With a remake of "The Evil Dead" about five weeks away, producer Sam Raimi is obviously in the mood to discuss the franchise. However, he recently let slip that he may already be looking even further into its future, as the long-mooted "Evil Dead 4" still looms as a possibility.
At a press conference for his latest effort, "Oz The Great and Powerful," the director revealed that he intends to go to work on a script for the sequel this summer. He reiterated that he "would love to make" the film and that he and his brother "plan to work" on it later this year.
Of course, astute fans who have kept up with this project know this is nothing new. Technically, the Raimi brothers have been toiling away on this script for years now. While promoting "Drag Me to Hell" back in 2009, Sam divulged that he and brother Ivan were slowly hammering out a script in a Detroit garage.
At that time, the screenplay had about nine pages, and it was difficult to tell just how seriously Raimi should have been taken. Four years later, the film doesn't seem any closer to production than it has been for the past two decades, and it wouldn't be surprising if Raimi's work on the script this summer amounts to a few more pages.
For the uninitiated in need of some perspective on this film, it's the horror genre's equivalent of "Ghostbusters 3," a sequel that's felt like it's been just around the corner several times now but never materializes into anything. At various points, both Raimi and star Bruce Campbell have insisted it probably won't happen, and the impending remake would seemingly shut the Necronomicon on this issue forever.
However, Raimi wants to keep it cracked open for whatever reason; he is a consummate jokester and a prankster, but let's just hope the joke isn't on horror fans who have longed to see Ash return to the big screen for the past 20 years.
