Bruce Campbell may have retired from playing Ash Williams, but the Evil Dead franchise is going from strength to strength, with the long-awaited Evil Dead 4 now moving ahead under the direction of Lee Cronin. The project was officially announced earlier this year when Campbell revealed that the title was Evil Dead Now. However, soon after, he unveiled a new (and in my opinion much better) title: Evil Dead Rise.
In late June, we reported that this may give a hint to the setting, with gossip suggesting that the Deadite scourge would be trading up an abandoned cabin in the woods for a skyscraper or high-rise. And now, a new interview with Campbell has added fuel to that fire.
The horror icon is currently touring the country on his Keep Your Distance tour of drive-in theaters. At a Q&A session at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, he was asked for some more details on Evil Dead Rise and said that “the Evil Dead are going to fu*k up a city this time.” This likely confirms June’s rumor, meaning the film is going to offer a pretty novel experience for the long-running series.
Campbell also mentioned that the new pic will feature an entirely fresh cast, though interestingly, wouldn’t rule out making a cameo appearance. When asked about that, he said “who knows?” and jokingly followed it up with: “Shouldn’t I just be in it?” The audience, predictably, went nuts.
While I think that Campbell’s Ash Williams has hung up his chainsaw and shotgun for good, I obviously wouldn’t say no to a cameo. That being said, it’ll be nice to see if Cronin can create some characters that may end up as iconic as Ash was.
We don’t have a release date for Evil Dead Rise just yet, but Campbell’s next tour stop is at the Revolution Concert House & Event Center in Garden City, Idaho, where he’ll be screening the original Evil Dead on September 19th. Tickets are available here.