Evil Dead reboot looks like a bloody sure thing

Christmas (or should that be Halloween?) looks like it’s coming early for horror fans who’ve been waiting for official word that The Evil Dead remake is actually going to happen. Hollywood—not to mention Bruce Campbell—has been talking up a reboot of the franchise for the past couple of years. Last summer word leaked that a script had not only been completed, but that legitimate It Girl Diablo Cody had been hired to do revisions. And, then, nothing, leading one to wonder whether the remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 classic was dead in the forest.

This week though, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Lily Collins has been offered the lead role in The Evil Dead 2.0 . The movie will be helmed by South American director Fede Alvarez, whose resume includes the much-gushed about short Panic Attack. Collins, the daughter of cue-ball-coiffed rock ’n’ roll icon Phil Collins, stars as Snow White in the upcoming Mirror, Mirror with Julia Roberts.

The Evil Dead will be produced by Raimi and his original partners Campbell and Rob Tapert. Given Cody’s involvement, it’s safe to assume that the remake will feature smart-talking, strong females who will be asked to do more than sit on the floor sing-songing lines like “We’re going to get you/Not another peep”. Early word has Collins’s character headed to a cabin in the woods to shake a drug addiction along with a group of 20-somethings who weren’t old enough to be crapping their diapers during the basement scene when the original was released.

Word also has it that the reboot will focus more on the original’s horror elements, and less on the comedy that marked sequels such as Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness . Which, presumably, means you can expect no shortage of blood-soaked stabbings, axe dismemberments, and plopped-face-first-on-the-fire flesh-frying.