Sam Raimi delivers his verdict on the evolution of the Evil Dead franchise

There are only a handful of filmmakers who have contributed as much to the horror genre over the years as Sam Raimi. The legendary director gifted us with the landmark Evil Dead franchise when he was just 21-years-old, writing and directing all three films in the original trilogy between 1981 and 1992 and reinventing what was possible in comedy-horror in the process.

In the years since, there have been two further films in the franchise – Fede Álvarez's 2013 reboot and Lee Cronin's 2023 effort Evil Dead Rise – with a third, Evil Dead Burn, set for release this summer.

Raimi serves as a producer on the new film, as he has done for the previous two, but speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com he revealed that he's largely taking a backseat in the creative process for this upcoming instalment.

"[It’s] the exact same involvement [as the last one]," he explained. "I’m a producer on it, but my pal Robert Tapert does all the heavy lifting and shooting."

He added: "I’m there to give notes on the script and notes on the cut, notes on the casting, notes on the sound. But I’m not really making the movie, I’m more like a friend of the film trying to help it out."
The director of the new film is French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček – whose only previous feature credit was the well-received 2023 horror Infested – and Raimi admitted that it's been fun watching a younger generation come in and put their own stamp on the franchise he created all those years ago.

"It’s fascinating, the process," he remarked. "Because it’s like writing a little ditty – a six note little ditty – and seeing these really fine filmmakers come in and take that and orchestrate it and make it their own verses and make it their own and take it in directions I never even thought of.

"But you can still hear that little ditty in there sometimes!"

In recent years, it's been pretty quiet when it comes to original Raimi features, with his only directing credits in the past fifteen years being the 2013 Wizard of Oz spin-off, Oz the Great and Powerful, and the 2022 MCU flick Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

But his new film starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien, Send Help, sees him return to the kind of bloody genre filmmaking that he first built his reputation with – and Raimi has confessed that "it was fun tossing the blood again!"

Let's hope it's the first of many new original features from one of cinema's most distinctive directors.

Send Help is currently showing in UK cinemas and Evil Dead Burn is due for release on Friday 24th July 2026.

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