Hinton Battle

Carmody plans 3-D project Evil Dead: The Musical

Producer Don Carmody and partners are in negotiations with Spiderman director Sam Raimi to bring to the screen the musical version of the former horror meister’s Evil Dead films, Evil Dead: The Musical.

Conceived by George Reinblatt, Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla and Melissa Morris, the camp stage interpretation of Raimi’s cult classic horror trilogy was originally mounted in Toronto and Montreal and has since gone off-Broadway.

Original directors Bond and choreographer Hinton Battle are lined up to co-direct the film version, which will be presented in 3-D. Carmody told Screen International he hopes to shoot the film in the spring of next year in Toronto with some of the original cast. However, he adds, serious rights issues still need to be resolved.

Carmody has been working on the project with Bill Franzblau and Jeffrey Latimer, the producers of the theatrical musical, in which Carmody was an investor.

Featuring songs such as “I’m Not A Killer” and “Look Who’s Evil Now”, the stage version featured an audience-participation area known as the “splatter zone”.

Presumably the 3-D will yield similar if less sticky results.

Meanwhile, Carmody begins principal photography September 29 on All Saints Day, the sequel to The Boondock Saints.