Director Lee Cronin has shared the first behind-the-scenes image from Evil Dead Rise to celebrate the start of production on the long-awaited fourth installment in the cult classic franchise, which was recently announced to be heading exclusively to HBO Max.
Cronin also wrote the script, and though he’s relatively untested as a director, his feature debut The Hole in the Ground was an accomplished and atmospheric supernatural chiller, while he comes with the seal of approval from Evil Dead architects Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, both of whom remain involved in Rise as producers.
Evil Dead Rise has been talked about for decades, but it wasn’t until after the 2013 remake had been released that Campbell and Raimi signaled their intentions to bring Ash back to the big screen. In mid-2019 Raimi reaffirmed his commitment to the project, but somewhere along the line, it morphed into a brand new story following two estranged sisters reconnecting in the city before they get interrupted by an onslaught of Deadites, with Vikings’ Alyssa Sutherland and Jungle’s Lily Sullivan landing the two lead roles.
When the HBO Max news broke, it was confirmed that Campbell isn’t set to reprise his role as Ash in any sort of meaningful capacity, but the man loves a cameo, so it can’t completely be ruled out by any stretch of the imagination either.
The Evil Dead franchise has shown incredible staying power over the last 40 years, having spawned a semi-reboot of a sequel, a Medieval horror comedy to cap off the original trilogy, before Fede Alvarez’s gore-drenched remake was followed by TV spinoff Ash vs. Evil Dead, which ran for three seasons before getting canceled.
Things have been coming together in rapid succession for Evil Dead Rise, with Sutherland and Sullivan only announced to be headlining the film less than two weeks ago, and now cameras are already rolling in New Zealand. There’s no release date announced as of yet, but realistically you’d imagine the streaming exclusive should be arriving in either the first or second quarter of 2022. You can see the first image below.