Following quite a few warnings about the graphic content featured in the footage, Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead took to the WonderCon stage with Alvarez, producer and original franchise star Bruce Campbell and cast members Lou Taylor Pucci, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas and Jane Levy.
The panel began with a new trailer created exclusively for WonderCon. Very similar to the recent Red Band version, this one offered some alternate shots and the tagline, “Once you unleash evil, it will consume you. Fear what you will become.”
“You can tell an ‘Evil Dead’ fan is a real ‘Evil Dead’ fan because they won’t f–ing shut up about it,” joked Campbell about meeting Alvarez for the first time.
Alvarez stressed that his vision for the reboot required that the effects be completely practical. To that end, Levy recalled that her biggest challenge during production was getting literally buried alive.
“Don’t be such a baby!” Campbell shot back, laughing.
Assuming the film does well at the box office, Alvarez says that he’s got big plans for the franchise. He’d like to make a sequel to this one while Sam Raimi moves forward with Army of Darkness 2. Then, both worlds would combine for a final, seventh film.
“I think seven is a nice number,” Campbell grinned.
The panel wrapped up with a special video message from Sam Raimi introducing a sequence from the April 5 release. In it, Lucas’ Olivia begins her possession in the cabin. Pucci’s Eric comes in to check on her in the bathroom and sees her sitting, cutting into her own tongue in the bathtub. He jumps back and slips on her severed cheek, falling backwards. She leaps at him, stabbing him with a shard of something and then, over and over, with a hypodermic needle that actually goes directly into his eyeball. She slams him against the toilet and it shatters, but he’s able to beat her back with a broken piece of porcelain. Eric is left on the floor, realizing that the end of the needle is still in his eye and he slowly pulls it out as the entire WonderCon audience winces.
You can watch the clip online by clicking here!
