Even though it’s a spinoff of a legendary horror franchise, no one expected “Evil Dead Rise” to be nearly as popular as it was when it was released last year. The film would go on to earn solid reviews and a global box office of $147 million. And it appears now that Sam Raimi and his production company are ready to get another spinoff going.
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According to Deadline, Sébastien Vaniček has been tapped to direct a new ‘Evil Dead’ film. Details about the plot are unknown, but this is being described as a spinoff film, similar to the standalone ‘Rise.’ And honestly, with the basic premise about being possessed and whatnot, you can really go anywhere with the spinoffs, especially since they don’t have to revolve around Bruce Campbell’s Ash character.
Vaniček is probably best known for his most recent film, “Infested,” which debuted at Venice Film Festival and would go on to win awards at Fantastic Fest. The film follows the story of an apartment building overrun with spiders. Even though he’s relatively unknown to North American audiences, Vaniček is one of the most talented up-and-coming horror filmmakers, so it’s great to see him get the opportunity to work on a film in the ‘Evil Dead’ franchise.
The original ‘Evil Dead’ films followed the aforementioned Ash, a hapless retail worker who finds himself thrust into the world of supernatural threats. Eventually, he gets a shotgun arm and chaos ensues. The film eventually went from straight horror to more of an action-horror-comedy slant. Then decades later, an “Evil Dead” remake, directed by Fede Alvarez, was released and put the franchise in strict horror once again. The popularity of that, combined with the continued love of the franchise, led to the creation of ‘Rise’ last year.
Obviously, it’s too early to know when we might see this untitled ‘Evil Dead’ movie come to fruition. But we’ll be excited to see what Vaniček can do.