Like everyone, I’m really getting tired of the endless conveyor belt of reboots, and as a big horror fan, I’m especially tired of all the horror remakes.
The next big horror remake that absolutely has its work cut out for it is Evil Dead, which will be out April 12, 2013. Like many of the best horror franchises, it has a very loyal fanbase, which Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are of course both very well aware of.
Still, both Campbell and Raimi have had high praise for the new Evil Dead, and as Raimi just told Cinema Blend that not only did director Fede Alvarez do a “fantastic job,” but the new Dead is its own film.
“It’s original,” Raimi promises. “It riffs on the original, but it’s a completely original thing unto itself.”
If you’re expecting a scene for scene remake, like many horror reboots, apparently the new Evil Dead isn’t going to be that.
“It’s not the same characters,” Raimi added. But when asked by Blend if he considered it a reboot, remake, or reimagining, “I guess it’s a reimagining,” Raimi said. “I’ve always hated that word.”
Raimi also wanted horror to return to the days of Evil Dead because they’re not making horror films like Dead anymore. “I think it’s going to shock the audience. I haven’t seen anything like it in a while.”
And for two weeks now, The Possession is the #1 movie in the country, which proves that even in weak box office times, people will still go to horror flicks. The Possession is unique in a sense in that it’s a Jewish horror film, where a rabbi does the exorcism because the demon comes in through a haunted dybbuk cabinet.
“That’s the most interesting thing,” Raimi said. “What’s different about it [is] how it’s unique, how would a Jewish exorcism take place…You never see old fashioned horror stories with the dybbk, mostly the talk about the devil or New Testament demons.”
Maybe this could even launch a Yiddish horror trend, or launch Yiddish remakes of horror classics. Raimi’s also working on a remake of Poltergeist, and maybe he can have a rabbi exorcise the house for that one too.
