‘Evil Dead Rise’ has been officially rated

The Evil Dead franchise took a wobble after the excellent Ash vs. Evil Dead was canceled in 2018, with star Bruce Campbell promptly announcing he was retiring the role of Ash Williams. However, much like the cackling Deadites, you can’t keep a good horror franchise down. The year 2022 has been billed as the “Year of the Deadite,” with the obvious highlight being the release of Evil Dead Rise.

The film is due in HBO Max sometime this year, and though we don’t have an exact release date an official announcement and trailer may not be far away as the MPAA have just turned in their rating. According to a press release from FilmRatings.com Evil Dead Rise will be rated R, for “strong bloody horror violence and gore, and some language”.

That should come as music to the ears of fans and the fact that the movie appears to be complete bodes well for the possibility of it premiering relatively soon.

When it does we should get a story very different from previous installments. Director Lee Cronin has teased the action will move “away from the cabin in the woods and into the city.” The synopsis explained that the story is centered on estranged sisters whose long-awaited reunion is totally ruined by the arrival of flesh-possessing demons.

Series creator Sam Raimi personally selected Cronin for the director’s job and Bruce Campbell has a producer credit Though he will probably not appear in the movie, Campbell has been busy hyping up the upcoming film in interviews, saying:

“­People can actually call it what [they] want: Sequel, remake, reimagining. It really is just another Evil Dead movie. It’s book-centric. It’s all about the Necronomicon. Where does this book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia? In this case, it’s set in the city, it’s no more cabin in the woods. It’s entirely different, unsuspecting heroines who are going to save the day.”

Let’s hope for a full Evil Dead Rise announcement soon and a release date in the next few months.