It looks like the Evil Dead universe is just getting bigger and bigger… even if it’s not exactly official.
So, before I start, this is kinda along the same lines as that time we learned the Friday the 13th series is also part of the Evil Dead universe and it even has Evil Dead creator/director Sam Raimi’s blessing.
Jason Goes To Hell director Adam Marcus revealed that his movie set up the Freddy Vs Jason movie, but also something just as big. In the movie, the Necronomicon-Ex Mortis is in the Voorhees basement – for those not in the know, the Necronomicon-Ex Mortis is the Book of the Dead that Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) used to call forth the Deadites and bring darkness on the earth.
This was not an accident or just a nod to the fans, Marcus said: “[I] wanted to create a mythology for Jason in this movie, because it had driven me nuts as a viewer,
“[Pamela Voorhees – Jason’s mother] makes a deal with the devil by reading from the Necronomicon to bring back her son. This is why Jason isn’t Jason. He’s Jason plus The Evil Dead, and now I can believe that he can go from a little boy that lives in a lake, to a full-grown man in a couple of months, to Zombie Jason, to never being able to kill this guy.”
He finished up, saying: “That, to me, is way more interesting as a mashup, and [Sam] Raimi loved it!”
So, by that rationale, that means the Evil Dead universe includes the Friday the 13th series and the Nightmare on Elm Street series, and now… The Mummy (we’ll get back to this).
Tidbit:
Ash Williams and the deadite horde had an extensive life in comics over the years, too, and in there, they crossed over with many franchises, including Danger Girl, the Martians from HG Wells’ War of the Worlds (probably the oddest one), Xena: Warrior Princess, Darkman (another Sam Raimi creation), Jason and Freddy, Re-Animator, and even the Marvel Zombies.
This franchise’s canon is a paradox, that’s for sure…
The teaser for Evil Dead Burn (here) takes place in a house that it proving very familiar to fans of the very underrated Ash Vs Evil Dead series because, well, it’s a location fans of that series will recognise very well as belonging to Ruby (Lucy Lawless) and, as if that’s not enough, this being the same location has been confirmed by production designer Nick Bassett who said the location was chosen becasue it was already used in the Evil Dead universe.
In Ash Vs Evil Dead, the house is a big part of the wider Evil Dead lore, tying directly to the Necromicon itself, and is a place of pure, original evil.
WATCH: Evil Dead Burn teaser trailer is here to scare you senseless
In the teaser, we see people being flung around like rag dolls and some floating, presumably Deadites, while Luciane Buchanan’s character crawls through the chaos, trying to survive, leaving fans wondering if this is the same house and the same evil.
If – and I know it’s a big ‘if’ – this turns out to be the same house, then this is the first big crossover tease we’ve had since 2013’s superb Evil Dead from director Fede Alvarez, which had an awesome Ash Williams cameo at the end… although, it could be argued (and is by director Lee Cronin) that the old recording we hear in 2023’s Evil Dead Rise IS Ash, with Cronin saying: “There is a Bruce Campbell cameo, and that cameo potentially is actually Ash Williams,” the filmmaker says.
Tidbit:
Bruce Campbell Memes on Facebook made the connection first, as far as I can see.
Check out their original post here:
“Think about how time works for Ash as a character, and that voice that you may hear is captured on something that was recorded 100 years ago. And the fact that his particular line is a warning showcases somebody who knows more than the other people in the room… I know that sounds very cryptic, but it’s supposed to.”
Let’s be honest, Ash is no stranger to being lost in time… does this mean that somewhere after Ash Vs Evil Dead, Campbell’s anti-hero got lost in the past again?!
Oh, and speaking of Lee Cronin…
In a new interview about Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, the director addresses the idea that it might be a secret Evil Dead story, saying that he brought “my own style, my own taste, and some of my own lore to that [Evil Dead] world” and said that, in his head there was “always going to be a bit of crossover”.
In The Mummy, he says that “if you pay attention to the name of the archeology professor in the movie, it could be a distant relative of some key characters in Evil Dead Rise.”
The name he speaks about is that of Professor Bixler, played by Mark Mitchinson, who shares the surname with Lily Sullivan’s Beth Bixler in Evil Dead Rise.
Evil Dead Rise director reveals Army of Darkness connection to explain third Necronomicon
Man, I love a good bit of connective tissue, don’t you?
And yes, Abigail is a movie in the Ready or Not universe.
Look, I know this is all a bit much, but ever since Evil Dead II, which was an almost straight-up remake of Evil Dead due to rights issues, and then the third movie, Army of Darkness, is an almost flat-out comedy, continuity has never been the series’ strong suit, but there is a reason of sorts as to why the timeline is fractured.
When he made Evil Dead Rise, Cronin explained why there could be three (then) realities, and it all tied back to Army of Darkness when Ash finds three Necronomicons in medieval England: “In one of the early meetings I had with Sam Raimi, I said, ‘You know the way in “Army Of Darkness,” there’s three [Necronomicons]? You had one, Fede had one [2013’s Evil Dead], I’m going to take the other one.’ It gave me that platform to nudge things forward, and also to showcase that we live in a world where there is more than one copy of the Necronomicon,” Cronin explained.
Tidbit:
Nick Bassett says that the house in Evil Dead Burn is the same real-world shooting location, not necessarily the same in-universe. Indeed, word is that Evil Dead Burn takes place on the US West Coast, while Ash vs Evil Dead took place in Michigan.
Evil Dead Burn unleashes the franchise’s most savage and terrifying ride to date, blazing onto big screens with an all-new chapter of carnage and demonic mayhem.
After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws in their secluded family home. As one by one they are transformed into Deadites—turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell—she comes to discover that the vows she took in life… live on even in death.
Director: Sébastien Vaniček
Cast: Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Errol Shand, Maude Davey, George Pullar, Greta Van Den Brink
The full trailer is coming soon…
Evil Dead Burn only in theaters July 10th
Watch Lee Cronin talks Evil Dead and Mummy connections:
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Source: Dread Central
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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