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Evil Dead 2 Will Probably Happen if There's a Good Story, Says Fede Alvarez
Evil Dead remake director Fede Alvarez sounds interested in making Evil Dead 2, provided there's a good story to merit it. Created by filmmaker Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell, The Evil Dead kicked off the monstrously entertaining franchise in 1981, and picked up a massive cult film following throughout the years along with the film's sequels Evil Dead II in 1987 and Army of Darkness in 1992. Bugged tirelessly by fans and film reporters about yet another Evil Dead chapter for 21 years after Army of Darkness, the Evil Dead trio came up with a unique way of rebooting the franchise in 2013 by hiring Alvarez to give the initial film premise a modern update.
And while the Evil Dead reboot did solid business by tripling its $17 million budget domestically and earning $97.5 million worldwide, a sequel never materialized. Instead, Alvarez went on to helm the Raimi and Tapert-produced horror hit Don't Breathe. And much to fans' delight, Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell teamed with STARZ to turn the Evil Dead experience into a blood-and-guts soaked TV series, Ash vs. Evil Dead. Unfortunately, falling ratings caused the cancellation of Ash vs. Evil Dead at the end of season 3 in April, thus leaving the Evil Dead fans clamoring for more.
Now, it appears Alvarez may revive the franchise as long as he and the original Evil Dead creatives can come up with a story to justify another Evil Dead on the big screen. In an interview for his next film, The Girl in The Spider's Web, Alvarez told EW that the idea of making Evil Dead 2 has come up in conversation. And now, it just seems a matter of finding a way to make it happen. Noting how he loves the Evil Dead movies, Alvarez says:
"Making my Evil Dead was an amazing experience, it was my first film. So, going back at some point will be a possibility. I mean, I’m really good friends with all those guys, with Bruce, and Sam, and Rob (Tapert, who has produced all the Evil Dead movies). So, we always chat about it. The good news — and I think that’s what sometimes people don’t understand — is, none of those guys will make any of these movies just because they can, just because it’s good business. They will only make it if they believe they have some good story to tell. A lot of people say that in this industry, but most of the time it’s not true. With those guys, all of us involved in those movies, we will just make them if we believe there’s a story that has to be told, and is awesome, and is great, and we believe that it will be better than anything that will be done before in that world. [When] we find that story, when we all agree on what it is, it will probably happen."
Those words will no doubt encourage fans of the Evil Dead franchise who are still feeling the sting after a wide void left open after three entertaining, 10-episode seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead. The big question, of course, is whether Alvarez's movie and the TV series can co-exist in the Evil Dead universe. There's no question that Alvarez went for straight-up horror with his 2013 Evil Dead remake, while Ash vs. Evil Dead had a brilliant blend of horror, gore and comedy.
If fans get their way, Evil Dead 2 would feature the principal characters from both the movie and the series, mainly Mia (Jane Levy) from Evil Dead, and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) and Pablo (Ray Santiago), as well as Ash's daughter, Brandy (Ariel Carver-O'Neill). Campbell, who turned 60 Friday, has already said after Ash vs. Evil Dead was cancelled that he has retired from playing Ash, but there's no question that DeLorenzo's Kelly, who Ash rightfully anointed the new leader in the Ash series finale, can march forth the kick-ass trio as they pair with Mia in a new fight against the Deadites. Sounding confident that Evil Dead 2 will happen at some point, hopefully Alvarez has already factored DeLorenzo, Santiago, and Carver-O'Neill into the new equation. They certainly won the approval of the original Evil Dead crew.
