'Evil Dead' sequel director Lee Cronin promises 'a rollercoaster of horror'

Lee Cronin, who is set to direct the next film in the Evil Dead franchise, has promised to give fans a “rollercoaster of horror” with the return of the Deadites.

The Irish filmmaker behind the 2019 horror The Hole in the Ground was hand-picked by franchise creator Sam Raimi to take on the next instalment in the franchise — provisionally titled Evil Dead Rise.

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In an interview to promote his episode of Quibi series 50 States of Fright, he told horror website Bloody Disgusting: “I really hope I don’t mess it up.”

The film will be the first Evil Dead outing since Fede Alvarez’s gore-drenched remake of the original movie, which was released to mostly positive reviews in 2013.

Cronin added: “What I couldn’t do was just go back and try and emulate what’s been done before.

“I needed to find my own way into the story, which took a little bit of time, and to choose a course and a direction that would deliver absolutely for the fans — in spades.”

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Cronin teased that the movie will see the Deadites against new backdrops and interacting with surprising characters, suggesting this won’t be another tale themed around a cabin in the woods.

He added: “I’m confident I’m going to do something that’s both familiar and refreshing.

“I’m gonna deliver a rollercoaster of horror. That’s what the goal is here. Relentless. Not stopping to explain too much.

“It needs to be extremely visceral, highly entertaining, properly scary. To push boundaries, that’s important as well.”

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Bruce Campbell, who was the star of the first two Evil Dead movies in the 1980s, told Empire earlier this year that he will not appear in the new film.

He said future films in the franchise “kind of have to stand on their own” and teased that Evil Dead Rise will be “a little more dynamic” than the previous movies — which requires quite the injection of madcap, gory energy.

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