Movies
Bruce Campbell Has Made Some Inconsistent Comments About ‘Army Of Darkness 2’ But It’s Still Being Worked On
This is getting pretty crazy folks. Here’s the deal – Bruce Campbell just told Erin Darling over the weekend that Army Of Darkness 2 isn’t necessarily happening. His quote? “It’s all internet BS. There’s no reality whatsoever. These random comments slip out of my mouth or Sam Raimi’s mouth, next thing you know, we’re making a sequel.”
Here’s the problem. Sam Raimi is still writing the film. And everyone I’ve spoken to concedes that it’s at the very least in development. Fede Alvarez told me he that “we’re not actually making ‘Evil Dead 2′ right now because the priority is Sam’s ‘Army of Darkness 2.’ But the plan of making a sequel to our ‘Evil Dead’ is very much alive.” Alvarez has also confirmed Raimi’s intent to direct the film.
In September I spoke to Alvarez at the Eyegore awards. That was when he first told me that Sam Raimi wanted to tackle Army Of Darkness 2 first. Do you know who was standing by his side during that interview? Bruce Campbell. Granted, it was a loud red carpet and I doubt Campbell was hanging on Alvarez’s every word, but that would be an odd time for Alvarez to make such a statement if it was false.
It was this same Bruce Campbell who told Wizard World Nashville that he was doing the film. Here’s the thing, even Campbell himself admits that Raimi is writing AOD2. He told a Seattle radio station last week, “the thing that would drive me to do it again would be working with Sam.” He concedes that the Evil Dead remake got “Rob, Sam and I working together again.” He then told another Seattle radio station that he was joking when he confirmed the film in Nashville but the confirms that Sam Raimi was writing the film with his brother Ivan and “he doesn’t always threaten that. When he actually starts writing, you go ‘okay maybe he’s not lying this time.’” People like Sam Raimi don’t just wake up in the morning and go to work on something they don’t think would ever happen, they’ve got far too much going on to waste their time on that stuff.
My theory? Army Of Darkness 2 is most definitely being worked on. Campbell just doesn’t want to be asked about it all the time and delights in never giving a straight answer. What he means is that it’s “not real” in the sense that there isn’t a shooting date or production schedule yet, but that it’s being worked on. I think the fact that someone like me just had to spend 30 minutes putting all of this together tickles him to no end. More power to him.
Thanks to Tyler Foster for the radio interview link.
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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