Fede Alvarez Evil Dead Interview

Fede Alvarez Evil Dead Interview

Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Director: Fede Alvarez
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Running Time: 90 minutes

Synopsis: Five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin where they discover a Book Of The Dead and unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

Release Date: May 16th, 2013

About the Production

In 1981 The Evil Dead opened in theatres and drive-ins around the world, terrorising filmgoers, polarising audiences and launching the careers of director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert and actor Bruce Campbell. The story of five young friends who go to a remote cabin in the woods to party and accidentally release unspeakable evil forces, The Evil Dead surprised even its creators by becoming a cult classic and a right-of-passage into the horror-movie experience for millions of fans.

The Evil Dead's fanatical audience has continued to grow over the more than 30 years since three novices with a shoestring budget created what is still considered one of the scariest movies of all time. Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell have been debating a remake for a number of years. 'When we were making The Evil Dead, it was a struggle just to get to the next day," says Rob Tapert. 'We never dreamed it was going to be a successful franchise, with two more chapters."

The new film, Evil Dead, is a bold reimagining of one of the most original and successful horror movies ever made. With Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell producing, Evil Dead is on track to terrorise a new generation of filmgoers with a combination of 21st-century technology and classic hardcore horror elements.

Sam Raimi was the first to come around to the idea of a fourth film. 'I really felt it was great ghost story that deserved to be told again on the big screen, but with high quality visuals and great acoustic treatment this time," he says. 'We had to shoot the first movie in 16 millimeter. The sound was mono because we couldn't afford stereo, let alone 5.1 surround sound. There were probably only sixty prints made, so it was released in very few theaters. It only showed in certain markets on the big screen because it was unrated. So almost everyone who has seen it viewed it on either videotape or DVD. Even when it has been seen on a big screen, it was with compromised picture and sound."

Bruce Campbell, on the other hand, was the least inclined to revisit the material. 'Fans saw Freddy and Jason and all their other favourite horror characters making movie after movie," says Bruce Campbell. 'There was demand for another film. But how many years am I going to strap on a chainsaw and run around without my shirt on? There's statute of limitations for that."

Sam Raimi also felt that a reboot of the original would be a great vehicle for a young filmmaker to tackle. 'It's like a campfire ghost story that is retold every generation and it improves with age."

The storyteller in this case is director Fede Alvarez. 'He's a great filmmaker," says Sam Raimi. 'I wanted him to be the guy to tell my ghost story to a new generation, with pristine sound and picture, on the big screen, seen for the first time as it was always meant to be."

Fede Alvarez burst onto the filmmaking scene with his 2010 short film, Panic Attack. A hugely inventive five-minute thriller featuring an attack on Uruguayan capital Montevideo by giant robots, Panic Attack garnered more than 7 million hits (and counting) on YouTube, capturing the attention of the film industry in an instant.

Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert were among the many fans of Fede Alvarez's viral short film. They quickly set up a deal for him to develop it as a feature film at Ghost House Pictures, a joint venture with Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake dedicated to the horror-thriller genre.

'But as often happens, that project stalled," Rob Tapert says. 'Sam Raimi had become a big proponent of Fede Alvarez and suggested involving him in Evil Dead. Fede Alvarez really wanted to write it with his partner Rodo Sayagues as well, so he came in with a full pitch. He showed us that we didn't need to keep Bruce Campbell's character in the movie. For Bruce Campbell, that allowed him to see it as a new project and it finally began to pick up momentum."

Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues presented the partners with a startling new take on The Evil Dead that remained true to the essence, while introducing new characters and making subtle changes to the plot. 'Bruce Campbell, Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi recognised a kindred spirit at the pitch," says executive producer J. R. Young. 'Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues understood what goes into making an Evil Dead movie, and were able to make that their own."

The writer-director says his primary goal was always to create the scariest movie possible. 'The movie that I pitched was for me the movie that I saw when I was twelve and saw The Evil Dead for the first time. It didn't look like anything I had seen before and it was set in such a crazy universe. That was the tone I wanted to recreate and that's the idea that we all agreed upon, right away.

'We were committed to one thing: making sure that we kept everything that is necessary and timeless about the original and updated the rest," Fede Alvarez says. 'We kept the idea of a group of best friends in what is meant to be a safe place. Once there, they try to kill each other. For me, that is a very scary feeling, worse than strangers menacing you in a zombie movie. Your best friends are turning against you one by one. The walls are closing in. That is part of the magic of the originals. It has always stayed with me."

