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These ‘Evil Dead 4’ Ideas Left Sam Raimi Questioning Their Sanity

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ARMY OF DARKNESS via Universal

After Universal Pictures released Army of Darkness in 1992, fans of The Evil Dead franchise had been anticipating a fourth Evil Dead for decades.

After years and years of rumors, Raimi making his 2009 Drag Me to Hell, and then eventually remaking Evil Dead with Fede Alvarez in 2013, the team behind the franchise revived it as the ongoing Starz television series “Ash vs Evil Dead”.

With Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash, all of us horror fans exhaled in relief. Still, there’s always that nagging thought, “What if?” What if Evil Dead 4 had been made, what would it have been like? The transformation from The Evil Dead to Army of Darkness went from straight horror to slapstick…so where would Ash end up 20+ years after time traveling to battle medieval Deadites?

Before “Ash vs Evil Dead” debuted last October, Raimi and Robert Tapert had explained that a lot of Evil Dead 4 ended up in the series, although a new interview reveals some of the defunct ideas they had been developing…ideas so strange it left them questioning their sanity.

“Ivan and I wrote a lot of different versions of ‘Evil Dead’ as a feature in the years after ‘Army of Darkness’,” Raimi told ScreenRant. “We’d get 20 pages into one draft and realize it was not good, do another five pages a different direction.

“Bruce is a documentary filmmaker I remember one of them was, capturing his own journey through life. I remember we wrote one version; we started to write one version of ‘Evil Dead 4’…” Brother Ivan chimes in: “Bruce travels cross country to sell his documentary in a car to explain the importance of his story being told.” Sam continues: “No one thought it was a very important story except him.”

One concept followed Ash after the events of Army of Darkness. “This take followed two versions of Ash: the one from their original ending set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic England (released in foreign markets) and the present day Ash, who returns to S-Mart relatively unscathed (which was ordered by Universal for Stateside audiences),” explains the site. Raimi reveals his alternative version and its meta-plot:

“So we wrote an ‘Evil Dead 4’ that followed both realities. We were going to be following two Bruces – one in the future and simultaneously crosscutting to Bruce here in the present. And we realized, we have really lost our mind now and we must stop.”

The site adds that, at one point, yet another Evil Dead 4 draft called for a major budget Terminator-esque story arc, which Campbell cheekily calls “Ash vs. the Machines.” However, Raimi scrapped his expansive vision, assuming there “wouldn’t be enough money for the big production we had planned.”

This is how we ended up with an Evil Dead remake and Starz’s ongoing “Ash vs Evil Dead” series, which returns on October 2.

What do you guys think of the ideas shared? Honestly, would you rather an Evil Dead 4 or two season of “Ash vs Evil Dead”? Pretend you have to choose…

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

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As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

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