I hate Genesis. A lot. And I really, really,
REALLY hate Phil Collins. However, his daughter Lily Collins seems to be a force to be reckoned with. Armed with eyebrows as prominent as Bruce Campbell's chin, Lily Collins has been in talks to replace our beloved chainsaw arm deadite slayer in the upcoming
Evil Dead remake. Surprisingly, I'm a huge advocate for the whole "anything men can do, women can do too" mantra, and I've even written posts about how horror films would have been different
had a woman played the starring role. I'm going to get a lot of slack for this and my inner Ashley J. Williams fangirl is probably pricking a voodoo doll of me with poisoned pine needles for saying this...but I sort of want to see how this pans out. South American Director, Fede Alvarez will be taking over for Sam Raimi, who will be producing the film along with the king himself, Bruce Campbell. Diablo Cody is said to be assisting in penning the piece, so expect some dialogue to induce some eyebrow raising. They're looking to release sometime around April of 2013 and it has been said that they're trying to avoid the punchlines and over-the-top comedy of the sequels and instead focus on the heart of the original..and truly scare us.
Lily would play Mia, who heads to the cabin to detox after a recent overdose. Struggling with her new-found sobriety, strange things begin to occur and those around her cannot figure out where reality is sitting amongst her withdrawl. The Necronomicon will play a part, and she won't be visiting the cabin alone. Quite a different take on the original, but still seems to have the same heart as the one we first fell in love with.
Now, there are reasons that I'm okay with this and I believe clarification is in order if only so I can maintain some of my horror street cred. First of all, I would like everyone to take a step back and think about the iconic horror films that have been remade in the past few years. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger have all gone under the remake knife and the consensus has been somewhat universal. "It's just not the same...you can't remake something we hold so near and dear to our horror hearts". THAT is the main reason that I'm okay with there not being an Ash and having a female protagonist instead.
The Evil Dead is what it is because of Bruce Campbell. Plain and simple. If they were to remake the film and keep Ashley J. Williams as a character, the comparisons to him would be instantaneous and there is NO ONE who can embody the persona of the character the way the Bruce Campbell did. Anyone trying to tackle the role would either fall short of our expectations, or turn him into a caricature. Ash is such an unique character and if not executed properly, he will come off as campy or the attempt would lean more towards parody. That's just the nature of the character. By wiping out Ash but still allowing the story to take place within the world of
The Evil Dead, it gives us a brand new set of characters to fall in love with and new ways for characters to try to escape.
Since Sam Raimi is producing it, we can be sure that there will be plenty of throwbacks to the diehard fans regardless of who plays the leading role. If
Drag Me To Hell proved anything, it's that Sam Raimi knows his audience and he especially knows how to throw us a bone every now and again. Instead of getting the same story we've all got memorized at this point, we'll get a different take on how to defeat the deadites with some homages sprinkled in nicely. One of the biggest complaints people have about remakes are the rehashes of iconic kills and fans often cry "if you're going to do it shot for shot, why even bother?" No Ash Williams means no Ash kills. It'll be new, and honestly...that's sort of something this film franchise needs. Do I wish Bruce would come back and play Ash old and bloated to defeat the evil that lurks within the woods? Absolutely. Is that going to happen? No. It's not, and it's unfair as a fan to demand an actor to return to a role that made him famous when he is in no way physically capable of performing the way he once did. I hate to break it to you all, but actors get old. They age. It's a way of life. From what it sounds like, we're getting an entirely new flavor of the franchise, not just a new film. I hate to say it, but I'm sort of excited to see what they're doing with this. I am not expecting this to come even close to the original films, but I'm ecstatic to see a group of people remaking a film and actually giving it an entirely different spin. This is what a remake should resemble. Keeping the heart and soul of the film, but painting it an entirely different shade. Does this make me a traitor as a horror fan? Maybe. But I stand by my opinion. I really want to see what they've got up their sleeve for this one. Who knows, maybe we'll be hailing to the queen at the end of it all.
Since Sam Raimi is producing it, we can be sure that there will be plenty of throwbacks to the diehard fans regardless of who plays the leading role. If Drag Me To Hell proved anything, it's that Sam Raimi knows his audience and he especially knows how to throw us a bone every now and again. Instead of getting the same story we've all got memorized at this point, we'll get a different take on how to defeat the deadites with some homages sprinkled in nicely. One of the biggest complaints people have about remakes are the rehashes of iconic kills and fans often cry "if you're going to do it shot for shot, why even bother?" No Ash Williams means no Ash kills. It'll be new, and honestly...that's sort of something this film franchise needs. Do I wish Bruce would come back and play Ash old and bloated to defeat the evil that lurks within the woods? Absolutely. Is that going to happen? No. It's not, and it's unfair as a fan to demand an actor to return to a role that made him famous when he is in no way physically capable of performing the way he once did. I hate to break it to you all, but actors get old. They age. It's a way of life. From what it sounds like, we're getting an entirely new flavor of the franchise, not just a new film. I hate to say it, but I'm sort of excited to see what they're doing with this. I am not expecting this to come even close to the original films, but I'm ecstatic to see a group of people remaking a film and actually giving it an entirely different spin. This is what a remake should resemble. Keeping the heart and soul of the film, but painting it an entirely different shade. Does this make me a traitor as a horror fan? Maybe. But I stand by my opinion. I really want to see what they've got up their sleeve for this one. Who knows, maybe we'll be hailing to the queen at the end of it all. 
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