Before Ash vs. Evil Dead, before Bruce Campbell vs. the Army of Darkness, poor, hapless Ashley Williams took his friends out to a desolate cabin in the woods for what was supposed to be a debaucherous weekend of drinking and doinking in the original Evil Dead. Sam Raimi’s first foray into full-length motion pictures made waves upon its release back in 1981, instantly earning a cult classic seal of audience approval. Now, with many advancements in technology happening since the days of New Coke, the film is getting an auditory update.
Grindhouse Releasing, an independent distribution company that specializes in cult films, had already released an HD version of Evil Dead many moons ago. Now, the newest update pushes it into 4K and remixes the sound into primo 5.1 surround. Best of all? Joesph LoDuca, the series’ main composer, returns to direct the remake of his own score. Now that’s gonna make the fans happy.
Handless Wonder Bruce Campbell, Ash himself, seems excited for Mr. LoDuca as well, saying:
“Mixing the sound for Evil Dead in the early 80’s, we were forced to shove everything into one monaural box. As a result, Joe LoDuca’s great score had to compete unfairly with Kandarian Demons, gore sound effects and lots of screaming. With this new release, Joe can finally have his dynamic composition mixed, balanced and featured properly – for perhaps the first time ever!”
I mean, we can all agree the first film in the series is a little janky. Considering it was made for pocket change, it’s fine, but, you know, it’s just not as good as Evil Dead II. However, that doesn’t dampen my excitement for this. Apparently, Grindhouse is considered the “Criterion of cult,” so I bet it’s going to look great in 4K. It might be hard to see it, though, since theaters have to actually reach out to the company directly to request a screening.
In fact, I’m actually gonna do that right now. Let me send some emails and while I’m doing so, tell me just how excited you are to hear how spooky an updated, high-def Evil Dead score is by dropping a comment down below.