Midnight Mass star Zach Gilford to star in upcoming seventh Evil Dead movie

Evil never dies, and that goes double for the Evil Dead franchise. As long as some poor soul makes the mistake of reading from the Necronomicon, audiences will continue to be blessed (and disgusted) by blood-splattering demons in the iconic horror franchise.

According to a recent article in Deadline, Midnight Mass star Zach Gilford will be leading the charge against the demonic forces in the untitled 7th Evil Dead film. Zach Gilford is obviously no stranger to horror; aside from dealing with vampires in the aforementioned Mike Flanagan series Midnight Mass, he's also starred in another Flanagan series in the Edgar Allan Poe adaptation The Fall of the House of Usher, The Purge: Anarchy, There's Something Wrong with the Children, and the Radio Silence film Devil's Due.

Gilford isn't the only member of the cast who has a history in horror; also in the ensemble is Charlotte Hope, who starred in The Nun, and Ella Newton, who starred in last year's shark slasher Dangerous Animals. The film also stars Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road), Elizabeth Cullen (Goolagong), and Jessica McNamee from 2021's Mortal Kombat as well as its upcoming sequel.

Given that we're still about six months out from the upcoming Evil Dead Burns July 24th release date, this news comes as a bit of a pleasant surprise, leading me and others to think that Sebastien Vanicek's upcoming sequel might be a slam dunk, given how eager New Line Cinema and Sony are to get the 8th installment rolling. It's certainly not a huge gamble, though. Lee Cronin's Evil Dead Rise hit around $147 million at the global box office.

Producer Rob Tapert is back to produce the 8th installment in the franchise with franchise pioneers Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell taking on executive producer roles once again. Also joining the EP team are Jose Canas, Romel Adam, and director Lee Cronin. Not much is known about the untitled eighth installment of the Evil Dead franchise, with the film's logline and plot details still under wraps. All we know is the film is written and directed by Francis Galluppi, who previously directed The Last Stop in Yuma County and the short science fiction film The Gemini Project.

While there is no release date specified for Galluppi's Evil Dead film, Sebastian Vanicek's upcoming Evil Dead Burn is still on track for its summer release on July 24th, 2026.

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