By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The ongoing shuffle of Warner Bros. release dates has now involved a few horror titles.
Deadline reports that EVIL DEAD RISE, originally announced as an HBO Max exclusive, will now play only in theaters when it opens April 21, 2023. The new screen version of Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT, most recently intended to hit screens on that date, will now open on a day to be announced later in the year. And THE NUN 2 is now set for September 8, 2023.
EVIL DEAD RISE, the latest in the classic franchise and the first not to star Bruce Campbell (who remains as executive producer with Sam Raimi, and Rob Tapert serving as producer), was written and directed by Lee Cronin of the acclaimed Irish chiller A HOLE IN THE GROUND. Alyssa Sutherland, Lily Sullivan, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher and Mia Challis star in the story of two sisters dealing with a Deadite invasion of their apartment building. “[The demonic book is] uncovered in an urban environment, with a single mother, so it’s a whole new ball game. It’s kind of EVIL DEAD, family style,” Campbell previously told us.
SALEM’S LOT was written and directed by Gary Dauberman, whose scripting credits include both IT films, THE NUN and the three ANNABELLE pictures, the third of which, ANNABELLE COMES HOME, he also helmed. Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbaek, John Benjamin Hickey, Alfre Woodard and William Sadler star in the saga of vampires overrunning a New England town. And THE NUN 2, directed by Michael Chaves (THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT) from a script by Akela Cooper (MALIGNANT), brings back Bonnie Aarons in the supernatural title role.
