Evil Dead Rises to be “rollercoaster of terror”, according to director!

As far as that other collaboration with Sam Raimi goes for Evil Dead Rise, I don't want to try to ruin anything for fans, but I was curious how you ended up with the opportunity. When meeting with Sam, did you let him know you had an idea you had been sitting on or did he ask you to take it and then you started from there?

Another good question. It was definitely a process, is the first thing that I would say. I've always been a fan. When I'm a fan of something, I would never consider ever wanting to do anything with it. I always loved Evil Dead, I always thought it would be awesome to make an Evil Dead movie. I'd love to have a go, if they were ever going to do something. Like when Fede Alvarez came out in 2013 [with the reboot], I was like, "Goddamn, I wish that was me. I wish I could be the person that was doing that." Actually not, as a writer or creator, some people I work with are, like, "This is what I would do." I tend to not think that way about stuff. I'm usually approaching original ideas from different places. 

My engagement with Sam, that was exciting, we started to talk about Evil Dead and he was probing at me where my interest might lie, or would I be interested in taking a look at it. My initial instinct was, it wasn't in any way "no." I was super excited. I wasn't sure what I would do at that point. I appealed for a little bit of time to allow me to think and figure out where I would take it and what I might do with it. That allowed me to think about it from the point of view of being a fan, but also to then let go of being a fan and come up with a great idea for a movie with a great set of characters and a great set of circumstances that would work with all the things that I know Evil Dead fans would love, so it was a process.

It certainly wasn't me meeting with Sam and going, "I've got this in my back pocket and I've always been waiting to play this card." I was just glad to meet with a filmmaker that has been inspirational to me, and throughout my career remains an inspiration to me. Then to have the opportunity, for him to give me the opportunity to think about what I would do, that was the really great part. That actually sums up how Sam and [producers] Rob Tapert and Bruce [Campbell] work. They're super supportive of your vision and your ideas. That's really what they gave me. They gave me this space to go and figure out what to do. I guess, thankfully, they saw something in my work to date that got them excited to allow me that freedom.

I interviewed Fede Alvarez back in 2013 to talk about his reboot and when I asked him about the key to an Evil Dead film, he said it was capturing a "nightmare logic" where anything can happen at any time. Since you won't have a cabin, you won't have Bruce Campbell's character, what do you think is the key to making an Evil Dead movie that you wanted to capture with your film?

I think what Fede said was very true, because there is a nightmare logic at play, which I think is natural to what an Evil Dead movie is. For me, the key thing that I kept reminding myself of, when you're in the trenches and you're developing something, was to make sure it's a roller coaster, to make sure that it has twists and turns and that it's visceral and engaging. Some of that is going back to what I just said, is that I wanted to create a roller coaster of terror. That was really, really the key for me. My memories of Evil Dead, when I watched them at a young age, was always marveling at "how does this even exist?" It just continues to poke at my brain and refresh every time I watch it. To boil it down into an even simpler thing, was that it's experiential. It has to be a horror experience. That's the key, and that's what I've been trying to achieve with it.

Meanwhile, no official start or release date, but we'll keep you posted!

So what do you guys think? Fans of EVIL DEAD? If so, how do you feel about the new remake? Either way, sound off below!