Evil Dead Wrath Announced as Production Begins
Just when you thought the Book of the Dead might finally get a rest (it won’t, it never does), another chapter in the blood-soaked legacy has been revealed. Evil Dead Wrath is officially the title of the next film in the long-running horror franchise, and production is already underway courtesy of New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.
This announcement comes while fans are still waiting on director Sébastien Vaniček’s Evil Dead Burn, which is currently slated for a theatrical release on July 24. Clearly, the franchise has no intention of crawling back into the cellar anytime soon. If anything, it is kicking the trapdoor open and inviting more chaos in.
Stepping into the director’s chair for Evil Dead Wrath is Francis Galluppi, who previously impressed genre fans with The Last Stop in Yuma County. While details about the plot are currently being kept firmly under lock and key (and presumably chained up somewhere near a Necronomicon), the title alone suggests something suitably intense for the next evolution of the series.
The cast already boasts a strong line-up of genre and mainstream talent, including Charlotte Hope (The Nun), Jessica McNamee (Mortal Kombat), Zach Gilford (Midnight Mass), Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road), Ella Newton (Dangerous Animals), Elizabeth Cullen (Diabolic), and Ella Oliphant. That’s a mix of horror familiarity and dramatic weight, which bodes well for a franchise that has increasingly leaned into character-driven terror alongside the splatter.
Behind the scenes, the roots of the franchise remain intact. Series creator Sam Raimi and longtime producer Rob Tapert are producing, with Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin serving as executive producers alongside Romel Adam and Jose Canas. In other words, the people who understand exactly how much blood is “enough blood” are still very much involved. Spoiler: the answer has always been “more.”
To understand why this announcement matters, you only need to look at the franchise’s strange and glorious history. Beginning with Raimi’s low-budget 1981 classic The Evil Dead, the series quickly carved out a reputation for inventive camerawork, relentless energy, and a gleefully unhinged tone. It then mutated (quite literally) with Evil Dead II and the medieval mayhem of Army of Darkness, turning Ash Williams into one of horror’s most beloved and chainsaw-wielding icons.
The franchise was reborn for modern audiences with Fede Álvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead, a brutal and straight-faced reinvention that doubled down on practical effects and extreme horror. Gone was much of the slapstick, replaced with raw intensity, proving the series could evolve without losing its soul.
Then came 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, directed by Lee Cronin, which shifted the terror from isolated cabins to a claustrophobic urban apartment setting. The film was both a commercial and critical success, showing that the Deadites do not need a forest to wreak havoc. Give them a lift, a hallway, or a kitchen, and they will still ruin your day. Thoroughly.
What made Evil Dead Rise especially effective was its ability to balance the franchise’s trademark nastiness with emotional stakes, centring the horror around family dynamics rather than lone survivors. It also confirmed something long suspected: the Evil Dead concept is endlessly flexible. Cabin, city, remake, sequel, spin-off. The Book of the Dead adapts.
With Evil Dead Burn still on the horizon and now Evil Dead Wrath entering production, it is clear that New Line sees the franchise as a long-term horror powerhouse rather than a one-off revival. This mirrors the approach taken by other legacy horror brands, but Evil Dead arguably has the advantage of tonal freedom. It can be funny, terrifying, grotesque, or all three in the same scene.
As for what Wrath will bring to the table, speculation is already bubbling. Will it continue the urban nightmare direction of Rise? Return to the woods? Introduce a new Necronomicon mythology twist? At this stage, nobody outside the production circle knows, which, in true Evil Dead fashion, only adds to the anticipation and dread.
One thing is certain though: as long as that cursed book keeps getting opened (seriously, stop reading from it out loud), the franchise will keep finding new ways to horrify audiences. And if the recent entries are anything to go by, the series is not slowing down. It is accelerating, chainsaw revving, and heading straight for another round of glorious, demon-fuelled carnage.
