Every horror fan knows that the Evil Dead movies don’t hold anything back when it comes to death. However, it turns out the new movie in the hit franchise almost crossed a line. Instead of the typical Evil Dead chainsaw antics and possessed women in basements, cats were nearly involved in the carnage (warning, minor spoilers ahead).
During an interview with Total Film (via GamesRadar), Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin revealed that earlier versions of the horror movie saw the feline in the film either get eaten by Ellie or turn into a deadite itself. “It was written. Oh, it was written where you actually see [Ellie] crawling through the [vent] and she’s finishing off the cat, just swallowing the tail,” Cronin explained.
“Then there was… but our budget never allowed this… I wanted – you know the hatch that opens in the back of Danny’s bedroom – I wanted Kassie and Beth to escape that way. You think things are getting to safety, and then they come across a deadite cat.”
However, fans never got to see this cruel cat’s fate on the big screen, due to Cronin’s realisation that many people may have been turned off by the scene – seasoned Evil Dead fans included.
“Ultimately, though, the thing I’ve learned is that people fucking hate if you do anything to animals. It literally turns people off your movie,” he said. “Someone asked a question in a Q&A the other night, and they cheered when I said the cat survived. The entire audience cheered. I actually chose the take of the cat running away just to make clear that it got out.”
Ultimately it looks like Cronin made the right choice. Evil Dead Rise is taking critics and fans by storm, with the film (at the time of writing) holding an impressive 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Similarly, in our four-star Evil Dead Rise review, we praised the monster movie, commenting on how it “upholds the legacy of the outrageous classic and also holds its own as a standalone feature.”
Evil Dead Rise is out in cinemas now. For more information on the thriller movie, here is our guide on how to watch Evil Dead Rise. And here is our take on why Evil Dead might be the best horror movie series ever to be made.
Or for more film content, here is everything we know about the Evil Dead Rise 2 release date, and our list of the best movies of all time.