Even with a remake of “Evil Dead” headed to cinemas, producer Sam Raimi hasn’t given up on his dream to do a third sequel to the original film – with star Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Boomstick-yielding ‘Ash’.
BUT how does Raimi do an “Evil Dead 4″ (a third sequel to his original horror classic) when there’s an “Evil Dead” remake on the way in the next couple of weeks? Won’t two franchises carrying the same name, spooling off at the same time, confuse people?
I’d have thought so, too. Until today.
And the solution is actually pretty logical. Very logical, actually. He doesn’t call the new film… “Evil Dead 4″. Instead, if Raimi does put pen to paper on the new film (and at this stage he’s only got an idea for one, he hasn’t actually started writing a script) it’ll be “Army of Darkness 2″ that brothers Sam and Ivan Raimi put on the title page.
“Army of Darkness” was, of course, the second sequel to Raimi’s “Evil Dead”. The 1993 film transplanted ‘Ash’, the hero from the ‘Cabin’ (in the “Evil Dead” movies) to medieval times where he’s forced to battle all sorts of stop-motion monsters.
Instead of returning to the ‘Cabin’, and rather than following the template of not only the first two films in its series but also the remake, the fourth ‘Evil Dead’ will stay put in medieval times.
It’ll be… “Army of Darkness 2″.
(Meaning the “Evil Dead” remake can freely go off and have it’s fun, franchisey-wise, without having to worry about the original OG coming back to rain on its parade.)
“That would be ‘Army of Darkness 2,’” Producer Robert Tapert tells Coming Soon. “Everybody calls it ‘Evil Dead 4′ but ‘Army of Darkness’ wasn’t called ‘Evil Dead’ anywhere except by the fans.”
That’s true. Though it was a sequel to “Evil Dead 2″, “Army of Darkness” was released and marketed as a stand-alone picture (in most cases, anyway; you will find that some DVD copies carry the “Evil Dead” tag and I’m positive a couple of cinemas, back in the day, had it on the marquee as “Evil Dead 3″).
Still, Bruce Campbell, who would reprise ‘Ash’ for “Army of Darkness 2″ if it goes ahead, isn’t convinced it’ll ever see the light of day. As blunt as ever, the legendary B-actor says the idea likely won’t get much further than it has.
“Sam threatens this every six months,” he told Coming Soon. “I’ve heard this a thousand times, because in the back of his mind, he never wants to let go, because he loved making these movies. We all loved making them together. They were a nightmare to make, very difficult, but they lasted the test of time, so he’s not going to let that go, and I’m never going to say ‘no.’ It’ll be me and a walker fighting some other old guy. But that’s what he does and who knows? It may happen.”
Raimi had said in recent interviews that he and brother Ivan Raimi may write, erm, “Army of Darkness 2″ over their coming Summer break. Whether they actually do or not, is anyone’s guess?
Meantime, there’s a sequel to the remake on the way too. At last night’s screening of “Evil Dead” at SXSW, director Fede Alvarez and producer Bruce Campbell confirmed that an “Evil Dead 2″ is already in the writing stages.
Fans of the 
season’s fifth episode. In the sixth episode script, J.R. is shot and killed by an unknown assailant, hearkening back to the original “Who Shot J.R.?” sensation in 1980. He’s murdered while on the telephone in a late-night conversation with his son John Ross (Josh Henderson) when we hear gunshots. The scene was made possible due to some editing tricks in post, exec producer Michael Robin confirmed today. “Cynthia and the post-production staff located all of the dialogue we had of Larry,” he said, adding that the staff did a brilliant job of editing in elements to make it all look seamless. 
Cidre admitted that “if only we could have shot Larry in a limousine saying generic things, we could have (kept him on the show) for years.” But it was clear that his death came so quickly that it caught everyone off-guard.
Indeed, Hagman’s memory very much hung over the 70-minute PaleyFest session, transforming it into a loving tribute to the actor. Those present at the event had just screened the show’s seventh episode, premiering tomorrow night and entitled “J.R.’s Masterpiece”, that features J.R.’s funeral. Linda Gray, who has portrayed Sue Ellen Ewing in both editions of the series, called Hagman “an extraordinary human being” who “is here and will always be here.” She related a wrenching story about how Hagman’s daughter Christina sang the song “I’ll Be Loving You… Always” as her father lay near death, and how he had begun to sing it with her as the end drew 
close. “Two days later, I was driving home from the set and had the radio on,” related Gray, “and all of a sudden the song came on. And then two days after that, it came on again. It took my breath away. I’m like, ‘Larry, is that you?’ ” Longtime costar Patrick Duffy punctured the sentiment by quickly adding, “Just so you know, he sings dirty limericks to me.” Other stories of Hagman’s spiritual presence on the set followed from a panel that also included regulars Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Julie Gonzalo and Brenda Strong. When the subject turned to the “Who Shot J.R.?” question and its reveal later this season, Duffy — who says he knows who killed him — called it “Probably the most brilliant pieces of scriptwriting I’ve ever read”. And Cidre admitted that had Hagman lived, there was talk of he and Sue Ellen reuniting/remarrying. But now, we’ll never know.
