Obi-Wanma

Not a reboot. The opening of Evil Dead 2 is a summary of the first film, just without the other 3 characters. It only exists because they didn't have the rights to show clips from the first movie. It ends exactly how the first movie ended.

dex14

Exactly. It still boggles my mind that people still have this debate.

Matto1020

The premium network has greenlighted an original series, entitled Ash vs. Evil Dead, that will serve as a follow-up to the horror comedy film franchise, it was announced Monday.

Read more Sam Raimi Plans 'Evil Dead' TV Series, 'Last of Us' Film
Original Evil Dead director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert and star Bruce Campbell will return for the 10-episode half-hour series, slated for a 2015 premiere.

The series marks Raimi and Tapert's return to Starz following their Spartacus run. Raimi revealed plans to continue the Evil Dead story on the small screen back at Comic-Con.

Campbell reprises his role as the title character Ash, a stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last three decades avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons — personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its evil grip.

Raimi will direct the pilot, which he will co-write with his brother, Ivan (Darkman, Army of Darkness, Drag Me to Hell), and Tom Spezialy (Chuck, Reaper, Desperate Housewives). Sam Raimi will executive produce, along with Tapert and Campbell. Ivan Raimi will co-executive produce, while Aaron Lam (Spartacus) will produce.

DaveyJoe

That branding works so well I'm surprised it's not a real superstore chain.

kstublen

I understand they couldn't get the rights for the beginning and couldn't get the actors back (and that there were planned versions where they were in the recap), but when you watch it it's hard to resolve the fact that Ash drives there with Linda (played by a different actress) and no one else and then say it's just a recap and nothing more. There are three characters that are explicitly not in the movie and there are substantial changes made to the story. We can go back and forth over whether the first part is a reboot/remake/recap/re-imagining, but it's sort of semantics as to what we're going to call it. I think we can all agree though that there are changes to and revisions of what happened in the first film. And that does sort of mess with the continuity, especially for a viewer that doesn't know the behind-the-scenes information.

And like I said, this happens again when you compare the ending of Evil Dead 2 to the beginning of Army of Darkness with the former having Ash shoot the flying Deadite and the latter having him immediately taken into custody.

Guru Askew

It really doesn't seem to warrant the confusion that exists.

To really understand it you want to realize that the elements that are and aren't in the recap are dictated by the events of the sequel proper. There is no reason to include Scotty, Cheryl or Shelly in the recap because they don't reappear in the sequel. But Linda does and that's why the recap just features Ash and Linda. The whole thing was reverse-engineered out of the actual screenplay which works as a sequel to the first film 100%

The weird thing is that there is an actual conflict between the end of ED2 and the beginning of AoD (though you could argue that it's a kind of precap that summarizes several of the events of the following film in a single scene) but people seem to accept that, but they get hung up on the ED/ED2 thing.

Groucho

The most jarring thing for me between ED and ED2 is the complete change in tone.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, there's that, too. ED1 was a straight up horror movie. ED2 was sort of a slapstick horror comedy. There's a lot of difference between the two films; they're also visually different, too.

It's sort of a weird relationship between the two films, as they don't quite feel like a direct continuation, but 2 doesn't really work as a standalone film or remake because it feels like you're missing the story about what happened to Linda.

mndtrp

Anything that gets back into the universe with Bruce Campbell will work for me. I'm still holding out hope on more movies, but this should be cool anyway.

kstublen

Agree with all of this. That is sort of what I was trying to say before.

I'm fine with them not really appearing in the "recap" in general because I agree they aren't essential to the story from that point forward. But there are blatant contradictions in the recap: Ash driving up with just his girlfriend and the discovery of the bridge being out immediately come to mind. I mean, there's no way around the fact that "Ash & Friends Visit Cabin" and "Ash & His Girlfriend Visit Cabin" being completely irreconcilable. They didn't have a problem recasting Linda, so why not just throw three other people in the car with them in the beginning of the recap? That really would have solved the most glaring continuity error.

Rami and Campbell have tossed around the words remake/reboot/recap/re-imagining in various interviews and writings, so it's not exactly confirmed one way or the other. I agree it's a recap, but it's also a re-telling of the same story in a slightly different way.

And this is what I mentioned earlier as well that there's a huge problem with the ending of Evil Dad 2 and the beginning of Army of Darkness. I think fans of the franchise just sort of combine the movies into a continuity that makes the most sense. That was my main point all along with the conflicts between The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 (which are real, specifically the car only having two people versus five on the way up, no way around that).

To get it back on track with the new series though...I wouldn't be surprised if they used the original Army of Darkness ending since that's the ending they prefer and continuity has always taken a backseat to continuing the story in a meaningful and entertaining way. Of course, budget restrictions might make it so they need to film it in the present day (which, let's be honest, is part of the reason Evil Dead 2 even exists...because they couldn't originally make what became Army of Darkness on the budget they had and were forced to make Evil Dead 2, which made enough money to make Army of Darkness possible).

Neil M.

I've always looked at the continuity as part of the joke. I wouldn't be surprised if the series starts out with a completely cheesy and different version of the events of AoD.

Troy Stiffler

This means I need to get Starz. Or if Amazon has them for $2 and episode I'll do that.

Rypro 525

Also being on Starz means that they can go all out on the violence and gore and not have to worry about the MPAA say something goes too far

Obi-Wanma

To me I just look at it like the recap is there for people who haven't seen the original movie, as if it just picked up right where the first left off, newcomers would be totally lost. If you put 3 more people in the car, you have to show what happened to them, which really is a waste of time. To me, the movie doesn't really start until after the recap.

DaveyJoe

I still think it's pretty funny that Sam Raimi didn't have the right to show clips from his own movie.

Deftones

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/357...-its-sidekicks

slop101

Campbell starring and Raimi's heavy involvement means that I'm definitely on board.

joltman

This is so unreal. So many years of talk of ED4 with nothing materializing, then a TV show is brought up at the end of last year and will air this year.

DJariya

http://deadline.com/2015/03/lucy-law...es-1201389140/

Lucy Lawless is joining the cast.

They are shooting this Spring in New Zealand. Will air later this year.

RocShemp

Apparently they are aiming for 5 seasons.

Neil M.

I still can't believe this is happening. It just seems like the sort of idea that is talked about but never materializes.

OldBoy

i can't friggin' wait!!

dex14

From this interview: http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/902...dread-central/

dex14

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C8qegW5xJh8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Troy Stiffler

Before that trailer bums everyone out - not a single actual shot of the show. Just an animation summed up in the framegrab. Boooooo.