“Evil Dead”: A franchise that revives again and again

The eighties was a decade the horror genre, being the origin of franchises like “Gremlins” (1984) “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984), “Re-Animator” (1985) and “Child’s Play”/“Chucky” (1988). However, few achieved the perfect mix of humor, ‘gore’ and horror that characterized “The Evil Dead” (“Diabolical Death” in Spanish), a feature film released in 1981 with which the celebrated director inaugurated his career sam raimi.

Now the franchise returns with “Evil Dead Rise” (“Evil Dead: The Awakening”), which will hit Peruvian theaters on April 20, 2023.

the originals

Made on a budget of $375,000 – raised mostly from family and friends – when Raimi was barely 20 years old, “The Evil Dead” follows five college kids who vacation at a cabin in the middle of the Tennessee woods to encounter an evil presence. centered on an artifact called the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, also known as the book of the dead, which takes possession of one by one turning them into ‘Deadites’, a species of zombies empowered by an evil spirit. Ashley Williams (Bruce Campbell), better known as Ash, ends up as the only survivor of this experience after having to dismember the bodies of his companions, including his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker) and his sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss). The movie ends with a ‘cliffhanger’ and Ash is attacked by an invisible presence after leaving the cabin.

Despite the low budget, relative inexperience of the actors, and unoriginal plot, the film won fans thanks to its deft camera handling – with fast, dynamic camera movements that made Raimi the ideal choice to adapt Spider-Man decades later. -, bloody special effects and continuous tension. Among the fans of this film was the writer Stephen King, who was able to see it at the Cannes Film Festival and became one of the biggest promoters for the making of a sequel.

This was “Evil Dead II” (1987), financed by the famous Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis with US$3.5 million, which allowed Raimi and Campbell, star and one of the producers of the film, to reimagine the first film as as they would have liked it to be.

Thus, “Evil Dead II” begins with a recreation of the original events, although leaving aside several of the characters, to bring a new group of victims for the ‘deadites’. The film also expands the universe of the franchise, introducing us to the history of the previous owners of the cabin – an archaeologist who found the Necronomicon in some English ruins – as well as naming the evil force that haunts them as a Kandarian demon. The film ends with a new cliffhanger, with Ash trapped in medieval England during a deadite invasion after being sucked into a time portal.

Unlike the original film, which more or less took itself seriously, “Evil Dead II” tended more to mix horror with humor, with some sequences drawn from the tradition of ‘slapstick’ or physical comedy, although without abandoning the ‘gore’ and the tension of the previous installment. This formula proved to be a winner, since the film became a cult object, which facilitated the production of the sequel.

Produced by De Laurentiis and Universal, “Army of Darkness” was released in 1992 and continues with Ash trapped in the Middle Ages, where he has to unite human forces against an army of darkness made up of ‘deadites’ and find a way to escape. return to the present This film is the furthest from horror, leaning more towards the fantasy genre, and feels a bit like a repetition of what was explored in previous films in the saga, perhaps the reason why it sent the franchise into hibernation.

The new generations

But since evil never really dies, “Evil Dead” returned to the big screen in 2013 with a remake of sorts. The film – appropriately the feature film debut for Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Álvarez, who would later direct the “Don’t Breathe” saga – ditch the comedic aspect to become a film entirely in the horror genre.

The film somewhat repeats the plot of the original, bringing a group of friends to a cabin in the woods, although changing the reason for the trip to not being a vacation, but an attempt by David (Shiloh Fernandez) to detoxify his addicted sister Mia (Jane Levy), before coming across a book titled “Naturom Demonto”.

Meanwhile, continuing the original story, the Starz channel launched in 2015 the series “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” starring Bruce Campbell and executive produced by Sam Raimi, which serves as the sequel and conclusion to the original trilogy.

The new chapter, titled “Evil Dead Rise”, is directed by Lee Cronin (“The Hole in the Ground”, “Ghost Train”) follows the continuity of the original trilogy, but moves from a desolate cabin in the woods to a Los Angeles apartment building. The new story follows two estranged sisters, played by Lily Sullivan (“How I Met Your Mother”) and Alyssa Sutherland (“Vikings”), whose encounter with the Necronomicon brings them into direct conflict with the deadites.

But despite being a sequel of sorts, don’t expect a cameo from Ash in this movie, as Campbell announced the character’s final retirement. “At its core, ‘Evil Dead’ is about ordinary people overcoming extraordinarily terrifying situations,” the actor said during a panel about the franchise in 2021. “I can’t wait to see Alyssa and Lily fill the blood-soaked shoes of those who have preceded them and continue that tradition.”

• “Evil Dead: Rise” opens this April 20 in theaters.
• “The Evil Dead” (1981) and the “Evil Dead” remake (2013) can be found on HBO Max.