EVIL DEAD 4 Will Actually Be ARMY OF DARKNESS 2

When it was announced last week that Sam Raimi may or may not be working on a screenplay for a fourth installment of his Evil Dead horror films, I wondered how he was planning on differentiating this continuation of the franchise from the soon-to-be released remake of the series’ classic first installment. Evil Dead, both new and classic, producer Robert Tappert has supplied us with the answer (via Coming Soon) –

That would be Army of Darkness 2. Everybody calls it Evil Dead 4 but Army of Darkness wasn’t called Evil Dead anywhere except by the fans.

So I guess that answers that question.

Of course, there won’t be any movie, no matter what we call it, if original Evil Dead franchise star Bruce Campbell isn’t that enthused about coming back to his iconic role one more time. And considering that it has been 21 years since he last brandished his boomstick against the armies of the undead, Campbell does express some skepticism that a new film will ever come to pass.

Sam threatens this every six months. I’ve heard this a thousand times, because in the back of his mind, he never wants to let go, because he loved making these movies. We all loved making them together. They were a nightmare to make, very difficult, but they lasted the test of time, so he’s not going to let that go, and I’m never going to say ‘no.’ It’ll be me and a walker fighting some other old guy. But that’s what he does and who knows? It may happen.

But remember how awesome Campbell was in Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep as an aging Elvis fighting a mummy in a nursing home? I’m thinking that Ash would have nothing on him.

But there is one problem Raimi and his brother Ivan will have to overcome when they sit down to start writing. Which Army Of Darkness ending do they use? As fans of the series can tell you, and I am about to, the US and international releases of the film had two different endings – one in which the time-tossed Ash makes it back to home in the twentieth century in time for his shift at the S-Mart and one in which he doesn’t. It should be interesting to see which path the brothers take.