Bruce Campbell Teases Evil Dead Rise Could Get Theatrical Release

It was previously announced that the upcoming Evil Dead Rise, the next entry in the long-running horror franchise, was in the works for the HBO Max streaming platform. At the time this was announced it came as not much of a surprise, HBO Max needed content to keep subscribers interested, but now it seems like the movie could become a theatrical release. Speaking in an interview with Comic Book Resources at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, franchise star and producer Bruce Campbell confirmed that there’s talk of Evil Dead Rise playing in theaters instead after some successful preview screenings. 

“We just had a preview that went,” Campbell told the outlet. “That was very high ratings. They were potentially going to stream it on HBO Max, but it might go theatrical. Maybe in the fall.” He added a few details about the film as well, noting: “It’s an urban version of Evil Dead now. Ain’t no cabin anymore. We’re going single mom in the city. The apartment is the cabin. It’s going to creep your sh-t out.”

As Campbell said, the film will be making some big changes compared to what fans are used to seeing in Evil Dead movies. The first is that its setting won’t be a remote cabin in the woods, but also the movie won’t feature Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Instead the new film will be set in a city, specifically a skyscraper, presenting an all-new location for Deadites to cause mischief and mayhem. Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan and young stars Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, and Nell Fisher, are confirmed to star in Evil Dead Rise which is directed by Lee Cronin.

“For me, the key thing that I kept reminding myself of, when you’re in the trenches and you’re developing something, was to make sure it’s a roller coaster, to make sure that it has twists and turns and that it’s visceral and engaging,” Cronin shared with ComicBook.com in 2020 about the film. “Some of that is going back to what I just said, is that I wanted to create a roller coaster of terror. That was really, really the key for me. My memories of Evil Dead, when I watched them at a young age, was always marveling at “how does this even exist?” It just continues to poke at my brain and refresh every time I watch it. To boil it down into an even simpler thing, was that it’s experiential. It has to be a horror experience. That’s the key, and that’s what I’ve been trying to achieve with it.”

The official synopsis for Evil Dead Rise reads as follows: “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.”

Check back here for more news on Evil Dead Rise as we learn about it.