It’s been 21 very long years since the release of Evil Dead 3 (A.K.A. Army of Darkness), and in that time, fans of the Evil Dead series have been perpetually clamoring for an Evil Dead 4. Of course, the forthcoming Evil Dead remake – which initially elicited skepticism far and wide – might be a good placeholder, but in the minds of fans, it likely won’t suffice as a permanent replacement for a true sequel.
Fortunately, fans might finally be getting just that.
Director Sam Raimi (Oz the Great and Powerful) was recently in London at a “Meet the Filmmakers” event with Zach Braff when he was asked about the possibility of Evil Dead 4 becoming a reality.
His response?
“I would love to make ‘Evil Dead 4.’ My brother and I plan to work on the script this summer.”
The ‘brother’ in question likely refers to Ivan Raimi (unless Ted Raimi, his other semi-famous brother, has taken up screenwriting), who previously co-wrote Army of Darkness, Darkman, and Drag Me to Hell with Sam.
As for the quote itself, before everyone gets all riled up, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first (second, third, fourth, five, sixth, etc.) time that Sam Raimi has talked about maybe/possibly/perhaps beginning to consider working on an Evil Dead 4 at some future point in time. Every couple of years, Raimi says just enough about an Evil Dead 4 to keep fans’ hopes alive. So with that in mind, temper your enthusiasm.
On the other hand, it’s also worth noting that what he’s saying now is slightly more concrete and interesting than the last thing he said about a possible Evil Dead 4. Previously – way, way back in 2009 – Sam Raimi told reporters at SXSW that he and Ivan had an “idea” for the sequel and that he might start working on it after Spider-Man 4. Now that he’s certainly not busy with the Spider-Man series (and promotional duties for Oz the Great and Powerful will be finished soon), maybe the time is right and ED4 could actually be on the way.
Fans have long speculated that Evil Dead 4 might explore what happened in the alternate ending of Army of Darkness, which saw Ashley J. Williams (Bruce Campbell) take too many drops of a magic sleeping potion and sleep all the way into a post-apocalyptic and potentially Deadite-ridden future. That, of course, would be awesome.
However, is it possible that we could see a connection to the upcoming Evil Dead remake instead? After all, it might be too confusing for modern audiences – who have no idea what a “Deadite” is or why reading from the Necronomicon is a terrible idea – to have two Evil Dead franchises with wholly different continuities being produced concurrently.
And frankly, it would be nice to see Ash take on the far more horrifying monsters that have been showcased in the trailers for the remake as opposed to, say, the Jason and the Argonauts-inspired skeletons of Army of Darkness (which were excellent in their own right, of course, but maybe not as hilariously gruesome as the Deadites of Evil Dead 2).
Having said all that, I still can’t help but feel like we’ve heard this song before. As much as I would absolutely love to see a true sequel to Army of Darkness, I’ll wait until Sam and his brother have actually written a script before I get my hopes up.
What do you think, Screen Ranters? Do you want to see Sam Raimi finally return to the franchise that launched his career and changed the face of horror (movies) forever? Let us know in the comments.
We’ll keep you updated on Evil Dead 4 as news becomes availabe. Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead remake hits theaters April 5th, 2013.
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