Irish filmmaker and horror wiz Lee Cronin, director of The Hole In The Ground, has been confirmed as writer and director of the latest film in the The Evil Dead series.
From Empire Online:
Speaking to Empire, Ash himself – Bruce Campbell – opened up about the latest developments around a new film. “We’re just getting off the phone with Lee Cronin, who is writing and directing the next Evil Dead,” he confirmed. “It’s called Evil Dead Now. Sam handpicked Lee – he did a cool movie called The Hole In The Ground. We’re going to get that sucker out as soon as practical.”
As in Fede Alvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead, this one won’t feature Ash, who has hung up the chainsaw and shotgun for perhaps the last time – and will, by the sounds of things, centre on a female protagonist. “From this point forward, they kind of have to stand on their own. Which is fine. And liberating,” says Campbell. “You could have different heroes, different heroines in this case. This one’s gonna be a little more dynamic.” He added: “We jut want to keep the series current. And the mantra, really, is that our heroes and heroines are just regular people. That’s what we’re going to continue.”
The Evil Dead remains an inspiration for indie horror filmmakers to this day, and no doubt it’s a feather in Cronin‘s cap to pick up the series from icon Sam Raimi and Fede Alvarez, director of the 2013 reboot. Cronin has also come under the Raimi wing in directing an episode of 50 States of Fright , a horror anthology series produced by Raimi on the high-profile but bewildering bite-sized streaming platform Quibi. We’ll be looking on with interest as he takes Evil Dead off in a new direction.