Cinefantastique Online

Well, maybe “returns” is a bit much - after all Raimi has been producing horror films for the past few years under the Ghost House banner: THE GRUDGE, THE MESSENGERS, and 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. But now news comes that he will be directing a new horror flick for the first time since…well, it depends on whether you count 2000’s THE GIFT as horror or “supernatural-thriller,” whether you count 1992’s ARMY OF DARKNESS as horror or fantasy, whether you count 1990’s DARKMAN as horror or demented sci-fi superhero, whether you count 1987’s EVIL DEAD 2 as horror or comedy. You really have to go all the way back to his 1981 debut THE EVIL DEAD for an all-out, unadulterated horror flick.

Anyway, the new directorial project is DRAG ME TO HELL, which he co-wrote with brother Ivan under the title “The Curse” shortly after collaborating on ARMY OF DARKNESS. From Variety:

The morality tale about the unwitting recipient of a supernatural curse will go into production early next year. It will be financed through Ghost House, a joint venture Raimi and Rob Tapert formed several years ago with Mandate Pictures.

[...]

“Sam calls it a ’spook-a-blast,’ a wild ride with all the chills and spills that ‘Evil Dead’ delivered, without relying on the excessive violence of that film,” Tapert said. “When one has done three very expensive movies, they get used to eating caviar. Sam will have to ponder what it means to come down from the mountaintop for a moment.”

“Drag Me to Hell” is the first Raimi-directed project for Ghost House, which has done very well in the genre…  Ghost House is prepping a remake of “Evil Dead,” the 1981 horror film that was Raimi’s first breakout hit as a director.

After “Drag Me to Hell,” Raimi is expected to go right back up the mountaintop and take the helm of “The Hobbit” films for New Line and MGM now that Peter Jackson has made it clear he won’t direct.

“The appeal to Sam on ‘Drag Me to Hell’ was returning to what he had once done and loved doing, which was entertaining a very specific group of fans and providing a roller coaster ride for them,” Tapert said. “He doesn’t have the enormous pressure here that goes with handling a hundreds of millions of dollars franchise.”

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