41 years ago, Stephen King happened across a screening of Sam Raimi’s little-seen horror film The Evil Dead and gave it a glowing review in Twilight Zone magazine. At the time, the film was an independent venture without a distributor, with studios such as Paramount passing on the project due to its “excessive” gore. But with King’s seal of approval, the movie was immediately picked up by the then-up-and-coming New Line Cinema… And the rest is history.
Now it seems Stephen King is keeping up with the series and still eager to praise the zombie hijinks, as he tweeted his approval of the latest instalment, Evil Dead Rise, following an advance screening.
“While I’m busy promoting, how about EVIL DEAD RISE? It’s gruesome, it’s bloody, it’s even got an elevator vomiting blood. Not to mention chainsaw-fu.” King wrote. Without doubt, King is referring to the not-so-subtle reference to the 1980 film adaption of his novel The Shining, which infamously features an elevator releasing a huge quantity of blood.
Receiving an impressive 13,000 likes, it is without doubt that fans of King will see his praise for Evil Dead Rise and view the film for themselves. This makes for a touching full circle moment, and no doubt pleases Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi.
Raimi has been open about his gratitude for King’s praise of the 1981 original, noting that without King, the film would not have gotten distribution and he would’ve likely never had a career.
This instance of history repeating certainly bodes well for Evil Dead Rise, as does the universal critical praise. The film is on track for a more-than-satisfactory box-office haul, which means there’s plenty more life in the undead yet.
Evil Dead Rise is in theatres now.
