[Editor's Note: This article contains minor and major spoilers for Evil Dead Rise]
When it comes to Evil Dead Rise, we discovered early on that director Lee Cronin had pulled at no stops to make this one of the most horrifying entries in the Evil Dead franchise. Back in mid-March, early reactions to the movie told us that the new installment was chock-full of scary and gnarly moments and demons. In an interview with Collider, Cronin talked about one of those demons: A hideous deadite that’s bound to haunt your dreams for a long while.
During the interview, Cronin broke down to our own Perri Nemiroff how the Marauder came to life. The director explained that, like most of the best special effects we see in the cinema, the boss-level deadite look was achieved through a mix of practical and special effects, hard work from actors and stunt doubles, and production tricks:
“I wanted it to be as practical as I could make it. And, you know, you can't really remove people's organs for real to create space for other people to crawl through their bodies, so that was something that was also incredibly, incredibly challenging. We had to pull every trick possible to bring that monster onto the screen."
The Marauder's Roots in Evil Dead Rise Are What Make It Scary, Cronin Says
Cronin added that he likes the fact that the Marauder isn’t just a creepy monster, but actually represents family in its worst possible version. The director and screenwriter wanted to give a physical shape to some aspects of raising a child and the way that a parent might see their kids and parenting itself. Cronin also talked about how circumstances might make the events from Evil Dead Rise happen again and teased the coming of a fourth Necronomicon.
Evil Dead Rise has already exceeded expectations when it comes to its box office performance. This last weekend – the first one for the movie in theaters – has already raked in more than $40 worldwide, which was more than optimistic projections estimated. However, the next couple of weeks will dictate if the public is willing to overcome their fear of hardcore horror movies to check out the new installment. Cronin’s decision to make Evil Dead Rise as scary and vomit-inducing as possible is bold, but it can drive a big portion of spectators away.
Bringing the Marauder to Life
In a different interview, Evil Dead Rise star Lilly Sullivan also walked Collider through the process of bringing the Marauder to life, stating that the production was classic Evil Dead in the sense that it featured contortionists and puppeteers. The actor told us actors, stunt people, and contortionists would take turns entering the Marauder suit. She also described the experience of being inside the bodysuit herself:
"I was harnessed up at one point, pulled towards the wood chipper, harness on being ricocheted by full grown men to each side, flipping me over to then pull me towards the Marauder and these contortionists in this suit, and then the wood chipper going. There were just moments on set where I was like, ‘What is happening?’ That was actually the last day on set and when we wrapped, I just didn't get off the floor. I just laid there and everyone was clapping, ‘That's a wrap,’ and I was just done.”
Cronin underscored that at times an actor and a stunt double would be crammed in together in the bodysuit, and the final result was made possible because stunt performers, actors and "some clever digital manipulation" was used to knit it all together. If that sounds complicated, it's because it was: Cronin told us that each Marauder shot took about one full day of production, so "it ate up a hell of a lot of time." However, the filmmaker stated he's quite happy with the end result:
"I believed in the vision and the idea. It was technically really challenging, but I think when you see it on screen, it's quite a spectacular monster and it's something that we maybe haven't seen quite like it before.”
Evil Dead Rise is playing in theaters now. You can watch our interview with Lee Cronin below: