This weekend Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez visited WonderCon and announced that his entry in the franchise will ultimately cross over with Sam Raimi's planned sequel Army of Darkness 2 in a seventh Evil Dead film. This is more evidence to support my argument that Alvarez's entry is more sequel than remake. The timeline is deliberately vague, and it's not exactly the first Evil Dead film to blur the line between remake and sequel.
Personally, I am very excited about this. I am a bit confused, however, as different sources are posting conflicting reports from the panel. According to Bloody-Disgusting, the seventh film would mark the fourth entry in BOTH franchises, meaning Army of Darkness 2 (prior to the cross-over) won't happen. Meanwhile, ShockTillYouDrop reports that both Alvarez and Raimi will have one more sequel to their respective films before the cross-over. So which is it, dammit?! I really hope we don't have to wait until film #7 to see another Raimi Evil Dead (if he even directs it).
According to the panel reports, Bruce Campbell seems to be more on-board with a Raimi sequel these days.
"I think seven is a nice number," Campbell grinned. [source]
This is promising, but as ever, I am cautiously optimistic. This is certainly not the first time Sam Raimi has said he was writing a sequel with his brother, Ivan. But if Alvarez's Evil Dead does well at the box office, the likelihood will be better than ever. So horror fans, do your civic duty and go see the "remake." My full spoiler-free review is here. What do you think about the news? Does the prospect of this new film being a sequel and having a future with Raimi's universe make you more interested in seeing it this Friday?
