Bruce Campbell Answers Debate On Whether ‘Evil Dead 2’ Is A Sequel Or Remake

Horror fans have debated about the details of Evil Dead 2 since its release in 1987, trying to determine whether the opening sequence was a recap of the events of the first film or if the entire film was meant to be an extended, bigger budget remake of The Evil Dead. The films’ star, Bruce Campbell, has explained the situation, describing that Evil Dead 2 is, in fact, a sequel, but also describes the film as a “requel.”

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Directed by Sam Raimi, The Evil Dead became a cult classic thanks to the comedic and charismatic acting chops of Campbell and buckets of blood.

Six years after its release, Raimi got the gang back together for a sequel, but considering the opening act shows all of the important events from the first film, the narrative of Evil Dead 2 can be a little confusing.

When speaking with Bay at the Moon Productions, Campbell attempted to clear up the confusion.

“People think that Ash, the character Ash, was stupid enough to go back to the cabin with a new group of friends because of the way it was re-told,” Campbell revealed. “We didn’t own the rights to our own movie, that was done by New Line Cinema. The second movie was done by Dino De Laurentiis.”

He continued, “We couldn’t get the rights to our own movie, which is the most ridiculous thing ever. So, we just shot a recap with different actors, as though that was the recap, but people thought, ‘He’s coming back to the same cabin with these new people? What?’”

Campbell added, “So there’s a big debate of ‘Is Evil Dead 2 a remake or is it a sequel?’ It’s a ‘requel,’ it’s whatever you wanna call it. If you really wanna do it right, you take the first Evil Dead, up to where the evil entity hits me, cut off all the recap [of Evil Dead 2], go right into Ash being thrown through the trees at the beginning and lands, play the movie, it would all make perfect sense.”

Hopefully this information from Ash Williams himself can answer those endless debates amongst the franchise’s most passionate fans.

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• Bruce Campbell Ready For More Evil Dead Movies, TV Seasons

[H/T Bloody Disgusting]