First image and NYCC teaser footage for EVIL DEAD gets fans all worked up

New York Comic Con happened this weekend past, and this time it was awash with horror. No, I’m not talking about the pot bellied, hairy chested men dressed as Wonder Woman. I’m referring to the panel for the Evil Dead remake, that was not only hosted by original star and now remake producer, Bruce Campbell, but also offered the audience in attendance the first look.

And surprisingly, everybody seems to have loved it.

Joining Campbell on stage was director Fede Alverez and the new star of the movie, Jane Levy (Suburgatory). They kicked off proceedings by immediately showing off the red band teaser trailer for the movie. Unfortunately, if you were not in the room, all you got was this first released very generic horror image above. Luckily, i09 were kind enough to be that kid in class that actually pays attention instead of spitballng nerds and that everybody copies from, so here’s their description:

First, we saw the iconic cabin, which is introduced with the iconic Sam Raimi low-angle tracking shot. A group of new kids and Jane Levy push open the old cabin door, revealing leaves, dirt and a grubby cabin floor. Jane looks beat as hell and ready for her night of heroin withdrawal (yes they are keeping the plot similar to the original). A trap door is discovered. A boy heads down the stairs and discovers THE NECRONOMICON!

Sadly, we didn’t get the money shot of the new book cover; all we saw was a book wrapped in black plastic, someone ripping into it and the familiar old pages. The character starts flipping through the Necronomicon, rubbing a pencil over the strange words. He recites the enchanted phrases. Jane lets out an insane high-pitched scream and then states, “We’re all going to die tonight.”

This was already cut together pretty quickly; now things get even faster, so we’re only getting flashes of the gore. I spot a girl in the shower cutting up the sides of her mouth, while one of her cabinmates screams, “What are you doing?” Another girl’s arm looks like it’s covered in boils, and she takes an electric carving knife to her bicep. Someone starts up a chainsaw (the crowd goes insane at this). Cut to another girl trapped in the woods, wrapped with branches. Yep, the raping tree is back.

Jane returns with white eyes, white skin and a black tongue, which she sticks out, provocatively licking an exposed knife. Slowly the knife starts splitting her tongue in half. She’s doing this right in front the boil armed girl’s face.

Yeah, that sounds very not nice. But in a good way. Alvarez, was the first to respond to the now loudly cheering audience, saying that the original Evil Dead had left a major impression on him as a youngster, and he wanted to do the same thing for today’s generation but just with updated technology. Levy, also admitted that the finalized footage was new to her:

“I haven’t seen that yet. That scared the shit out of me!”

Campbell then did his thing to assuage fans of the original’s doubts about why they did a remake, especially considering fans’ general ire towards them. He began by saying “As middle-aged filmmakers now, we realized maybe it’s just too late to strap on that chainsaw one more time,” to which the crowd loudly responded with boos. But he continued:

“You think we should? Alright. There will be an ‘Evil Dead 4‘ after all. But in the meantime… The point is, it’s time to give these people what they want – a new experience done with handsome young thespians covered in new buckets of blood, from a new director hand-picked by Sam Raimi himself. You are impatient people and we know you need blood pouring out of every orifice. Your shit will be just as freaked as it was in the original. If you want me to crown her the new Ash? I will put that crown on my fucking self.”

I wouldn’t get too excited about that Evil Dead 4 talk, as it sounded more like Campbell was just speaking in the heat of the moment, and not making official promises. Alvarez then addressed whether or not there would be any nods to the original for fans to pick up on. Spoiler: there’ll be a lot:

“There are some things that people who never saw the original will enjoy but there are a lot of hints out of the original and there are a lot of very small details that you have to be an ‘Evil Dead’ freak to notice. There’s a lot of those, all the time.”

While it’s always good to pay homage, I hope that the film doesn’t just devolve into 100 minutes of fan service. If this remake wants to shake it’s “unnecessary” monniker, it needs to still stand on its own feet while entertaining. Which is something that Campbell promises, when he closed off the panel:

“It’s time for something fresh. It’s nice to see a movie where you don’t see the green garden hose spewing the shit out. We’ve got some really talented people who kicked their ass off. I know you fans were pissed. Don’t think I didn’t read about it every single day. Just wait and see the movie. I will accept all of your collective apologies. We don’t want to screw this up. Even though I make fun of you fans relentless, we want to make you happy horror filmgoers.”

While I’m still not 100% on board the remake express, this is starting to sound a bit more appealing, Well, about as appealing as watching a girl bifurcate her tongue can be.

Along with the first official image, the film also got a release date for April 12, 2013. You can get a little more info about the panel (including how Bruce Campbell fak-roundhouse kicked a fan’s face) over on The Playlist (which is where I stole the quotes from).

Last Updated: October 15, 2012