Franchise creator Sam Raimi says he has seen various cuts of Evil Dead Rise and believes the new horror film is terrifying and great. The next installment in the long-running franchise revolves around a young woman named Beth who visits her single mom sister Ellie and her family in their cramped Los Angeles apartment. When someone discovers the horrifying Necronomicon Ex-Mortis hidden deep in the building and unleashes a demonic presence, the two must fight to protect their family from the Deadites.
Lily Sullivan is leading the cast of Evil Dead Rise as Beth alongside Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher and Mia Challis. Development on a new Evil Dead movie had languished in development hell for six years, with plans for a follow-up to the Fede Álvarez’s 2013 rebootquel and crossover with Bruce Campbell’s original films scrapped in favor of an entirely new film with The Hole in the Ground‘s Lee Cronin set to write and direct. Production on Evil Dead Rise ran from June to October 2021 and now audiences are getting an exciting tease of what’s to come from the film.
While speaking with SlashFilm for his superhero return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Sam Raimi opened up about Evil Dead Rise. The franchise creator/executive producer revealed he has seen multiple cuts of the new film and is excited to report it is “terrifying” and believes audiences will enjoy what’s to come. See what Raimi shared below:
“I’ve seen a rough cut [of ‘Evil Dead Rise’], a medium fine cut, and a fine cut. There’s probably a few changes that Lee Cronin is making that I haven’t seen, but it’s great. It’s terrifying and it’s going to knock people’s socks off.”
Though some may be disappointed at the lack of Campbell’s Ash Williams in the new film, anticipation is sure to continue to build for Evil Dead Rise with Raimi’s tease of a terrifying new chapter in the franchise. Cronin quickly made a name for himself in the horror genre with his 2019 feature debut, The Hole in the Ground, which received rave reviews for its stylish direction, Gothic sensibilities and effective dread. The A24 film’s success was what put Cronin in the spotlight for Raimi to meet with the young filmmaker and offer him the gig for Evil Dead Rise.
Cronin himself has worked hard to keep excitement alive during Evil Dead Rise‘s production cycle, sharing a variety of behind-the-scenes set photos and videos teasing a bloody new chapter for the franchise. Given Raimi has now seen multiple cuts of the film, Cronin recently confirmed picture editing was complete for it and it has received an R rating from the MPA, it now seems likely a release date announcement for the HBO Max movie is sure to be around the corner. In the meantime, audiences can catch up with the original Evil Dead trilogy streaming on AMC+ and HBO Max and The Hole in the Ground on Showtime.
