After the cancellation of the awesome Ash vs. Evil Dead, the future seemed shaky for the Evil Dead. However, much like the cackling Deadites, the franchise has proved supernaturally resilient. Now, 2022 is being billed as the “Year of the Deadite”, with the highlight being the release of Evil Dead Rise.
The synopsis reveals that this will be a departure for the series, with director Lee Cronin taking the action “away from the cabin in the woods and into the city”. The story will be centered on estranged sisters whose reunion is ruined by the arrival of flesh-possessing demons. The cast includes Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), Morgan Davies (The End), Nell Fisher (Splendid Isolation), Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings), and Lily Sullivan (Picnic at Hanging Rock).
Now, with production having wrapped late last year, the editing process is well underway. Cronin shared a picture of the rough-cut timeline, indicating that things are coming together nicely.
It’s interesting that this image indicates the film is currently two and a half hours long, though this runtime will almost certainly be trimmed down quite a bit as we near the release date. Other than the edit, it’s safe to assume that VFX post-production is at full speed, particularly as the story’s larger scale likely means more CGI involved in the action.
Bruce Campbell is a producer on the movie and has hyped it up in interviews, saying:
“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.”
Evil Dead Rise will premiere on October 22, 2022. Here’s hoping we see a teaser trailer soon.