The book that unleashes all that evil deadness, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, is ancient. Within the lore of the franchise, it’s been around since the time of Ancient Egypt, if not earlier (the timeline has changed depending on the telling; at one point, it was also said to have been created between 3100 and 2500 BCE). With that in mind, you can have an “Evil Dead” story set practically anywhere, anytime. Look, I love the classic “Evil Dead” films featuring Bruce Campbell as the boomstick-wielding Ash, but the 2013 “Evil Dead” reboot and “Evil Dead Rise” both show that the franchise can stand on its own two feet without Ash.
So why not drop us into different time periods? The franchise already went to the past once with “Army of Darkness,” so why stop there? Imagine a noir-tinged “Evil Dead” movie set in the 1930s or 40s. It could be a pulpy detective story that just happens to feature some “Evil Dead” body horror. Really, the sky is the limit here. As long as you have a character find that cursed book at some point, you can theoretically set an “Evil Dead” story anywhere, anytime. I have no idea what Francis Galluppi or Sébastien Vaniček will do with their respective “Evil Dead” movies that are coming our way in the not-too-distant future (plot details are still being kept secret for now), but I hope they both realize the franchise is extremely flexible. You can do anything here. Take advantage of that.
We spoke about this and some other recent film and TV news on today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below:
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