Deciding which elements to update was the toughest part of the job, he says. He made Mia, a young woman trying to overcome her addiction, the central character. 'She's battling with withdrawal and her friends are trying to help," explains Fede Alvarez. 'In the original, the kids are there to smoke pot and drink alcohol, which made sense because those characters were a little younger. We needed another reason to go to that cabin. I think this a strong concept that is relevant. It's not really about the drugs, but anything that you're trying to leave behind. And that is the whole theme of the movie. It's one thing to know the path, and another to walk down it. All the characters are struggling with that."

Rob Tapert was impressed by how close the basic concept was to the original Evil Dead movie, without slavishly recreating the plot. 'The storyline is different, but ultimately, somebody's going to open the book, and bad things are going to happen.

'Fede Alvarez is very passionate about his work," Rob Tapert adds. 'The better we got to know him, the more sure we were that he was right for the job. He knows what's important. He doesn't have exactly any of our takes on it, so he brought something fresh and new."

Evil Dead marks Fede Alvarez's feature directing debut. 'But we knew he was the guy for a number of reasons," says Young. 'He has The Evil Dead in his veins. He knows the responsibility we have to fans to deliver something special. Panic Attack proved that Fede Alvarez could work with limited resources to make something really special. When I look back at what Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell did when they made the first film, it came from the same place that Fede Alvarez was working from: a desire to make something outrageous and scary for the audience."

The collaboration was a first-time filmmaker's dream come true. He was allowed enormous freedom to create his own, original project, but he had the combined experiences of Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell to fall back on. 'They always tried to back me up and they brought their own crazy point of view," Fede Alvarez says.

The original team knew they needed to take a step back from the property that had been theirs for over thirty years, in order to allow Fede Alvarez to make the best movie he was capable of making. 'We helped, but it was a bit like a parent having to let go of their child's bike as they ride off," says Rob Tapert. 'No matter how much advice is available, we all have to experience things ourselves."

Sam Raimi worked closely with Alvarez on developing the script, while giving the director the space to make the film his own. 'For instance, I liked his treatment and his screenplay, but I gave him simple notes on both. We never insisted on anything because we knew we had a great writer and a great filmmaker. We just offered our suggestions. Sometimes he took the notes, sometimes he didn't, but every time he did a draft, the screenplay got better and better."

The same is true with the cut of the picture," Sam Raimi continues. 'There were certain things we objected to. Sometimes he listened to us, sometimes he didn't. Slowly but surely, I ceded artistic control to him, because I so respect his vision."

'Our biggest gift to Fede Alvarez was not to micromanage him," agrees Bruce Campbell. 'We focused on the things that we want to keep true to the movie series. The rest is all Fede Alvarez."
When the remake was announced, there was some concern among the fan community, which the filmmakers were extremely sensitive to. 'The fans are really important," Sam Raimi says. 'The original picture only survived because a dedicated group of individuals found it on video and began to tell their friends. They allowed us to make two sequels. In fact, they allowed us to make this movie, some 30 years later. So the fans are everything and I think this picture will give them what they seek in spades."

But, says Rob Tapert, the new film isn't a simple remake, it's a complete re-imagining. 'Five kids still go to a cabin in the woods and one by one become possessed. But there are a lot of twists and turns that make this very different from the original. It's a whole different roller coaster."

For his part, Fede Alvarez seems immune to the pressure of living up to the original. 'The biggest pressure for me was trying to make the best movie possible," he says. 'Yes, we're remaking a classic, but I don't see that it matters what you do with a new movie. The older movie is always there. It's not going to be better or worse because a new one exists. The three previous Evil Dead movies will be there for fans to watch. This is just a new chapter. We're not overwriting the original at all"we're just looking at it from a different point of view."

Fede Alvarez says that remakes hold a special appeal to him because some of his favourite childhood favourites, including The Thing and The Fly, were based on earlier films. 'But I had never heard of the originals. It's been more than 30 years since the original Evil Dead and I think it's an appropriate time to reimagine it for a whole new audience. And they're not going to get anything watered down. This is balls-to-the-wall horror."

The Evil Dead created enormous controversy when it was first shown. The distributor chose to release the film without a rating, anticipating that its graphic violence would earn it an X-rating, limiting its theatrical exposure. Rob Tapert notes that while the original plays uncut on television today, in 1981, audiences hadn't seen anything quite like it.

'To make a great horror film is a huge endeavour," the producer says. 'In Sam Raimi's words, it's using a butterfly net to capture the human spirit. You have to want to scare the audience out of their wits. You need to have the ability to surprise the audience. While they're looking this way, you come at them from that way. You don't necessarily need A-level stars or the best equipment, but you have to have a desire to manipulate and lead the audience, without letting them feel like they're being led or manipulated, through 90 minutes of terror."

And to make a really great, ground-breaking horror film that lives up to its legacy, Rob Tapert says, they had to go in a direction that feels fresh and new. 'The audience wants to feel like this is something they haven't seen before. The genre is always evolving and what you saw as a kid is no longer that scary.

