Evil Dead Director Is Surprised Passion for the Series Has Lasted This Long

The Evil Dead franchise is considered one of the most beloved in the entire horror genre, with the continuing passion for the series still surprising to original director Sam Raimi. The film series includes a trilogy and a remake, with the narrative then continued in three seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead on Starz, as well as audiences enjoying a series of comic books and video games inspired by the mythology. Despite these many stories, fans still can’t get enough of the concept, with the filmmaker recently revealing how he never intended to reinvent the genre and merely wanted to offer an entertaining experience.

“Never thought of the movie like that,” Raimi responded on Reddit when asked when he realized his film was a “masterpiece.” “[Star] Bruce [Campbell], [producer] Rob [Tapert], and I were just trying to break into the business. Trying as hard as we could to make a movie good enough to play in the Drive In’s. We were thrilled when it did. Never had any expectations beyond that. Horror movies were not even a thing that you would consider to be highly praised, unless you were talking about the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari or Frankenstein. Those were very rare. I never considered it as anything other than it was. A good drive-in flick. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.”

The series launched with The Evil Dead in 1981, earning the sequels Evil Dead 2 in 1987 and Army of Darkness in 1992. The series stagnated on the big screen for two decades, with a remake from writer/director Fede Alvarez debuting in 2013. While many audiences appreciate the remake, many devout fans failed to connect with it due to it being the first major entry in the franchise to be devoid of Bruce Campbell‘s Ash Williams.

Campbell officially retired as the character when the third season of Ash vs. Evil Dead concluded, despite fans continuing to clamor for more movies. The actor, however, has previously detailed why fans should be more thankful to have gotten the TV series.

“People should be kissing Starz’s ass, because it is the only outlet that would let us have a little bit of creative control, but also, it’s unrated,” Campbell pointed out to ComicBook.com in 2018. “This is uncut. We had to probably scale down for some countries who couldn’t take the full monty, but this is unrated television, and for the uber Evil Dead fan, man, it isn’t going to get any better than that. If this was on AMC, Ash would be going, ‘Gosh golly, what’s going on over there?’”

He added, “With a TV series, they commit to doing a full season, then another full season, and so, as far as page count, time spent with Ash, this is the only way to do it, and as an actor, now we can really dig at the character. You can spend time with him. With a movie, you got to tell the plot, they get very plot-oriented, but with a TV show, you can actually go, ‘Okay, Ash has a daughter. What the hell’s that like?’ He’s like the worst dad ever, but trying to be the greatest dad ever.”

While the official plans for the franchise’s future have yet to be revealed, Raimi confirmed that he has tapped a new filmmaker to write and direct a new entry in the series.

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