Evil Dead Rise Director Shares Bloody BTS Photo

By Patrick Cavanaugh

As fans wait for our first official look at the highly anticipated sequel Evil Dead Rise, director Lee Cronin took to social media to share a behind-the-scenes photo of the project, recalling how a year ago at this time, the production was immersed in the gooey glory of the franchise. Given how much time has passed since the project being announced and the lack of updates about what's in store for audiences, getting any sort of glimpse of the experience is a welcome reveal for fans. Check out the behind-the-scenes photo below before Evil Dead Rise lands in theaters on April 21, 2023.

"This time last year, it was a particularly messy day on the set of [Evil Dead Rise]," Cronin shared on Twitter.

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.

These last few months have been a bit stressful for Evil Dead fans, as Warner Bros. Discovery has been making some radical decisions about the future of some HBO Max originals. With Evil Dead Rise slated to be one such original, and with high-profile projects like Batgirl being scrapped entirely, some fans were wondering if the new Evil Dead would undergo a similar fate. Luckily, studio execs had an entirely different reaction to the new sequel, revealing it would no longer be an HBO Max exclusive and would instead get a theatrical release.

The first three films in the series were directed by Sam Raimi, who served as a producer on the 2013 Evil Dead remake and also developed the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead. Raimi returned as a producer for Evil Dead Rise and handpicked Cronin to helm this new installment.

"He had always liked Evil Dead, and I loved The Hole in the Ground. And that picture was brought to the executives that I work with and they showed it to me and I thought, this is really a great director," Raimi previously recalled to /Film. "And we met and we talked and he said he really liked The Evil Dead. And I said, then why don't you make the new one? I think you're just the kind [of] guy I'd like to do it. He said, great. Let's go. We put together a script and we gave notes and he made some changes and then we raised money for the movie and he went down to New Zealand to shoot it with my partner, Rob Tapert. Now Bruce Campbell is working with him in post-production sound." 

Evil Dead Rise lands in theaters on April 21, 2023.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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