‘Evil Dead Rise’ director discusses creating the gory horror flick using 6,500 liters of blood

Director Lee Cronin talks with Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy about creating “Evil Dead Rise,” the fifth installation to the “Evil Dead” franchise, using 6,500 liters of blood and working with actress Alyssa Sutherland who plays scary Deadite mom Ellie.

Video Transcript

KEVIN POLOWY: How daunting is it to take the reins on a film like this, knowing-- a series like this, knowing what a special place these original films and Sam Raimi's direction of them holding in the heart of so many horror fans?

LEE CRONIN: Yeah. Of course. To me, it was more exciting than daunting. I think making any movie is a daunting prospect, full stop. So my biggest fear of all in being afforded the opportunity was not finding a way in that appealed to me but then also appealed to the producers, who are obviously the stewards of that world and want to be protective of what they've created in the past.

But thankfully, the story I wanted to tell was the story they wanted to hear. People go to an unusual place, and they step inside the door of an unfamiliar place. The difference with "Evil Dead Rise" is I brought that horror into the home.

And that's the key difference to me. In "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead 2," Fede's movie, people are going somewhere that's unfamiliar. They don't recognize the objects and things around them or the world that they're in, whereas in this case, you're in what's supposed to be your safe space when that evil actually comes knocking on your door and takes over your life.

KEVIN POLOWY: I'm always curious what kind of notes you get from the studio when directing an insanely gory movie like this.

LEE CRONIN: The script definitely stopped some other studios in their tracks and made them question if it was something that they could take on. But in the case of New Line, once they were on board with the idea that this would be about family and that it would also-- that the evil would target kids, young people.

Once you kind of cross that line with the story, you kind of have to be all in at that stage. So I was never-- neither by producer or studio was I ever actually asked to tone anything down.

KEVIN POLOWY: You guys used a lot of blood. I think you kept track. Do you remember exactly how much?

LEE CRONIN: Yeah. It was a lot of blood, and it was all real sticky, proper, created stage blood. There was no cheating. We never used red water, food coloring. We didn't ever find shortcuts. And blood ain't cheap, man. Blood is expensive.

And getting all of that blood on screen-- and I think by the end of the film, we were probably starting to even recycle. So 6,500 liters was what we had. But because of some of the big events, we were able to actually drain that blood away and then reuse it.

KEVIN POLOWY: What can you say about Alyssa Sutherland's performance in this movie because man, as Ellie, she committed.

LEE CRONIN: She's a lot sweeter in real life. I can say that much. She really did commit, and she kind of had me at hello with her casting tape. Even when she's not on screen, the danger of her existence just permeates through the film, which is great. So yeah, she did a really incredible job.

KEVIN POLOWY: Movie's been out a few months now. What have been your favorite reactions to it so far?

LEE CRONIN: What I didn't expect-- and there's one right behind me. I didn't expect the cheese grater to become such a big thing. And I also didn't expect the opening title to become such a big thing for people as well.

It was an idea I had. I knew how to execute it. It was on the page from the beginning. And so it's great to put stuff out there into the world of horror, into the world of movies, and for that to have a cultural impact. I think that's every filmmaker's dream.