If you’ve followed the world of Evil Dead, you know there are many moving pieces to make it all work. We’ve seen wonky timelines, different lead characters, and even a few versions of the Necronomicons.
Director Lee Cronin is diving into this wild world with Evil Dead Rise, and speaking to Empire Magazine, the filmmaker has opened up about working within the already established universe and how he wants to honor the legacy Sam Raimi crafted.
“In one of the early meetings I had with Sam Raimi, I said, ‘You know the way in Army Of Darkness, there’s three [Necronomicons]? You had one, [Evil Dead 2013 director Fede Alvarez] had one, I’m going to take the other one.'” said Cronin. “It gave me that platform to nudge things forward and also to showcase that we live in a world where there is more than one copy of the Necronomicon. Those books may all have slightly different personalities — it’s not exactly the same book, necessarily, that Ash had in the cabin. But it’s very, very firmly related. It could even be more dangerous.”
He says this version fits in with the rest, adding that he acknowledges multiple Necronomicons exists. He even praises his team’s version of the book: “It’s all completely hand-made, hand-drawn. It’s got a different visual style to what you’ve seen before internally. I even brought in little hints of Celtic influences and different things to give it a hell of a lot of personality. It’s the bastard cousin of the other books, and they’re the bastard cousin of this.”
SEE ALSO: Evil Dead Rise director promises “an extraordinary amount of vicious, malevolent Deadites.”
In the fifth Evil Dead film, a road-weary Beth pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie, who is raising three kids on her own in a cramped L.A apartment. The sisters’ reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie’s building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.
Evil Dead Rise is directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground), with Sam Raimi, Bruce Cambell, and Rob Tapert producing. Featuring in the cast are Lily Sullivan (I Met a Girl), Alyssa Sutherland (The Mist), Morgan Davies (The End), Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), and Nell Fisher (Northspur).
Evil Dead Rise is set for release on April 21st.
