The latest entry in The Evil Dead franchise is moving along very nicely, thank you very much.
Evil Dead Rise–from writer/director Lee Cronin–is now halfway through production in New Zealand, and the film even added a new cast member this week, according to Deadline.
Mia Challis (Clickbait) has signed on for the horror ride, joining Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies and Nell Fisher in the ensemble cast. Challis will play 18-year-old Jessica, who “is obsessed with fashion and Instagram,” according to the synopsis. Jessica “loves to be the center of attention, although she is smarter than she lets on”
The producers of the New Line Cinema film also dropped a fleshed-out version of the storyline of Evil Dead Rise. The film–which will debut on HBO Max on an undetermined date–follows “a road-weary Beth,” who pays an overdue visit on her older sister Ellie, “who is raising three kids on her own in a cramped L.A. apartment.”
As fate would have it, the reunion is cut short “by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie’s building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.” Now that sounds bad.
Executive producer Bruce Campbell–who won’t play his iconic Ash Williams role in this film–said this movie is “book-centric. It’s all about the Necronomicon. Where does the book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia? Rob Tapert is our hands-on producer, and we are all very involved in the script.” Franchise creator Sam Raimi also serves as executive producer.
The franchise began back in 1981 with Raimi’s The Evil Dead, and continued with 1987’s Evil Dead II and 1993’s Army of Darkness. The films also spawned the Ash vs. Evil Dead TV series, various comic books, video games and even a stage musical.
Keep reading Horror News Network for the latest on The Evil Dead franchise.
