How a total unknown was tasked with remaking Evil Dead

Remaking ‘The Evil Dead’ is a tough sell.

When the news came last year that a remake of Sam Raimi’s cult horror was on the way, fanboys everywhere let out a giant communal scoff. “How could Hollywood do this? Is nothing sacred?” And so on.

But writer/director Fede Alvarez sees things differently: “Audiences aren’t against remakes,” he says. “They’re just against bad movies.”

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Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! Movies UK, the 35-year-old Uruguayan is keen to avoid the curse of the horror remake (think ‘The Amityville Horror’, ‘The Omen’, ‘Halloween’, the list goes on). Not just because he’s a massive fan himself.

“The fact that Sam Raimi is the producer, already makes this quite different,” says Fede. “With other remakes it’s just a studio with the rights to a property, hiring five different writers, a director that makes the movie then goes home, and a producer that’ll take that movie and cut something different anyway. This is the original guys, trying to make a new one.”

So, why didn’t the original guys in question - Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Robert Tapert - remake the movie for themselves? Where exactly does Fede come in?

“I think they decided to hire me because I was outside the Hollywood system,” he explains. “They wanted me to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted, because that was the spirit of the original movie – they never had anyone there to tell them what to do.”

But “outside of Hollywood” is a big place, so Fede must have done something special to get noticed right? Well, like millions of other users, he just posted a video online.

“I made this short film back in Uruguay called ‘Panic Attack’. It was just a small alien invasion movie, and I did it with about $300. I uploaded it to YouTube, then woke up the next morning to 150 emails saying: ‘We love your film. We want to meet you.’ A week later I was on my way to LA!

“I met a lot of people there who loved my movie, and then finally I met Sam who I was a huge fan of. He was definitely the guy I wanted to work with.

“It’s a dream story I guess. Well at least it is if the movie works,” he laughs. “Saying that one day I made this short, then went to Hollywood and made a sh*tty movie that nobody liked… That’s not such a good story.”

Fede shouldn’t have to worry too much though. On its opening weekend in the US, ‘Evil Dead’ stormed in at number one at the box office, raking in $26 million (£17 million) along the way. Most importantly though, the critics have liked it too, singling out the director’s penchant for gore and respectful nods to the original work.

So just how free was Fede to make the movie his own? Surely Raimi wouldn’t let the young filmmaker have complete reign on his splatter spectacular - there must have been some rules?

“Actually he never said ‘Don’t do that.’ He’s a director and he knows your worst nightmare can be a bossy producer,” says Fede. “He was very worried about being in my way, and said to me right at the start 'I’m gonna give you what they never gave me, complete freedom.'

“Sam was always there, if I needed to talk about something. But he gave me so much freedom that it was scary. I’d call him up and ask for his advice and he’d just reply ‘OK, good luck man. You’re on your own. You’re the director, don’t ask me.’

“He felt it was better for me to make my own mistakes, just like they did on ‘The Evil Dead’.”

So Raimi definitely made his presence felt on the production, even if only in spirit. But what about producer Robert Tapert, or the legendary Bruce Campbell, who played Ash in the original movies?

“Rob was around at least once a week on-set, but Bruce was very close during the casting,” says Fede. “He’d sit next to me in auditions and help me spot who was ready and who wasn’t. He must have been so intimidating for the actors.

“Bruce was there during mixing too. He’s amazing with sound design, and you can hear his voice all over the movie. He’d just jump in the booth and record his own screams. He was there until the last second.”

With Raimi’s DIY spirit of the original, and Campbell’s charisma too, it’s becoming more difficult to see the movie as a heartless Hollywood rehash. We need to settle this now, what exactly is ‘Evil Dead?’

“I don’t know, it’s kind of a mindf*ck!” laughs Fede. “That’s the beauty of ‘The Evil Dead’ saga.

“You’ve got the first movie, then ‘Evil Dead 2’ which is a recap of a story that never happened. And then there’s ‘Army Of Darkness’ where they just go back in time! It’s all so bizarre and I think that’s why people love it. When you watch the first one today, you laugh because it’s so over the top and camp, but that wasn’t the spirit of the film. It was meant to be scary, and Sam agreed with me.

“Branding this thing is difficult. I know what I’m trying to do. We wanted to construct some kind of mythology from the first film, and bring it into a modern universe. But it’s a story that lives in the ‘Evil Dead’ timeline.

“It’s a remake, but at the same time it’s a sequel,” Fede pauses, “… a requel?”

‘Evil Dead’ is in cinemas from 18 April.