Evil Dead Rise: Bruce Campbell Teases New Sequel Is a “Very Adult” Installment

Part of the joy of the Evil Dead franchise is that, while there’s always been buckets of blood and unsettling imagery, the series has never shied away from embracing sillier components of the concept, though longtime star of the franchise and producer of Evil Dead Rise Bruce Campbell has pointed out the upcoming installment is a “very adult” take on the material. Given how little we know about the upcoming film, it’s not entirely clear what these details mean for the new installment, but it would seem that the series could be tackling more mature subject matter than its predecessors. Evil Dead Rise is expected to hit HBO Max later this year.

“I’m very excited about it. It’s going to be really cool and very, very intense. It’s dark, a very adult Evil Dead movie,” Campbell shared in The Art of Evil Dead: The Game, per Bloody Disgusting. “I wouldn’t call it a yuck fest — it’s pretty tough, pretty hard-hitting stuff. And that’s the variation that you have within the Evil Dead franchise and within horror itself. It’s all about the filmmaker.”

He added, “Sam Raimi handpicks these guys, and so Lee Cronin is the guy who directed it, and he’s a little bit of a serious dude. So you let him do his thing.”

Campbell starred in the original trilogy of Evil Dead films, all of which were directed by Sam Raimi and began embracing more slapstick humor with each installment. In 2013, Fede Álvarez helmed a reimagining of the concept, which leaned heavily into the more visceral gore of the original films and avoided some of the goofier elements of the source material. Shortly thereafter, Raimi reunited with Campbell and original producer Rob Tapert for three seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead, which continued the adventures of Ash Williams in the years following his battles with the forces of darkness.

The new sequel is described, “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.”

Stay tuned for details on Evil Dead Rise before it debuts later this year.

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