io9: evil dead

Spider-Man 5? Not Yet, Says Raimi

Graeme McMillan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:00:09 PDT

Hope you weren't too excited about the prospect of Spider-Man 5 being shot back-to-back with Spider-Man 4. According to Spider-director Sam Raimi, that's not the plan at all... or, if it is, no-one's told him.

We've reported earlier than Sony was looking to make the next two Spider-Man movies at the same time, Lord of The Rings-style, but talking to Ain't It Cool News, Raimi sounded as if he wasn't even sure he was working on the fourth installment of the Marvel franchise:

No one's talked to me about making part 5 at this moment. Right now I'm hoping to make part 4... For me it's just making the next Spider-Man picture, that's all I know right now. [I]t's a never-ending process. Basically we are talking about the story right now, shortly artists will come on and I'll start giving them shots to draw. We are supposed to start talking to a production designer soon, so it will just keep getting larger and larger.

It's not all bad news, though; Raimi did admit that there will be an Evil Dead 4... at some point in time:

Evil Dead 4 is all about blood and gore and Evil Dead movies and I really like the Evil Dead movies and I really want to make another Evil Dead movie sometime. I don't want to say when, because everyone keeps getting mad at me...

Sam Raimi and Quint discuss DRAG ME TO HELL, SPIDER-MAN 4 and EVIL DEAD 4! [Ain't It Cool]

Broadway Killed The Zombies

Meredith Woerner — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:30:00 PDT

A new crop of campy zombie ads are cropping up on Broadway, promoting Evil Dead: The Musical. While the posters are all very clever, their presence only reveals what I've long feared: the Disneyification of our beloved brain-eating zombies. These cute versions of the undead are everywhere nowadays, and getting campier by the minute. Click though to see the slow decomposition of zombies, from funny versions of the living dead to the Broadway soft-shoe undead.

It used to be that the only time you were bothered by over-zealous silly zombies was on Halloween during the annual Thriller resurgence. Maybe it was Shaun of The Dead that opened the door for the last four-year craze of the undead on stage. I blame Shaun's good humor and fantastic writing of real characters that allowed other people to view zombies (more recently in a fun and friendly way).

But instead of making a better zombie comedy or another lovely gory zombie classic (such as the 2002 new rage spin 28 Days Later) filmmakers unleashed a string of so-so camp or shaky handy cam gimicky undead flicks, each one sadder than the next. Fido, Planet Terror, Zombie Strippers were all great, but their undead hordes leaned harder and harder on the crutch of camp to get through each take.

We need to be forward-thinking with our precious zombie commodities, people. And what has this campification and blatant misuse of zombies brought us? The Broadway zombie. I love Bruce Campbell and wouldn't mind seeing him singing and slaying on stage, but unfortunately he's not in it. And the Bruce-substitute is surrounded by happy dancing undead. Pass. Also passing on Re-Animator: The Musical, Zombie Prom and Z: A Zombie Musical.

Our last hope for a zombie attack we can take seriously is the forthcoming World War Z movie — which is really a post-zombie narrative, since it takes place after the zombie war.

Shockingly, Project Necromancer Turns Out To Be A Bad Idea

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:14:00 PDT

The Dark Lurking, a film which just finished shooting in Australia, is described as "Aliens Meets Evil Dead," but looks more like a better remake of Doom, judging from the new trailer. A team of soldiers goes into the research station a mile beneath the Antarctic to find out what happened to the scientists down there. And soon, there are eight survivors left alive, with "ten levels of terror" to traverse on the way back up to the surface. Note to self: If you're ever asked to go work on a project called "Project Necromancer," it's probably best to decline politely. Click through to watch the trailer.

And you can friend The Dark Lurking on Myspace, just in case you're feeling lonely. [QuietEarth]