Home Entertainment So Bruce Campbell really likes the EVIL DEAD remake… Groovy?

So Bruce Campbell really likes the EVIL DEAD remake… Groovy?

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OK, confession time: While I certainly like Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, I don’t worship them like some people do (I know, I know). So if a semi-fan such as myself already felt serious apprehension with the latest remake, with it’s gender swapping lead, then the die-hard fans must feel like the dead bodies of their loved ones just became possessed by evil spirits, who were now rising up to touch them inappropriately.

But Ash himself, Bruce Campbell, is here to tell you that you shouldn’t worry, because the new film is apparently fabulous!

Campbell, who co-produced Evil Dead (notice the lack of “The” to differentiate this from its source) along with original writer/director Sam Raimi, spoke to Digital Spy about the remake where he revealed that he’s seen a rough cut of the film, which will not have any of the original characters (Jane Levy stars as “a young woman struggling with sobriety” who runs into some spiritual nasties, while vacationing at a cabin with her brother and some friends), but will still be respectful of the fan base:

“There’s none of the original characters. We didn’t want to compare apples with apples. It’s a contemporary movie – just like Evil Dead was contemporary in 1979, this is contemporary for young adults now. It’s basically five new kids who are going to have a really bad night with a brand new director – Fede Alvarez, who was handpicked by Sam Raimi. I’ve seen it already; I think it’s definitely fabulous.”

“We’re really excited and really behind it, [but] it’s going to take a bit to get the Evil Dead fans behind it. We know we’ve pissed a lot of them off. We appreciate that and we appreciate their anger and their zeal, but the only thing we want to impress upon them is that we didn’t screw it up. This is going to be just as memorable as [the original] Evil Dead without being the same movie”

“You don’t want to remake something shot-for-shot. I can’t believe they remade Psycho – what the hell kind of a waste of celluloid is that? It’s a creative medium.

“The nice thing is the film looks beautiful. The effects are 10 times better than we ever had access to and the actors are all better than we were in 1979. Though granted Sam Raimi is a mad genius, so we got a crazy result like Evil Dead out of this amateur enthusiasm sort of thing.”

Since Campbell has made a habit of turning up for cameo roles in subsequent Sam Raimi films, the question was put to him of whether or not he’ll be making an appearance as Ash in this or possible sequels:

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that. But the thing is we want it to be a standalone movie. You’re going to have some references [to the original] in there and there’s going to be things the fans will enjoy as far as familiar aspects, but it’s a whole new ball game.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know if I could – the last one was 1991. I was a virile young man; I’m 54 years old now so I’m not sure 54-year-old guys need to be doing that shit anymore. But if Sam wants to lace the boots back on and do something that makes sense, that’s fine. We may need to do the movie one day, if our careers fly off the tracks and we crash and burn, we might look at each other and go ‘Let’s make an Evil Dead movie’!”

“Not at liberty to discuss that”, so that’s a yes then?

Even with Campbell’s praise, I’m still not sold on this. He’s always been known to be a pretty straight talker, but since he’s producing the film, I highly doubt he would have come out saying that this film will crap all over your memories, even if that’s exactly what it did.

Last Updated: August 21, 2012

One Comment

  1. Well, lets hope for the best. Pity that Sam Raimi is not the director.

    Reply

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