2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the first screening of Sam Raimi's classic The Evil Dead (watch it HERE), and Entertainment Weekly caught up with Evil Dead franchise star Bruce Campbell to talk about anniversary celebrations, whether or not he and Raimi worked together again on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (it's shrouded in Marvel secrecy, Campbell can't give a "yes or no" on that), and the things that are currently going on in the Evil Dead world – Evil Dead: The Game and writer/director Lee Cronin's film Evil Dead Rise.
While Campbell will not be appearing in Evil Dead Rise, since he has retired from playing our hero Ash Williams on screen, he is producing the movie alongside fellow Evil Dead rights holders Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Speaking about the film, Campbell said,
People can actually call it what [they] want: Sequel, remake, reimagining. It really is just another Evil Dead movie. It's book-centric. It's all about [the Necronomicon]. Where does this book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia? In this case, it's set in the city, it's no more cabin in the woods. It's entirely different, unsuspecting heroines who are going to save the day. It's filming now in New Zealand, with some of their amazing crews down there and they're well into it. Rob Tapert is the hands-on producer and we're all very involved in the script. We all jump in at various times to chime in. But, yeah, the three of us are very involved."
Evil Dead Rise has been filming in New Zealand for over a month at this point, and Cronin has been giving updates on the shoot based on the condition of his footwear. On the first day of filming, his white shoes were shiny and new. Ten days later, a drop of blood hit them for the first time. You can see further updates on Cronin's shoes in the images below.
The film stars Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan as
two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
They are joined in the cast by Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, and Nell Fisher.
Romel Adam, John Keville, and Macdara Kelleher serve as executive producers on Evil Dead Rise. The film is set up at New Line Cinema and will be released through the HBO Max streaming service. A release date has not been announced.