'I remember a headline in the Christian Science Monitor: Exactly The Kind Of Movie We Do Not Need," he adds, referring to the original film. 'We hope this movie hits the audience just as hard. This movie will deliver what my son wants to see in a horror movie and he's seen pretty much everything. For those that want to go on this ride, we're going to provide everything that they hoped for."

'Evil Dead is the ultimate experience in terror," says Young. 'It is a ticket to the outrageous. Today's audience has seen a lot, so we've had to push the limits even further. We tried our best to deliver something that will stand on its own legs. The original will always be there, it was born of a special time and place with some really innovative creators. We wanted to respect that and create something that is wholly new for the audience."

Sam Raimi guarantees there will also be a lot of surprises in the new film 'It's got a whole new storyline," he says. 'The situation's similar, but the ways in which the kids are possessed and their interactions are all different. It delivers great new visuals and scares for the audience."

Bruce Campbell describes the new film with one simple word. 'Relentless. Fede Alvarez has done everything he could story-wise to slowly suck you into a vortex that you just can't get out of. It grips you and it doesn't let you go.

'This isn't a jokey little horror movie," he warns. 'This is a full-on, strap-yourself-in sort of ride. It gets more and more outrageous as it goes. It's high-octane fun. And kids: if you find a book in a cabin in the woods, just turn around and drive away."

Adds Sam Raimi, 'It's the ultimate experience in gruelling terror. And I dare you to see it."

Life After Ash

Bruce Campbell had just one piece of advice when it came time to cast Evil Dead. 'I said, this time we've got to get better actors," he recalls. 'When we made the first movie, we were completely inexperienced. I would now call the dialogue poor, but back then, we didn't know the difference. We just said it with great earnestness and audiences loved it."

Finding a talented young cast wasn't difficult given the reputation the film had built over the years. 'So many actors wanted to work with us," says Rob Tapert. 'With many horror films, you don't get the cream of the crop coming in. We got to cherry pick some of the best young actors Hollywood has to offer."

Acting talent wasn't the sole criteria during casting, though. The production was shaping up to be especially demanding. 'In addition to the prosthetics and makeup, I wanted to scare them for real and get that on the screen," says Fede Alvarez. 'And without exception, our cast went to it with no reservations. No one ever said, I would prefer not to do this or that, and I am really grateful to them for that."
No one knows the challenges better than Jane Levy, who plays Mia. 'We all had this mental image of Mia," says Rob Tapert. 'Jane Levy was not in that mould, but she gave a dynamic audition. Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and I agreed pretty much instantly that she was the one"and she proved herself to be up to the challenge. It is a really demanding part, but she's feisty and I think she's brought a huge amount of energy and commitment to it. She actually enjoyed being a monster, which is helpful if you're in a horror movie like this one."

'Jane Levy was a godsend," agrees Young. 'She is such an exciting actress to watch. Mia goes through extraordinary punishment and Jane Levy jumped in feet first. Whether it was a vulnerable dramatic scene or an outrageous horror scene, she was unafraid."

Playing a demonically possessed junkie was a welcome change of pace for Jane Levy, who stars in the ABC sitcom, 'Suburgatory." 'She's a great sport who never said no to anything," Fede Alvarez says. 'In fact, she was always asking for more. Whatever happened to the character, she was ready to do another take. She is also the sweetest girl, which is crucial for the story. You see her vulnerability and you root for her right away. But when she turns mean, she's the scariest person ever."

Following up her television show with a hardcore horror film offered the actress just the kind of challenge she was looking for. 'I was able to try so many different things in this role," she says. 'I'm a recovering drug addict and I'm possessed. It gave me the opportunity to go somewhere new. Plus, the people behind this are extremely talented, which made me eager to do it. I also thought going to New Zealand to work sounded romantic. Little did I know..."

Jane Levy's character is the youngest of the group. 'She is David's little sister and almost like a little sister to Eric and Olivia," the actress says. 'They grew up together and Mia's always needed a little bit of parenting. David wasn't really good at being that person. She's trying to fix what's broken in their relationship, as well as in herself. Until she goes out in the woods and sees that ominous figure, she's trying to keep it together. She's 100-percent committed to going through the physical pain and paranoia of withdrawal. But when she sees the figure, she realises this place isn't safe, only no one listens to her."

The demands of the part tested the actress' discipline. Hours in the makeup chair before and after shooting added to an already stressful day on the set. 'I went to bed at 8:30 every night," she says. 'I ate only vegetables and fruit, stayed in on the weekends. I did yoga and breathe work, so that I was able to give as much as I could. Otherwise I don't think I would have been able to do this job."

