Rumours that Sam Raimi's cult horror film The Evil Dead is due a "quasi-remake" have been confirmed. Horror movie site Bloody Disgusting has reported that the fourth instalment will not be a continuation of the third film Army of Darkness, released in 1992, but rather a remake of Raimi's original. Federico Alvarez, who made his name with his low budget sci-fi short Panic Attack, is set to direct.

Work on the film is said to have begun in Detroit, with long-term Raimi collaborater Bob Murawski commenting that it will be "a small indie thing, like the first two". Bruce Campbell, who played demon-hunter Ashley "Ash" Williams in the trilogy, is not expected to appear. Some fan sites have suggested that Ash may become a female character in Alvarez's version.

Campbell, talking about the remake on Twitter, said: "Believe in the remake dawg! The project is real. In the works. Cool as hell. Scary as hell."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jul/13/evil-dead-remake-confirmed


AND......

The Evil Dead remake news keeps coming. And getting wilder.

The latest twist stymied me for a few minutes – in a good way, like the end of Unbreakable.

I really can’t put it better than the official press release, so here’s an excerpt:

[Federico] Alvarez wrote the [Evil Dead rejigger] script with Rodo Sayagues. Academy Award® winning screenwriter Diablo Cody is currently doing revisions on the draft. Ghost House is committed to renewing the franchise and has the film on the fast track.

Crikey. What kind of revisions? Sufficient enough that they’ll credit her up front, I’d guess. At the same time, I doubt it will be a page one overhaul, not from the content and emphasis present in the press release.

I rather liked Cody’s horror film, Jennifer’s Body. Or, more accurately, I really liked Jennifer’s Body on the page and thought enough of it survived the filmmaking process that, push come to shove, I’d recommend the film, flaws and all. Particularly to the teenage girl audience who, in my experience, make up most of the paying puntership for such teen body count horror films and their close cousins.

But… Jennifer’s Body was Cody’s own thing, her own idea, drawing inspiration from classic VHS-era creepshows in the service of what she wanted to say. The weaponised teenage sexuality and high-stakes, life-or-death friendship were built into the very bones of the film, not put on like lip gloss in a final redraft. The themes were what made it really special, and without that rich soil, the sass and sizzle that sprouted in the dialogue would have just seemed like so many torn-off petals tossed on the dirt.

I don’t know if we can expect for Cody to be doing a full deep-clean overhaul of the screenplay, so we’re looking to Alvarez and Sayagues to have delivered a great draft to start off with.

Oh, I do hope they’ve got the mettle.

PS – Ash, short for Ashley, can be a girl’s name too, you know…

UPDATE: Cody thinks that Alvarez’ original script is brilliant. Nice to know.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/13/evil-dead-rejigger-getting-rewritten-by-diablo-cody-but-how-rewritten/

Sigh....guess we're not getting an Evil Dead 4. And with Diablo Cody involved we'll probably get an annoying horror film like Jennifer's Body...all we need now is for Megan Fox to play Ash

Bah, I got excited for nothing.

Wait, what???

Ash (Bruce Campbell), will not be in it? But "maybe" as a female? Hmmm, well, it's not like I won't watch it. LOL

Evil Dead is the GREATEST!!!!

- Josh

It's not confirmed that it will be a female Ash, I'll watch it just to see how bad it is....Oh wait, I'm not supposed to judge before watching a movie.

I know

Uh-huh.

LOL, it would be great to see Ash a female! You know he would be great as flamboyant as Bruce is.

LOL, you can judge and base an opinion all you want buddy. It's cool. I'm not here to change any minds. :D

- Josh

What I liked about the original Evil Dead was unlike all the horror films that were coming out at the time, ED had a male survivor instead of female.

If they do go female I think it will feel to much like Resident Evil, or she'll be a Ripley clone.

I'm innocent!

Personally, I would like to see Hollywood come up with ideas not based off of remakes or old TV shows. Now ABC is trying to bring Charlie's Angels back to television! Ugh!

