RAISING THE DEAD
WITH EVIL DEAD RISE, PRODUCER SAM RAIMI AND DIRECTOR LEE CRONIN HAVE JOINED FORCES TO GIVE THE CLASSIC HORROR FRANCHISE A FRESH COAT OF BLOOD. WE GOT THEM TOGETHER TO TALK TERROR
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
ILLUSTRATION TACEY
IN 1978, THREE college kids ventured into a cabin in the woods in Michigan, and came back with one of the greatest horror franchises of all time. Not that Sam Raimi (director), Bruce Campbell (star/producer) and Rob Tapert (producer) knew it back then. They were there, with some other enthusiastic wannabe filmmaker friends, to make short proof-of-concept horror film Within The Woods, about a group of friends attacked by a malevolent, mocking, demonic presence which turns its victims into cackling psychos now known as Deadites.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because in 1981, with that concept successfully proved, the trio remade and expanded Within The Woods as The Evil Dead, making such a bloody splash that it got banned over here ( ludicrously) during the video-nasty hysteria. But it also announced Raimi as a filmmaker of serious talent, with Stephen King and Wes Craven championing him.
Burned by a horrible experience on 1985’s Crimewave, in which Raimi was sidelined by the studio, the trio returned to that cabin for 1987’s Evil Dead II, which injected a dose of wacky Three Stooges/Tex Avery ‘splatstick’ into proceedings and transformed Campbell’s hapless Final Guy, Ash, into arguably the most iconic hero in all of horror, leading to 1992’s even more comedic Army Of Darkness. From there, the franchise lay dormant while careers were focused elsewhere. But you can’t keep a good Deadite down — Fede Álvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead reboot paved the way for the Campbell-led Ash Vs Evil Dead TV series, with a Raimi-directed pilot.
Now, the Evil Dead are going to rise again. Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, featuring Raimi/Campbell/Tapert on producing or executive-producing duties, mixes up the playbook of the dead — it’s set in an LA high-rise, focusing on the efforts of a family (mum, aunt, three kids) to survive when all hell breaks loose — but is still unmistakably an Evil Dead movie, a nasty, gnarly, gory thrill-ride shot through with dark humour and a visual and aural flair that tips the hat to Raimi’s ever-inventive legacy. Which is why we got the two filmmakers together on a Zoom to share their experiences. Groovy.