But surprisingly, it was playing Mia at the beginning of the movie, before she is possessed, that was in some ways the most difficult part of the job. 'That was actually more painful," Jane Levy says. 'As a demon, I could be whatever I wanted. It's very animalistic and I was given a lot of freedom to explore. I was destroying people, torturing people. In a weird way, it was fun to be able to do that."

Although she calls herself 'a huge scaredy cat," Jane Levy has become intrigued by the horror genre after this experience. 'It's rich as hell, because it's based on primal fear. This film is a supernatural movie, with lots of character development and great story telling. The horror starts right away and it doesn't let go. It's extreme. When I was reading the script, I thought -Oh my God, blood rain?' And then I thought, yeah, cool, bring it on!"

Mia's brother and their friends are still living in the 'real" world when her transformation takes place. David is simply unable to believe what is happening, even though Mia tries to tell him. 'None of us would be able to," says Fede Alvarez. 'The scene between the two of them sums up the whole premise of the movie in a way."

Shiloh Fernandez plays David, a role he almost declined to audition for"but not because he didn't want it. 'I was scheduled to audition when my agent forwarded me these emails between Fede Alvarez and his agent," says the actor. 'They said we want to hire Shiloh Fernandez, but I hadn't yet auditioned. And I said, I'm not going to go to this audition. There's nothing I could do except blow my chances."

But Shiloh Fernandez' agent convinced him to keep his appointment and he was quickly cast as David, the survivor of a difficult childhood. 'Their mom was mentally ill," says Shiloh Fernandez. 'He protected his little sister as best he could until he turned 18 and then he left. He couldn't be part of it any longer."

The relationship between David and his sister and their friends is part of what drew Shiloh Fernandez into the script. 'There was a lot to explore," he says. 'I'd never done a film like this before, but I enjoyed finding the truth within the horror."

While still in Los Angeles, the actor spent time with Fede Alvarez ironing out some of the finer points of his character. 'Because he is the writer as well, Fede Alvarez was able to explain exactly what he wanted," says Shiloh Fernandez. 'He is a filmmaker with a real cinematic eye. It was really neat to watch his vision unfold. On the set, he paid complete attention to what each of us was doing and came back with direction for us all."

The experience of making Evil Dead revealed a new side of filming for Shiloh Fernandez. 'The focus has been on making the best movie possible," says Shiloh Fernandez. 'Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi have been very supportive of Fede Alvarez and his original vision. They also want to honour the fans and please them"and I'm glad none of that is up to me."

All hell breaks loose in the cabin in the woods as a result of a bizarre text found in the cellar by Eric, a schoolteacher and long-time friend of Mia and David. When Eric, played by Lou Taylor Pucci, reads aloud from his discovery, he is unwittingly calling a demon out of its netherworld lair to unleash chaos on the world.

'Eric is gripped by a strange, perhaps otherworldly attraction to the book," says Young. 'It's something that's never explicitly laid out in the story, but through Lou Taylor Pucci's performance and Fede Alvarez's direction, we get a sense that there's something stronger going on than just a natural curiosity."

For Lou Taylor Pucci, a fan of the original movie, the idea of participating in a new chapter of a classic franchise was simply irresistible. 'I'm going to be in Evil Dead!" he enthuses. 'It is the sickest, scariest film I've ever seen! I was beyond excited."

But he had to get through an awkward audition first. 'I went to the casting and I felt terrible afterwards," he recalls. 'For the audition scene, I was supposed to be behind a door, going crazy. Doing it with no real prep or rehearsal, I felt like an idiot, yelling and screaming at nothing. I was shocked when I got a callback a week later. When they told me Bruce Campbell was going to be there, I was excited to meet him, but I still didn't hold out much hope of getting the part."

After seeing the original at least 15 times himself, Lou Taylor Pucci hopes others will appreciate the care and creativity that has gone into updating the story. 'This movie is even scarier," he says. 'I think it's because Fede Alvarez makes you care about the characters. They can't get away and even nature is against them. For the people seeing it for the first time, it's going to be really cool to get into that part and then be grossed out. The fans will expect all the nastiness, but they'll get drawn in all over again by the characters."

Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert knew Jessica Lucas, who plays Olivia, because they had worked together on the 2009 supernatural thriller, Drag Me to Hell. 'We just love her," says Rob Tapert. 'She brings a great gravitas to her part. She was a real trooper about the enormous amount of action and the make-up and appliances she had to go through."

Olivia grew up in Flint, Michigan, and was close to Mia, David and Eric, until David left. 'Olivia is the catalyst for this trip," explains Jessica Lucas. 'She's a nurse and she's determined to get her friend get through this horrible experience. She is the most sceptical about the supernatural." When Jessica Lucas heard that Sam Raimi was interested in making a new Evil Dead movie, she was immediately interested. 'The franchise has such a cult following," she says. 'When I read the script, it was really scary and wild. When you are doing a horror film that has supernatural elements, everything is a bit heightened and that's fun to play. There are no boundaries for what you can do."

