The Evil Dead series is one that holds a special place in the hearts of horror hounds, and while nowhere near as iconic, the 2013 remake certainly has more than a few fans happy to sing its praises and wish for a sequel in the same vein. As it turns out, one of them is franchise creator Sam Raimi, who would be more than happy to continue the new series with the involvement of its director Fede Álvarez.
The topic has been broached in the past, of course, but was brought up again during an AMA session Raimi hosted on Reddit. He was asked if the remake was going to receive a sequel, to which he replied in no uncertain terms: “If Fede would write or direct it, yes, in a split second!” Although the remake abandoned the original’s slapstick in favor of something altogether more nasty and gruesome, it nevertheless struck a chord with many genre fans even amidst fatigue from endless remakes, leading to a box office haul just shy of $100 million against a budget of $17 million.
Evil Dead was Álvarez’s first feature film and he got the job after his short Ataque de Pánico! was released online in 2009, which was something akin to a Japanese monster movie but with giant robots emerging from the South Atlantic and laying waste to the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, soundtracked by the sinister and ubiquitous “In the House, In a Heartbeat” instrumental from 28 Days Later. This led to a deal with Raimi’s production company Ghost House Pictures to direct a sci-fi film with a $30-40 million budget that was hoped would be the next District 9, an arrangement that morphed into him helming the remake that Raimi was unable to attend to himself due to directing Oz the Great and Powerful.
After Evil Dead, Álvarez went on the direct the excellent Don’t Breathe and the rather mediocre The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and although he’s not had a film released since then, he’s currently involved in the long-gestating sequel to essential ‘80s family fantasy Labyrinth. As such, it’s unlikely that he’ll be available to follow up his eyeball-searing slice of dread any time soon, but still, we remain hopeful.