With filming now officially underway in New Zealand on Evil Dead Rise, producer Bruce Campbell – who will not be returning as Ashley “Ash” J. Williams – has teased new story details for the latest feature film in the Evil Dead franchise.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Campbell teased that Evil Dead Rise will be a “book-centric” instalment and that the only connection to the previous trilogy will be the Necronomicon.
“People can actually call it what [they] want: Sequel, remake, reimagining. It really is just another Evil Dead movie. It’s book-centric. It’s all about [the Necronomicon]. Where does this book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia?” Campbell said.
“In this case, it’s set in the city, it’s no more cabin in the woods,” he continues. “It’s entirely different, unsuspecting heroines who are going to save the day. It’s filming now in New Zealand, with some of their amazing crews down there and they’re well into it. Rob Tapert is the hands-on producer and we’re all very involved in the script. We all jump in at various times to chime in.”
Evil Dead Rise is set to follow two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable. The film has been confirmed to build off the original trilogy, rather than the 2013 reboot, as well as moving out of the woods and into a modern-day urban setting.
The film, which is being directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground), will star Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan as the two sisters, as well as young actors Morgan Davies (The End), Nell Fisher (Northspur), and Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence) who will play a trio of siblings. Evil Dead Rise is set to be produced by Campbell and franchise creator Sam Raimi.
