SPOILER SPECIAL
Evil Dead Rise
DIRECTOR LEE CRONIN O NTHE SURPRISES OF HIS DEADITE-DRENCHED SEQUEL
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
LEE CRONIN’S EVIL Dead Rise, a sequel to Sam Raimi’s classic horror trilogy, is not only one of the best films in that franchise, but its most successful, with $150 million and counting at the global box office. Evil Dead rise, indeed. Here, he tells us about the standout moments and obscure Easter eggs from his ultra-violent ode to the ultimate experience in gruelling terror.
STONE-COLD OPEN
Cronin’s film may be set in a Los Angeles apartment block, but it starts out in a familiar setting, a cabin in the woods, in which possessed Jessica (Anna-Maree Thomas) goes on a Deadite rampage. Cronin announces Jessica’s new status by having her read aloud from Wuthering Heights. “I actually had scripted A Farewell To Arms, and had found the perfect passages,” says Cronin. That would have been a nod to the Ernest Hemingway novel which makes a handy cameo in Evil Dead II. “But we had rights issues. What I was looking for was something classical, but that also had this almost horrific tone to the passages.” The close-ups of the text are the only 100 per cent digital shots in the movie.