It’s been a short spell since word on the Sam Raimi-produced “Evil Dead” remake had advanced, as last we heard the cast was finalized and production was ticking away in New Zealand, far from naysayers’ vitriol. However, while initial fan-rage may have simmered or been completely forgotten about in the interim, Bruce Campbell, star of Sam Raimi's original trilogy, recently provided some updates on the remake that attempt to smooth over those qualms completely.
Campbell — who also served as producer alongside Raimi and Rob Tapert – is known for his frank candor in interviews, and so when the actor revealed he’s seen a rough cut of the film and thinks it’s “fabulous,” it marked a change of pace indeed. “We're really excited and really behind it, [but] it's going to take a bit to get the “Evil Dead” fans behind it,” Campbell explained to Digital Spy, “We know we've pissed a lot of them off. We appreciate that and we appreciate their anger and their zeal, but the only thing we want to impress upon them is that we didn't screw it up. This is going to be just as memorable as [the original] “Evil Dead” without being the same movie,"
Campbell also notes the benefits of an updated version, stating, "The nice thing is the film looks beautiful. The effects are 10 times better than we ever had access to and the actors are all better than we were in 1979. Though granted Sam Raimi is a mad genius, so we got a crazy result like “Evil Dead” out of this amateur enthusiasm sort of thing." It’s clear he’s aware that the original captured something spectacular that will be extremely difficult to reproduce, but his early word does sound promising, although it should obviously be noted that he’s a producer on the project…
Starring a largely unknown cast including Jane Levy, Lou Taylor Pucci, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore, the Fede Alvarez-directed film also features some rewrite work by Diablo Cody, who’s more than used to an uphill battle against haters herself. We’ll see if Campbell’s word is his bond when “Evil Dead” is released next year on April 12, 2013.