To help the actors conceptualise the possession scenes, Fede Alvarez brought in a choreographer to explore the physicality. 'We were trying to come up with small simple movements that caught the eye because they are unusual," says Fede Alvarez. 'Even something like a little twitch reads powerfully on camera."

'It was really helpful." Jessica Lucas says. 'We all wanted to maintain some individual flair, but still make it consistent. We were doing crazy stuff"acting like we had poison in our bodies, vibrating or pretending the floor was uneven. It was a really cool process."

The time spent rehearsing together also helped the actors build a real bond that reflects the history between their characters, she says. 'It created a really safe environment to make the best movie possible, because we could all lean on each other for support."

Jessica Lucas believes The Evil Dead fans will embrace this new incarnation. 'I hope they appreciate that we are trying to do something different. With a movie like this, I think people want to be scared as much as possible. Evil Dead is very in your face. Once the action starts, it just keeps coming and coming. If you're a horror fan, there's no way you can't enjoy that. It's intense, scary, horrifying and fun. Basically, it's everything you'd ever want in a horror film."

Elizabeth Blackmore, who plays Natalie, was the first to audition for the role. 'We thought, she's great, let's just keep a pin in her," says Rob Tapert. 'But the more people we saw, the more we came back to Elizabeth Blackmore. She was pushed to her limits, but she never lost sight of the character or the story. She committed to the physical pain that this kind of movie forces on the actors with full make-up and complicated appliances and very meticulous, technical acting while covered in goo, unable to see properly."

Natalie is David's girlfriend and new to the group. 'She's open and eager to impress," says Elizabeth Blackmore. 'Natalie's like the audience. She's an outsider just meeting these people."

Elizabeth Blackmore's first reading of the script was at home alone. 'It was getting dark outside and I was getting really worked up," she remembers. 'I had to go and turn on all the lights and sit there for a moment before finishing it, because it scared me so. I knew immediately it was something I really wanted to do."

The strong roots in real life add to the tension, she believes. 'Fede Alvarez came up with a clever, smart and reality-based idea. There are a lot of character relationships that are easy to feel connected to it. I had never done horror before, so it was really interesting to try and figure out how it worked. It's kind of like being on a ride. You don't know what's coming next, which takes you somewhere bigger than just your life. The supernatural elements take you out of mundane dramas of the day-to-day."

Keeping the tenuous but critical connection to real life helped the actors maintain their individuality after they had become 'Deadites," as the filmmakers call the possessed. 'The Deadite characters are not like zombies," Elizabeth Blackmore says. 'It's very different. You have to balance the humanity of the character with a demonic thing, but you're still playing the person trapped inside. They're fully aware of what they're doing, but they can't help themselves. It's so scary to watch someone who's completely out of control but still alive in there."

An added challenge was the great degree to which the filmmakers depended on practical special effects, rather than CGI, she says. 'It could be incredibly technical dealing with rigs and prosthetics when you're trying to be this demonically possessed, spontaneous creature. We were warned that it would be hard and that we would want to rip off the prosthetics and cry. It was true; I felt an enormous sense of achievement in the end."

The difficulties only added to the supportive atmosphere on the set, from J. R. Young's point of view. 'This is a very exciting, young, fresh cast," he says. 'They all came wanting to do something outrageous and cool that will give the audience something that they don't expect. To see them together, you'd think they'd known each other forever. This was a gruelling shoot. They spent a lot of nights covered in blood out in the cold and the rain. I often saw an actor on set doing a really difficult sequence, and the others, who could have been home in bed, were standing by cheering and rooting. To have that support from the cast was invaluable."

Just a Cabin in the Woods

Fede Alvarez's daring reconception of Evil Dead was based on recreating some iconic visual elements of the original and amping up the fear factor with the best new technology available. The success of his plan depended heavily on meticulous coordination among the crafts departments of the film, especially since he had made an unusual and demanding choice. In keeping with the spirit of the 1981 classic, Fede Alvarez was determined to use as many practical effects, or 'gags," as possible, eschewing CGI effects wherever he could.

Auckland, New Zealand, was selected as the location based on Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi's extensive experiences shooting there. 'We wanted to give Fede Alvarez everything he needed and we thought we could do that best in New Zealand," says Bruce Campbell. 'They have a really good, solid crew of people that take the work seriously."

