the ideal filmmaker to continue the enduring legacy of the franchise.”
Campbell, who isn’t starring but is executive producing, also shared his excitement. “At its core, Evil Dead is about ordinary people overcoming extraordinarily terrifying situations,” he said in a statement. “I can’t wait for Alyssa and Lily to fill the blood-soaked shoes of those who have come before them and carry on that tradition.”
It is a bit disappointing to hear that Campbell’s chainsaw hand or Raimi’s whooshing camera moves won’t appear in this one. But, hey, maybe Ash Vs. The Evil Dead will make its way to HBO soon. Raimi hasn’t directed a feature since 2010’s Oz The Great and Powerful, which really must’ve taken it out of him. Next year, though, he’s making something called Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, a title that would make all the sense in the world to someone in 2010.