Movies
Fede Alvarez Updates on the Possibility of ‘Evil Dead 2’ Becoming Reality
It’s hard to tell how serious he was being, but Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez recently tweeted that he’d direct a sequel to Evil Dead if Uruguay wins the World Cup this year, turning massive amounts of horror fans into soccer fans in an instant. But the truth is, whether they win or not, it’s probably happening… eventually.
Speaking with EW over the weekend, Alvarez talked Evil Dead 2.
“Look, I love those movies. Making my Evil Dead was an amazing experience, it was my first film. So, going back at some point will be a possibility,” he told the site. “I mean, I’m really good friends with all those guys, with Bruce, and Sam, and Rob [Tapert]. So, we always chat about it. The good news — and I think that’s what sometimes people don’t understand — is, none of those guys will make any of these movies just because they can, just because it’s good business. They will only make it if they believe they have some good story to tell. A lot of people say that in this industry, but most of the time it’s not true. With those guys, all of us involved in those movies, we will just make them if we believe there’s a story that has to be told, and is awesome, and is great, and we believe that it will be better than anything that will be done before in that world.”
Alvarez added, “[When] we find that story, when we all agree on what it is, it will probably happen.”
Presumably, a sequel to Alvarez’s Evil Dead would center on Jane Levy’s Mia, but there’s always the possibility the characters from Starz’ cancelled “Ash vs. Evil Dead” could be woven into the film universe. And while Bruce Campbell has ensured that he’s retired as Ash, we’ve learned to absolutely NEVER say never in this business…
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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