DESIGNING EVIL DEAD RISE
EVIL DEAD RISE
DESIGNING
PRODUCTION DESIGNER NICK BASSETT AND MAKE-UP EFFECTS AND PROSTHETICS DESIGNER LUKE POLTI TAKE US BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE BLOOD-DRENCHED HORROR
WORDS: IAN BERRIMAN
NEW ZEALAND-BASED PRODUCTION DESIGNER NICK BASSETT had a head start when he was hired to work on Evil Dead Rise: a veteran of TV show Ash Vs Evil Dead, he was well-versed in Sam Raimi’s universe. With the film centred on the apartment of Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), a mother who becomes possessed and menaces her children, two elements came to the fore in his initial discussions with director Lee Cronin: claustrophobia and family.
“His desire to create a level of isolation and claustrophobia was always a part of the design brief,” Bassett tells SFX. “What was really at the heart of it is that this is different because whereas most Evil Dead films would go to the cabin, and it would be this doomed place, this was going to come into the household.
“The great thing about doing a franchise is there’s points of reference all along the way,” he adds, “And you can go ‘Where are we going to sit on that barometer?’ We sat somewhere between the 2013 film and Evil Dead II. Tonally, Lee had a pretty strong vision of where he was going, and we were all just along on that journey.”
Lead concept artist Alistair Gillies’s Levitating Deadite.
Army Of Darkness’ bitey book was an inspiration.
The chainsaw’s model number is LC 39.
Cronin drew on ancient Celtic writing.
THE CHAINSAW
NB: When we were doing Ash Vs Evil Dead, everything was rubber blades and electric motors. Bruce Campbell was like, “I want the lightest chainsaw – I don’t want to be fucking around with a heavy thing in my hands!” With this one, for a lot of it that was a real chainsaw with a blunt blade. The colour was chosen to be like the Delta from the original film [Ash’s Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale car]. We were like, “It can’t be red, because we’ve done the red.” Then inscribed on it is the prop master Elise’s name, which was Lee’s idea. I personally wanted it to be called Bruce, but no one liked that idea! It’s got Lee’s initials inscribed into it as well, and also his age.