Too much same old same old. I'm even beginning to tire of superhero movies. X-Men: First Class was a real disappointment to me. They changed too much. Hell, they turned Angel into a latina with fairy wings. Until they mentioned her name, I thought she was Janet Van Dyne, aka Wasp from the Avengers. But when a movie like The Hangover comes around, it's like a breath of fresh air because it's original, funny, and creative.

You know, the problem with Hollywood isn't a lack of ideas. It's the people making the decisions. Studios receive thousands of scripts each year from writers, plus they commission even more scripts for ideas they think will sell. In fact, studios are notorious for not even reading scripts before throwing them out. And even when they do at least look at it, if they don't like the title, or the first two pages....into the circular file it goes. Execs are looking for big blockbusters based on what sold in the past. It's becoming more of a cookie-cutter industry which only makes ticket sales drop further. Plus with all the special effects being used, it further erodes their profits.

The second movie script I plan to write can be shot on a relatively low budget, and it leads into a sequel to finish the original story. Most of the special effects are in the second movie, but are condensed into one scene because of the nature of the story line. Due to its nature, I'm sure Quentin Tarantino would be a good fit to produce and direct it since he is a fan of the genre. I just hope it gets his attention once I have it written.

Which is why I watch more foreign movies nowadays and never heavily relied on Hollywood for quality film entertainment. There's a plethora of good movies out there, if you know where to look. Also, personally, I didn't like The Hangover. I could see the reason why some would find the situation humorous, but the movie per se didn't work for me.

That's why it's better to start out independent. The off chance a script gets sold to a big studio and gets the green light the odds of it being left alone when shot to film is thin...unless you're an established screen writer, or you find a producer/studio who is willing to leave it alone. Then again being an established screen writer can mean squat, as was the case with Kevin Williamson and Scream 4.

Best way to get into Tarantino's world is to know a lot about 70's Italian crime movies.

I agree about starting out independently. Actually, a lot of independent movies are getting more and more attention these days, and are given more chances than before. A few of my recent favorites came from festival showings and some started out as small half hour or less movies.

A lot of guys started out that way, James Gunn worked for Troma Studios, even Matt Stone and Trey Parker got help from Troma when they were starting out.

So many good movies sadly only travel the Festival circuits and don't get major releases, some films still haven't found distributors yet hit it big with festival audiences.

Well, my second script has nothing to do with Italian crime, but it is a samurai western, which Tarantino is a huge fan of, hence the Kill Bill movies. He's also been active in bringing movies from China and Japan into release in the U.S. just to generate exposure. To be honest, it would be interesting to see Tarantino and Tsui Hark team up for what I have in mind.

Unfortunately, my first script is very heavy on special effects. It probably would do well if picked up, and it could potentially earn me some fair cash. That means the cover page is going to need to grab interest so a studio will look at it. If they do, it could lead to a movie franchise, but I'm not interested in writing further scripts for it. It's as developed as I want to go with it. Still, it's a foot-in-the-door, a potential money maker, and it could allow me to work my way in with an independent film maker for the second and third script.

If all three are made into movies and do well, then I will probably be master of my own destiny at that point. It's a long shot, but sometimes it does happen. Tarantino is a case in point. He barely made any money off his first three scripts until he was given the chance to direct his own movie with "Reservoir Dogs", which ultimately gave him the cash to make "Pulp Fiction".

I didn't mean making your movie about that but knowing lots of trivia about it as it's one of his favorite genres to discuss. One one of the commentaries on the Hot Fuzz DVD was Tarantino and Edgar Wright talking older action and crime movies.

I see. I just thought he might be a bit like that with asian movies too. Probably not as much as with the Italian crime films though.

So, if they recast Ash as a woman, does that mean it will be a guy getting raped by the tree/vine this time?

I can't remember if that scene was in Evil Dead 1 or 2....but it always struck me as one of the most outlandish scenes in the whole series. Especially when she's first in horror, then the expression on her face changes as if she's liking it. I mean, I can't imagine a woman responding with anything but horror to something like that. My apologies to all women, but as twisted as it was, I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. It was just....bizarre.

Lame. They just need to leave this crap alone. Their desire to want remake a movie for lots of cash is horrible and they will run a classic trilogy.

It was the first one. And you're right, at the very end she does seem to be enjoying it, which made it stranger than it already was.