Movies
Sam Raimi Clarifies His ‘Evil Dead 4’ Comments; Has His Passion Returned?
Just the other day it was discovered that Sam Raimi made a huge statement regarding the much-desired Evil Dead 4 in the press notes for Oz the Great and Powerful. “I would love to make Evil Dead 4,” Raimi stated further adding, “My brother and I plan to work on the script this summer.”
The kids at Bleeding Cool caught up with Raimi at the Oz junket to get a direct response straight from the horse’s mouth. The news isn’t great, but it isn’t all that bad either. Read on to see what he has to say about getting Bruce Campbell back in the saddle and revved up for a return as Ash…
“Those guys made me say that,” Raimi told the site. “I am thinking about it but a crowd goes ‘Come on Sam, do it!’ so I said ‘Okay, I guess I was talking to my brother about it.’ But I feel like I was pushed into saying that, a little bit.”
He continues talking about his fears in making bold statements: “I’m afraid that every time I talk about it people get really mad at me when I don’t follow through with it. I would like to work on the script over the summer, that much is true. But the reason to come back and do it again is only that they’re making me, those fans.”
His older brother, Ivan, has been a strong voice in getting Raimi excited again: “I was saying to Ivan ‘Why do they stay on this thing? Why do they keep at it?’ and he said ‘They want to make a movie. You’re a filmmaker and your fans are asking you to make the movie. What are you, an idiot? Make the movie!’ I guess there’s something I don’t see. It makes sense when Ivan says it… but I didn’t have a tremendous amount of passion until right now to bring to it.”
The good news is that is sounds as if Raimi is actually considering it this time. It also sounds like he may once again be passionate about it. Watching the Fede Alvarez-directed remake get made must have pushed his creative buttons. Could we see both worlds collide in the near future? Let us all pray to the movie Gods.
From director Sébastien Vaniček, Evil Dead Burn releases in theaters July 10, but that’s just one of two brand new Evil Dead movies releasing in the next two years.
Evil Dead Wrath recently wrapped production, with the upcoming film from director Francis Galluppi (The Last Stop in Yuma County) set for theatrical release on April 7, 2028.
We’ve known virtually nothing about the movie up to this point, but a recent interview with producer Rob Tapert has surfaced this week (thanks, Dread Central) and it reveals a very surprising bit of information about Evil Dead Wrath. The film is set in 1972!!
Tapert told the students at Michigan State University during a chat, “Evil Dead Wrath is yet another great departure. It predates everything. It takes place in 1972.”
That means Evil Dead Wrath takes place even before the arrival of Ash Williams and friends to that infamous cabin in the woods, which should give the film a whole new kind of flavor.
Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness was of course set in the Middle Ages, but Evil Dead Wrath will take place chronologically before Ash Williams was transported into medieval times!
“It will feel like a 1972 movie because the director and his DP want to imitate the film’s look and feel of something that’s called Ektachrome 100, which was a film stock,” Tapert notes. “Still available. A lot of movies shot on back then. And so it’s very warm, very tungsten.”
Tapert calls Wrath “very Tarantino-esque, very deliberate. [Galluppi] made a movie, not a horror movie, that I liked a great deal called Last Stop in Yuma County. It’s worth looking up.”
The Last Stop in Yuma County, it’s interesting to note, is also set in the 1970s!
Charlotte Hope (The Nun), Jessica McNamee (Mortal Kombat), Zach Gilford (“Midnight Mass”), Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road), Ella Newton (Dangerous Animals), Elizabeth Cullen (Diabolic), and Ella Oliphant will star in Evil Dead Wrath.
Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi and franchise producer Rob Tapert are producing. Bruce Campbell and Lee Cronin will executive produce alongside Romel Adam and Jose Canas.