The decision made it possible for the filmmakers to bring in craftspeople and artisans with whom they had worked for more than a decade. 'A lot of people really wanted to work on this because they loved The Evil Dead," says Rob Tapert. 'They are all about my age and so joyous about blood and guts and scares and gags. It was an incredibly positive experience."

The preparations began with production designer Rob Gillies, who was responsible for creating a unique look for the film that paid homage to the original visuals. 'Fede Alvarez had a single-minded and clear intention of what he wanted to do," says the designer. 'We just aided and abetted his vision. We kept things simple, working from a really restricted palette, so the background stays in the background and then things are added for emphasis, with blood being the thing that we really wanted to accent."

Fede Alvarez shot as little of the film as possible on a soundstage. 'We wanted a real cabin in the woods," he says. 'For the actors, it's helpful be in the place for real, to look around and see the woods. That's something we really committed to from the beginning."

The director, along with Young, Rob Gillies and Rob Tapert, scouted locations in the forest outside Auckland before landing on the ideal spot. 'It was very important to recreate the feeling of the Evil Dead cabin," says Young. 'We found a really exciting, scary clearing to set it in and around. There's a certain texture to the trees that creates that frightening atmosphere."

Rob Gillies' cabin effectively retains the look of the original and tweaks it slightly. 'We invented a backstory for the cabin," he says. 'It was built in the -20s. Its heyday was maybe in the -50s and then it went downhill big time. Mia and David spent time there as children with their mother and they had good times there. There are still a few traces of those good days, like old photos curling on the wall."

To achieve the effect they wanted, the design team had to build the cabin from scratch. 'We also needed to build a duplicate on a soundstage because the heavy prosthetics were more suited to working in the studio," says Rob Gillies. 'The challenge for me was to duplicate it in its dereliction, even though we were building it new. We flat-packed one, took that out to the woods, and re-erected it out there. We were able to shoot a huge percentage of the movie outside on location."

The soundstage replica had to be flexible enough to accommodate Fede Alvarez' ambitious plans for his cameras. 'The cabin is a two-part set, ground floor and basement," says Rob Gillies. 'At the end of the basement is a door and you drop a few feet which gives us more potential for horror. It's full of dead cats and feels like the epicenter of evil, if you like, because that's where the Book is discovered. In the studio, we were able to actually lift the set up, so the basement was at ground level at times. The walls were all removable to accommodate the cameras."

In addition to the cabin, Rob Gillies was charged with recreating another iconic element of the franchise: The Book of the Dead. 'The book was the seed from which The Evil Dead exploded," says Rob Tapert. 'The first movie was originally entitled The Book of the Dead after something Sam read about in an ancient history class. But our sales agent said it was a terrible title, because books weren't going to scare an audience. He made a bunch of equally bad suggestions and The Evil Dead was the one we could live with. I guess the rest is history."

After proposing several ideas for the book's design, Rob Gillies arrived at a fairly simple, straightforward version. 'Except it's bound in human flesh and sealed with barbed wire," says the designer. 'We decided that was scary enough. We also needed to create content, because the pages give Eric the information he needs to figure out that the demons are on the prowl. We decided it was written hundreds of years ago. It looks like a 12th century scribe made some notes, and then in the 14th century someone else added some notes in another language. It passes through many hands over the centuries, all of them adding and adjusting. The writing gets crazier and more colourful, and that is how it is when Eric opens it."

Fede Alvarez surprised the filmmakers with his insistence on in-camera effects, believing that would retain the authenticity and immediacy he wanted for the movie. 'This is such a visceral and simple story," says the director. 'It's grounded by five people in a cabin, which everyone understands right away. Because that's so simple, I didn't want to bring CGI to the story.

'The effects are about taking real elements and putting them together in a new way to create something surprising," he continues. 'Too much CGI would take you out of the moment. I work with CGI in my business in Uruguay and even the best effects can sometimes be noticeable."

When CGI couldn't be avoided, visual effects supervisor George Ritchie was called in to smooth out rough edges. 'Everybody's seen the fancy eye candy, so it was really nice to work on something where we added value rather than trying to create the basics," George Ritchie says. 'I don't like to see gratuitous computer-generated imagery. It's far too broadly used these days and I prefer a lighter touch. It's a real privilege to be able to do something where if I do my job properly no one will know I've done it."

From the storyboard stage through shooting, the filmmakers were constantly asking themselves asked how much could be captured in-camera. 'It makes it all feel seamless and tied together," says Young. 'Every department made a huge contribution. It's exhilarating to realise those crazy, outrageous moments with all the different visuals brought together by the team."

Many of the gags depended on close coordination between Roger Murray, the makeup effects designer who created the elaborate prosthetics used in the movie, and the make-up team, headed by Jane O'Kane. 'I've worked with them both for many years," says Rob Tapert. 'In the past, Jane O'Kane always wanted to put in as much blood as possible; this was her chance to really let the blood rain.

