Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Evil Dead Rise!
While its blood-soaked story is mostly wrapped in a circular bow, Lee Cronin is sharing some wild Evil Dead Rise sequel ideas to carry on his horror movie. Shifting from the cabin setting of the previous four films to a Los Angeles apartment, the film centers on two estranged sisters whose reunion is short-lived when one of them becomees possessed by a Deadite and goes on a vicious rampage. Led by Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland, Evil Dead Rise has already scored widespread acclaim and a strong start at the box office.
In honor of the film’s release, SlashFilm spoke with Lee Cronin to break down Evil Dead Rise. When asked about his thoughts on the franchise’s future, the writer/director shared some of his wild sequel ideas, one of which includes a prequel pitting one priest against a mass wave of Deadites in a John Wick-like fashion. See what Cronin shared below:
For me, actually what it was driven by is the idea that the force can’t really be destroyed. So, even though there’s someone adjacent to all the madness that has happened, that force can prevail and can kind of continue onwards. So, that’s one pathway. There’s also, there’s a second storyline, a hundred years in the past that’s shared in this. And that’s also a storyline I’ve had boiling for what goes on behind that vinyl. You could go back in time. Then I’ve got one Priest versus a hundred Deadites. ‘John Wick Evil Dead.’ The challenge that was set for me was to move the dial with this world, to crack the world open in a different way. I hope I’ve been successful in doing that. I’ve actually left a few doors open to get inside that world.
There is that wraparound and that wraparound is always there. I wanted to show the fans that I understand the world, I understand where it’s been, but also here’s the change, here’s the needle drop, here’s where we’re going to go. We’re going to go somewhere else. Also there’s the 10 minutes later story for those that … the lucky ones that maybe just about make it out alive. There’s that place also. And then equally, what about when the authorities show up at this building and find the carnage that’s there? And if you remember, there’s still some seriously hardcore remnants left in that building that could have an impact on a whole new set of unsuspecting factors.
How Evil Dead Rise Sets Up Future Sequels
Cronin would also share some four specific Evil Dead Rise sequel ideas in an interview with Variety, the majority of which specifically link to the new film. His two direct follow-ups would be stories that follow Sullivan’s Beth and Nell Fisher’s Kassie going on the road after surviving the events of the new film, as well as one covering the aftermath of the Deadites’ rampage on the apartment building itself, namely a clean-up crew handling the mess.
The writer/director’s other two Evil Dead Rise sequel ideas are more standalone ideas, with one being a story exploring the history of the Book of the Dead, pointing towards the ancient vinyl recordings from priests revealing the existence of three volumes of the Naturom Demonto while the other would see the evil continuing in the woods. While franchise fans enjoyed the return-to-form of 2013’s Evil Dead, the change of setting for Evil Dead Rise has been met with much acclaim, making another woods-set story lower on many wishlists.
One of the bigger theories that didn’t come to be from Evil Dead Rise was the long-awaited return of Jane Levy’s Mia from the 2013 movie. Given the latest film confirmed there to be three Books of the Dead, the door is wide open for her to return to assist Beth in dealing with the fallout from her Deadite fight, as well as Bruce Campell’s Ash, even if the latter is oly expected to return for the Evil Dead animated series in the works after retiring from playing him in a live-action project.