It may seem like a case of telling us something we already know, but late yesterday Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Nathan Kahane’s Ghost House Pictures officially announced that they were producing a remake of Raimi’s feature film debut The Evil Dead. Fans of the franchise know that Raimi and Tapert, along with the film’s star Bruce Campbell, served as the original film’s producers when it was made as an independent project back in 1980.
What is news is that the announcement mentioned that Cody Diablo is currently working on some revisions to Rodo Sayagues’s script.
I can’t say I’m too enthused by this prospect. Whenever I go back and rewatch her Academy Award-winning Juno, I get the feeling that the movie succeeds more on the strength of its performances than on her script. I’ve never been much of a fan of her screenplay for the horror film Jennifer’s Body and her screenplay Young Adult, currently being filmed by Juno director Ivan Reitman, is so filled with unlikeable characters that I have never been able to finish reading it despite multiple attempts. For me, the bloom is definitely off of the Diablo Cody rose.
Here’s the press release –
Sam Raimi and original producing partners Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell (who also starred in the original franchise) are gearing up to remake their cult sensation THE EVIL DEAD through their long standing Ghost House Pictures partnership. Raimi and Tapert were such instant fans of Fede Alvarez’s short film “Panic Attack” that they set up a blind deal with the filmmaker and through that process have attached Fede Alvarez to write and direct the film. Alvarez wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues. Academy Award® winning screenwriter Diablo Cody is currently doing revisions on the draft. Ghost House is committed to renewing the franchise and has the film on the fast track.
Raimi, Tapert and Campbell will serve as producers. Ghost House Pictures partners Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will executive produce. Nicole Brown and J.R. Young will oversee the project for Ghost House. Lionsgate will handle international sales on the film.
The three producing partners commented, “We are committed to making this movie and are inspired by the enduring popularity and enthusiasm for the ‘Evil Dead’ series. We can’t wait to scare a new generation of moviegoers using filmmaking techniques that were not available to us thirty years ago as well as Fede bringing a fresh eye to the film’s original elements.”
Raimi wrote, directed and, along with Tapert and Campbell, produced the original horror classic THE EVIL DEAD that tells the story of five twenty-something friends who become holed up in a remote cabin where they discover a Book Of The Dead. An archaeologist’s tape recording reveals that the ancient text was discovered among the Khandarian ruins of a Sumerian civilization. Playing the taped incantations, the youths unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival. THE EVIL DEAD spawned a franchise with the equally successful installments EVIL DEAD II and ARMY OF DARKNESS.