'Roger Murray's whole professional life has been leading up to this," continues the producer. 'He's been creating props and special make-up appliances for years, but he's never done a movie that utilised his entire team and their skills like this. The business has evolved away from that with CGI. Going back to doing it this way gave a great team of artisans a chance to shine."

Having worked on many projects where CGI was used extensively, Rob Tapert says he appreciates the difference. 'When heads and arms get chopped off via CGI, there's a certain operatic beauty to it. CGI lends itself to creating -pleasing' images, whereas someone slowly sawing their arm off and squirting blood everywhere has the visceral quality that makes it seem like you can really see things ripping."

Roger Murray, who grew up watching horror films, still remembers seeing The Evil Dead for the first time when he was 15. 'It was interesting going back and seeing it again, then reading the new script," he says 'The new story line is a lot more realistic and approaches the characters differently, which makes it is a lot darker. Fede Alvarez is a real special effects nut, so he wanted to get everything in-camera. It was great to work with someone with his background."

As movie effects become more sophisticated, it gets harder and harder to scare people, observes Roger Murray. 'People are exposed to a lot more horror and have become desensitised to it. Deciding what to show and what to suggest has become even more important. I think we've made something truly scary here."

All the actors go through an extensive and makeup-heavy transition as they metamorphose into their demonic forms. For Natalie, the team created five different prosthetic arms that represented the stages of her degeneration. 'She has to chop off her arm," says Roger Murray. 'We started with a silicone arm and joined the actress to a double, so she is giving the performance and her double controls the infected arm. There's one that she actually cuts off. We've got one for after her arm drops off. Elizabeth Blackmore went through it all."

But that was nothing compared to the punishment Jane Levy's Mia suffered through. 'The character is caught in a thorn bush and she gets badly burnt before the whole Deadite part of her comes out," Roger Murray says. 'We isolated eight different stages as her possession progresses with about 150 appliances that we put together in different combinations."

Mia's injuries became the jumping off point for her makeup design, says Jane O'Kane. 'When we first meet her, she's coming off heroin, so she starts out very drawn and we watch her degenerate. The silicone pieces had to be made fresh every time, so Roger Murray's crew was beavering away daily. Jane was usually three hours in the chair before she got her contact lenses in, then she was off to set. We needed another hour just to get her out of the make-up. She was extremely patient in the chair. She hadn't done this sort of make-up look before, but she's really driven and loved us making her look scary."

Jessica Levy claims to recall very little of the gruelling process 'I got in the chair and let them take over." She says. 'After I was done, they hosed me down so that I look sweaty and spilled a jug of blood on me. I remember when I had my head cast, they took that goo the dentist uses and covered me with it. Then they wrapped me in papier-mâché and let it harden before they cut me out of it. They also did my teeth, my tongue, my chest, my arm and my leg. It was probably a total of 12 hours of casting."

Bruce Campbell remembers a slightly different process the first time around. 'We were making head moulds with plaster of Paris," he says. 'It was so primitive, we ripped all the eyelashes off of our lead actress. To get the mould off, she had to lean forward and let the gravity suck it off her face and her eyelashes were solidly embedded in the plaster."

But this time around, even the costumes were carefully coordinated with the effects. 'We worked quite closely with the prosthetics department and special effects to get the looks right," says costume designer Sarah Voon. 'The costumes had to be carefully manipulated to accommodate the rigs. Some of them have stretchy backs and others have special pieces built in. There's not a lot you can build into a see through slip, but you'd be surprised at what you can hide with flesh coloured bandaging. And blood can hide quite a lot."

Fede Alvarez tasked Sarah Voon with creating costumes that are timeless and have an American feel. 'But he also wanted the looks to be a little bit aspirational," says the designer. 'We wanted to be able to connect with young people in the audience and create a new legion of horror fans."

With that in mind, she created and artfully crafted a vintage-inspired look for Mia. 'She doesn't have a lot of money to spend on clothes," says Sarah Voon. 'So she gravitates toward older things, with some special pieces from her mother and her grandmother. We start off with her in her old sweatshirt over a vintage dress, because she knows she's in for rough ride and she's got her comfort sweatshirt. One of her other main items is a petticoat we built from a 1920s pattern. It's a very beautiful handmade slip and that pretty much carries through the drama as she turns into a demon. We just thought that the sweet, vintage styling was in stark contrast to what she becomes. We had to create 62 slips for the various stunt doubles and body doubles, all by hand."

