Evil Dead Rise, the fifth cinematic entry in the beloved Evil Dead franchise, is officially slated for a theatrical release after initially being planned as an HBO Max-exclusive film.
"The Evil Dead shall RISE!!! 04/21/23," Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin wrote on Twitter, sharing a photo of himself sporting a branded production hat. "Exclusively in theatres. The countdown to carnage has begun."
In June 2020, original Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell confirmed that the franchise's fifth feature film would officially be titled Evil Dead Rise. In May 2021, it was announced that the New Line Cinema production would debut exclusively on HBO Max, which would have made it the first Evil Dead movie to go directly to streaming. Evil Dead Rise entered production in June 2021 and wrapped the following October. At San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, Campbell told CBR that the film might actually get a theatrical release -- a development that has now come to pass.
Evil Dead Rise is written and directed by Cronin, with original Evil Dead director Sam Raimi executive producing alongside the aforementioned Campbell. The film stars Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan as sisters Ellie and Beth, respectively. "In the fifth Evil Dead film, a road-weary Beth pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie, who is raising three kids on her own in a cramped L.A. apartment," an official synopsis reads. "The sisters' reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie's building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons, and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable."
Evil Dead: The Haunting Road So Far
Written and directed by Raimi, The Evil Dead originally released in theaters in 1981. Raimi returned to helm Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, which released in 1987 and 1992, respectively. All three films starred Campbell in the lead role of Ash Williams. 2013 saw the release of Evil Dead, a soft reboot directed by Fede Álvarez that serves as a continuation of Raimi's original trilogy. Ash is not the main character of Álvarez's Evil Dead, though Campbell does make a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene.
Most recently, Campbell starred as Ash in the television series Ash vs Evil Dead, which ran on Starz for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. The Starz series may very well have been Campbell's franchise swan song as Ash. Despite his involvement in the film as an executive producer, Campbell is not expected to reprise his role as Ash in Evil Dead Rise. "We're doing it book-focused these days," Campbell said late last year. "That darn book gets around, and that's how we play it."
Evil Dead Rise releases in theaters on April 21, 2023.