Starting with a gnarly, no-budget cabin-in-the-woods shocker, and ending with a medieval Harryhausen battle epic, the original Evil Dead trilogy was about nothing if not escalation. So it seems right and proper that The Evil Dead remake has transcended its cult origins and just scored massive worldwide distribution courtesy of Sony and FilmDistrict.

It was back in July that the project was announced. Strong rumours were initially bolstered by Ash himself, Bruce Campbell (@groovybruce), who tweeted "Believe in the remake, dawg! The project is real. In the works. Cool as hell. Scary as hell." And then came even more officially official confirmation from Sam Raimi and his Ghost House producing cohorts Bob Tapert and Nathan Kahane. Fede Alvarez had scored the directing gig, having impressed Ghost House with his short film Panic Attack, and the new screenplay was penned by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues, and undergoing some polishing by a certain Diablo Cody.

Few details have come to light since, although it's been confirmed that the new Evil Dead is not about Campbell's hapless Ash (but a Campbell cameo has been promised). Cody has also recently been assuring people that her draft isn't any kind of knowing send-up of the material. "It was really important to the filmmakers that it remain totally grounded in reality and timeless," she told MTV. "They weren't trying to make some hip trendy horror movie full of pop culture references. I really hope people don't think that that's what I was hired to do." Elsewhere she's promised that it's "unbelievably violent".

“For thirty years, Sam, Bruce and I have been looking for the right home where we could return the deadites to the big screen," says Bob Tapert. "Sony and FilmDistrict have always been incredible partners who share our passion for great storytelling as well as our obsession for scaring the pants off the audience. Together, we are looking forward to terrorizing a whole new generation.”

The new Evil Dead is on a fast-track towards a shoot next year, so expect to start hearing casting stories before too long...