STACK #225 July 2023

MOVIE & TV FEATURE

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• Evil Dead Rise is out Jul 19

With praise from critics and audiences alike since its theatrical

Fede Álvarez to make a sequel to his 2013 Evil Dead remake, and for series creator Sam Raimi to make a fourth instalment of the original Ash Williams saga - effectively Army of Darkness 2 . Speaking at WonderCon in 2013, series icon Bruce Campbell revealed that the strategy was to follow both of these films with a seventh

although it serves as a standalone story, it still occupies

with the AV Channel, Campbell spoke about the future of Evil Dead , revealing a roadmap for the series. "Sam is working with his brother Ivan to create an overall Bible that will give future writers and directors an idea of where this thing should go next, to potentially tie in some of these stories,” he said. “It's all about the Books. It could be a Book in the past, a Book in the future.”

the original Ash-verse. The concept within the movie of three Books of the Dead being displaced around the world is a direct link to the events of Army of Darkness , providing a gap for Ash to be shoehorned in at any time (we don’t really believe he’s retired, do we?). In a recent conversation

release, Evil Dead Rise has surpassed

expectations and is one of the most gnarly and disturbing entries in the franchise. Words Glenn Cochrane D itching the cabin-in-the woods motif that’s been integral to the series, the new film takes place in an urban setting, with the horror unfolding in a dilapidated apartment building. This terrifying story of a mother possessed by the demonic forces of the evil dead wasn’t one that the makers initially set out to tell. The original plan was for director

instalment that would bring the timelines together. Álvarez’s film

DYK?

Evil Dead Rise and Ash Vs Evil Dead were

was scrapped and Raimi’s was turned into the Ash Vs Evil Dead TV series, leaving the theatrical future of the

both filmed in New Zealand.

series in limbo. When the excellent TV series was cancelled after three seasons, Campbell announced that he was retiring Ash for good. Evil Dead Rise was born, and

• The Last of Us Season 1 is out Jul 19

This year The Last of Us achieved what very few video game adaptations have managed: critical acclaim. Words Glenn Cochrane I n fact, the series has achieved an incredible 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a consensus that it remained wonderfully faithful to the original game. Of course, as with all adaptations, various concessions and

director Neil Druckmann was writing a film adaptation, but those plans quickly fell apart. The project was shelved in favour of the Uncharted film, which was game developer Naughty Dog’s other major property. Fortuitously, Druckmann was

liberties were made, and this new show has proven to be one of the most gripping and compelling dramatic horror stories in recent years. This wasn’t always the case, however, as

The series stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, with support from John Hannah, Nick Offerman, and Melanie Lynskey, amongst others, and tells the story of a smuggler who has to transport a girl across a post apocalyptic America following a pandemic caused by a fungal infection outbreak - an infection to which the girl is mysteriously immune. Fans of The Walking Dead and the aforementioned Chernobyl will definitely need to check this one out.

introduced to director Craig Mazin - who had just created the critically acclaimed Chernobyl series for HBO - and the two agreed that

Neil Druckmann once pitched The Last of Us to The Night of the Living Dead creator George A. Romero, as a university assignment. Romero wasn’t a fan, and awarded the top prize to another project. DYK?

the format for an adaptation of The Last of Us must be television. They convinced the bigwigs at HBO to greenlight

the series was originally planned to be a feature film. Back in 2014 it was announced that the game’s original writer and creative

the project, based solely on the success of Chernobyl … and the rest is history.

12 JULY 2023

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