Sam Raimi’s originalEvil Deadmovie starring Bruce Campbell is one of the most influential horror movies of all time, coming to embody the ‘Clueless teens stuck in a remote cabin with murderous spirits’ trope for decades to come. In a new interview to discuss his upcoming bookThe Cool Side of My Pillow, Campbell has revealed that the franchise is now going to move away from that trope in pursuit of new storytelling angles, while also revealing that the original title forEvil Dead 4has changed fromEvil Dead Nowto something the team feels is a bit better.
“The official name isEvil Dead Rise. We’re getting a new draft in. I don’t think anything will happen until 2021. Full bore ahead, we’re very excited about it. A whole, new ballgame. No more cabin in the woods.”
Taking the Cabin out of the equation might feel like sacrilege to devotees of the original horror trilogy that sawBruce Campbellas Ash Williams taking on an army of deadites after an evil book called the Necronomicon is used to unleash the monsters on the remote cabin.
But the series had actually already moved away from the cabin in later installments. TheEvil Deadsequel movieArmy of Darknesssaw Ash transported to another dimension to continue his fight against the deadites. The spinoff tv seriesAsh vs Evil Deadalso revealed that the character had spent 30 years drifting aimlessly from town-to-town while trying to find a way to destroy the Necronomicon.
So it has already been proven that moving away from theCabin in the woods premiseallows the series to progress in interesting new directions. Unfortunately for fans, apart from changing the setting, the upcoming film will also not feature Ash Williams, with Campbell confirming in a past interview with Empire that new installments in the franchise will have to come up with a new set of monster-hunting heroes for audiences to cheer for.
“From this point forward, they kind of have tostand on their own. Which is fine. And liberating. You could have different heroes, different heroines in this case. This one’s gonna be a little more dynamic. We just want to keep the series current. And the mantra, really, is that our heroes and heroines are just regular people. That’s what we’re going to continue.”
Considering the years Campbell has put in as Ash Williams, he has more than earned the option to retire. But that does not meet the iconic pairing of Raimi and Campbell will be lost to times past. The filmmaker’s next directorial venture is going to beDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Campbell is rumored to have an important role in the feature, even as the actor admits the project’s timeline to completion is in flux right now.
“For Dr. Strange, everyone is at the mercy of what Marvel is going to do and this backlog of movies they’re going to do now. So, I think it won’t be until 2021. Marvel has to figure this all out. They have to figure out what movies they are going to do next, what movies they are going to delay, what movies they are going to shit can, what movies they are going to advance and speed up…the marketplace is ever fluid.”