Calling Evil Dead one of the bloodiest films of all time is not mere hyperbole, according mechanical and physical FX supervisor Jason Durey. 'On 30 Days of Night, which was quite a big, bloody, vampire film, we went through 4,500 liters of blood. On this movie, we're looking at around 25,000 liters of blood. Crikey, we probably went through about 300 liters of vomit, including testing and shooting. The volume of bodily fluids on this is well beyond anything I've ever done before. It's quite yucky and completely terrifying."

Jason Durey says the director's most frequent request from the FX team was 'More, more, I want it bigger." 'Fede Alvarez brought a new element to our shoot by pushing us with certain gags and asking for things that we weren't sure how we were going to deliver," he adds. 'It certainly made my job interesting. He was constantly asking for more smoke or more blood, and we whacked it in."

And that was exactly what Fede Alvarez was looking for. 'All the time, people were saying, is that too much blood? Is that too much whatever?" recalls the director. 'I said, it's never too much. Nothing is too much if we're really going for it. Audiences should expect something completely unexpected! They're not going to see it coming."

The Evil Dead was an ultra-low budget endeavour, with much of the technology jerry-rigged in order to keep costs low. This time out, the filmmakers had deeper pockets. 'And the thing that has evolved the most in filmmaking over the last 32 years is technology," says Rob Tapert. 'We shot The Evil Dead on the most primitive of systems and we improvised everything. We didn't even have dollies. We're trying to get that same kind of manic energy using the best technology available today. We shot on brand new cameras and super high resolution 4k's that look exactly like 16mm film."

Perhaps the biggest change in the film's overall look is the lighting. 'In the first Evil Dead, we knew it was going to be in drive-in theatres," says Rob Tapert. 'There is always more ambient light in a drive-in than a conventional theatre, so we went out of our way to make the movie quite bright so that people in the drive-ins could see the image on the screen. Fede Alvarez took a more artistic approach. The film has a very moody, textured and expensive look."

Fede Alvarez also departed from tradition by shooting many scenes in daylight. 'It's not often you see this much of a horror film set during the daytime," he says. 'But our camera was so great and had such colour range, the movie looks gorgeous. I felt that, for a lot of scenes, the obvious choice would have been to do it during the night. But we found a wide range of other choices during daytime that are even scarier, because you can actually see what's out there in the woods."

Director of photography Aaron Morton describes the film's overall look as 'raw." 'Fede Alvarez wanted a timeless quality that would lull people into a false sense of security at the opening of the film," he says. 'We use the whole gamut of classic horror tools to make the audience care about the characters, so that when they're in trouble, we get the strongest possible reaction."

Aaron Morton says the most challenging aspect of the production for him was finding the right balance of darkness and light. 'Even when it's dark, it's got to have shape," he says. 'The girls have got to look beautiful and the guys have to look tough. We're using the brand new Sony F65, which is a fantastic camera. Coupled with our Arri Master Prime Lens, it delivers a very organic, film-like look. Part of it is the mechanical shutter the camera has, which emulates the film look we're all used to. It is at the cutting edge of digital technology at the moment."

The cinematography pays tribute to the first film with a moment that depicts the Evil Force chasing Mia through the woods. 'That shot is a motif from the original films," says Aaron Morton. 'Back in the day, they literally attached a camera to a plank of wood and had a guy on each side running with it. We wanted to put a little spin on that, so we've got a hand-held cable rig. When the Evil Force is chasing Mia, that's basically me flying straight at her on a zip line. It is a pretty visceral."

Editing also played a crucial role in creating the intensity and velocity with which the story is told. 'The original had a sort of punk edge," says editor Bryan Shaw. 'It was very much of that era, the early -80s, and we tried to recapture that. Fede Alvarez had already written it into the script. Sometimes I read a script and hope they lose three or four scenes. But this was tight. He knows how to build to a scare and how long he can suspend the moment."

As different as the two experiences were for the filmmakers, the intense collaboration required to create Evil Dead reminded Rob Tapert of the profound journey making the first film set in motion for him and his partners. 'The original Evil Dead was physically hard and demanding, but in hindsight it was a great experience for Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and me," he says. 'We have been lifelong friends as a result of it. This has been much less physically demanding, because money heals some of those issues. It was great to work with Sam and Bruce on something that brought us together again.

'Fede Alvarez was a pleasure to work with," he continues. 'He has the all qualities I look for in a director. Even though this is his first full-length movie, he has years of experience of working on set and having an artistic vision and chasing that vision. Working with someone like that was, for me, the best part of the process. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next."

Bruce Campbell is enthusiastic in his praise of the finished film: 'Not only is the acting in this movie better, so are the special effects and the cinematography. You're not going to see the green garden hose spewing the blood. This time we took modern-day technology and a decent budget and had it again. I hope that one day, there will be some wicked double bills of both Evil Deads. I want to introduce it at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. I think it would be a very solid interlocking double bill."