Evil Dead Rise looks set to be one of the most vicious and disturbing entries in the horror franchise. However, it has been clear that this will be unlike any previous Evil Dead entry for the simple fact it does not center on a cabin in the woods and doesn’t feature Bruce Campbell – something that even the 2013 reboot managed in its post-credits sting. For director Lee Cronin though, the lack of cabin fever is what made him take on the project in the first place, and he recently told SFX Magazine that he would not have taken on the movie if it had been set in the ever-popular setting. He said:
"As much as I said I always wanted to make an Evil Dead movie, if the guys had put a script in front of me and said: 'Here we go: it's at the cabin, it's with Ash,' I probably would have said no, because I want to tell my own stories. But they didn't want that either.
I'm very drawn to the horror of the domestic. To me, it's the most beautiful cheat sheet as a filmmaker, because you're getting to tap into things that people are so familiar with. Not everybody's spent a weekend in a cabin in the woods with their friends, but at some stage everybody's had a sense of home, or had their version of a family unit around them. Being a fan of these movies, I was like: 'I want to see Deadites in downtown LA, in a family home. What does that look like?' It felt like the natural move if the goal was to take the franchise somewhere new.”
Will The Evil Dead Ever Return to the Cabin?
It is certainly possible. For those who miss the comic-horror of Ash vs Evil Dead or other Bruce Campbell-starring installments of the franchise, there are a few projects that could help to fill that gap. As well as the Evil Dead video game, which features not old Campbell but also characters from the movie franchise and spin-off TV series, there is also a potential animated series in the works with Campbell voicing Ash Williams once again.
Both original Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell have also recently expressed an interest in possibly bringing Ash Williams back once more in live-action despite Campbell previously suggesting that his time as the Deadite-fighting hero is over. Raimi said in a previous interview:
“That character, Mia, was great, so I was very interested. We had been talking about an ‘Evil Dead IV’ for the other branch of that universe, and we were worried a little bit about a collision. Ash Vs Evil Dead is what that morphed into. But I always thought there was room for both. I still think there’s room for all sorts of Evil Dead movies. I don’t think they cancel each other out. … I love working with Bruce and Rob. I love it as a producer because they’re really good partners, but I also like being supported by them as the director. So I hope that is on the cards eventually.”