EVIL DEAD!!!
 

Raimi Readies "Dead" Remake

Thu Nov 18, 5:20 PM ET Movies - E! Online


By Josh Grossberg

Sam Raimi is resurrecting the Dead.

The Spider-Man helmer, who shot to fame scaring the bejesus out of moviegoers as the writer, director and producer of the 1981 cult horror classic The Evil Dead, has unveiled plans for a remake, Daily Variety reports.


Raimi will develop the new Dead installment through his Ghost House Pictures with an assist from the production company Senator International and the film's original producing partners, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell (news).


Campbell also played Ash, the beleaguered, badass hero chased by dark zombie forces in The Evil Dead and its sequels: 1987's equally gory Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and 1992's Army of Darkness, which jettisoned the series' more stomach-churning chills in favor of slapstick.


The Evil Dead follows five friends who wind up at a cabin in the woods, where they find an archaeologist's taped translation of an ancient text known as the Necronomicon. When spoken aloud, the book unleashes an unspeakable evil from the forest that terrorizes the teens and turns them into flesh-eating demons. It's up to Ash to keep the dead dead.


The over-the-top violence, masterful camera work, and buckets of blood earned the low-budget feature a massive underground following and launched Raimi's career.


Because he's busy prepping Spider-Man 3, Raimi doesn't have plans to direct the new version.


"The Evil Dead is such a special film to Sam, Rob, Bruce and horror fans that we are going to take great care in renewing this franchise," Joe Drake, president of Senator International, told Variety. "By keeping its original formula intact and given audiences' appetite for horror, we expect that we'll have a real hit on our hands."


As part of the deal, Senator will put up the financing in exchange for worldwide rights to the picture and its executive producer, Nathan Kahane, will supervise production for the company. No word on whether Campbell will have a role in the update.


Meanwhile, Senator and Ghost House have also green-lighted a follow-up to The Grudge, now that the Sarah Michelle Gellar (news)-starring horror flick has just crossed the $100 million mark in domestic box office after 27 days in release.

Hopefully they won't fuck with it too much.

Shop smart...shop S-Mart!

Ash = Campbell...no negotiation...
 

I can't wait!

Sometimes the best remakes are because they have distanced themselves from the original. It doesn't necessarily make them better or worse. One good example is the recent Dawn of the Dead remake (some disliked it, I thought it was great).

I wouldn't put it past Campbell to make some sort of appearance though.

Why? It is fine as it is.

BTW - has anyone played the Evil Dead game on PS2? It is a riot. Bruce Cambell does all of the voice work and throws in plenty of smart ass comments.

Say it ain't so, Sam...
 

Dawn of the Dead remake has really grown on me since the theatre viewing. Just took some getting used to as far as the zombies being so different.

By the way, if you rent the DVD and have the time watch it with directors comments. They brought in a lot of stuff from the original that I never picked up on until it was pointed out. Cool stuff.

Because DiCaprio can't act? :thumb:

Filthy lucre...dinero...cash, baby...
 

Why not?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge horror buff and Evil Dead is near the top of my list of classics - but I like re-makes and re-interpretations if they're done right.

Kind of like Texas Chainsaw Massacre - one of the scariest movies ever made. I thought the remake that came out last summer was excellent, but do not view it in the same way as the original.

Of course if it stinks, then it stinks - but why disregard it altogether? Especially if it has Raimi and Campbell's blessing. Will you have a different view if Campbell is in it?

Dang dude - hostile much? You'd have a good time with one of the guys over at our Political Forum.

All I'm saying is that if you refuse to watch a movie because it is a remake, then you're liable to miss out on a good movie. Or it may be crap. It's a different movie.

It's kind of like refusing to buy a new Mustang because you like the old school model. They're liable to be completely different experiences - but it doesn't mean the new one is going to suck.

Different strokes I guess.

Kick his ass Seabass!!!

Alrighty then - I'm not thin-skinned or anything and have a foul mouth myself. :cuss:

Ok, that makes sense.

I like the low budget stuff too - some of the best horror movies out there were low budget (the ED series, Chainsaw, Re-Animator, etc.) and I love those.

Big budget doesn't bother me though, and I'm interested to see what it's going to look like.

Did you see Cabin Fever?

I've never seen horror movie purists before. Very interesting. Don't worry guys, I'm sure you'll still be able to buy the originals at Wal Mart.

That's the same place we find our women, so that's a bonus.