the frozen dead movie review

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The Frozen Dead

A crazed scientist (Dana Andrews) keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich. A crazed scientist (Dana Andrews) keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich. A crazed scientist (Dana Andrews) keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich.

• Herbert J. Leder
• Dana Andrews
• Philip Gilbert
• 43 User reviews
• 32 Critic reviews

• Dr. Norberg

• Jean Norberg

• Dr. Roberts
• Elsa Tenney

• Mrs. Schmidt
• (as Anne Tirard)

• Prisoner No. 3

• Inspector Witt

• Station Master
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Although the film was both shot and released in UK theaters and on U.S. TV in color, the U.S. theatrical release prints of it were released in black-and-white in order to save the distributor money on duplicating prints.
• Goofs A crew member is visible by the curtain on the left of the screen as Dr. Norberg and General Lubeck fight in the laboratory.

Elsa Tenney : Bury me.

[repeated over and over again]

• Connections Featured in 100 Years of Horror: Mad Doctors (1996)

User reviews 43

• Platypuschow
• Nov 1, 2018
• How long is The Frozen Dead? Powered by Alexa
• November 15, 1967 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• Die Eingefrorenen
• Merton Park Studios, Merton, London, England, UK (Studio)
• Gold Star Productions Ltd.
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 35 minutes

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Film review – The Frozen Dead (1966)

The American Herbert J. Leder scripted the wonderfully demented Fiend Without a Face, then had a minor career as a writer-director of exploitation pictures from Pretty Boy Floyd to The Candy Man. In 1966, he made a brace of back-to-back oddities in the UK, top-lining weirdly-cast Americans temporarily down on their luck — Roddy McDowall in the golem-themed It! and Dana Andrews in this combination Nazis-on-ice/head-on-a-table mad scientist movie. For some reason, it was one of the rarer British horror films: I missed a UK telecast in the 1970s but finally caught up with it in 2008 after decades of seeing tantalisingly-intriguing stills in books and magazines. Naturally, it’s no great discovery and is even more housebound and staid than It!, though Leder’s habitual tendency to play the most ridiculous situations heroically straight gives it a certain stodgy camp appeal which is rather less fun than the maniacal glee of comparable efforts like The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, The Head or They Saved Hitler’s Brain.

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2 thoughts on “ Film review – The Frozen Dead (1966) ”

Richard Harland Smith Best. Movie. Ever.

Paul Ewen I remember the stills from those Alan Frank books and recall catching the airing in the 70’s, where the girl’s severed head scared the shit out of me (I WAS a mere youngster back then!). Unfortunately, not used to staying up late, I crashed out before the end and have always wanted to see it again.

Ben Adams But surely Roddy McDowall was born an Englishman, born in 1928 and only moving to the US because of the Blitz . . . or am I being overly pedantic? 😉

Kim Newman True – but McDowall was an American movie star … though his one film as a director, Tam Lin, is among the strangest British films ever made.

Andrews was pissed the whole time

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The Frozen Dead

Dana Andrews (Dr. Norberg) Anna Palk (Jean Norberg) Philip Gilbert (Dr. Roberts) Kathleen Breck (Elsa Tenney) Karel Stepanek (Lubeck) Basil Henson (Tirpitz) Alan Tilvern (Essen) Ann Tirard (Mrs. Schmidt) Edward Fox (Prisoner No. 3) Oliver MacGreevy (Joseph)

Herbert J. Leder

A crazed scientist (Dana Andrews) keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich.

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The frozen dead.

1966 Directed by Herbert J. Leder

Chiller Of The Year! Fiends frozen dead at the height of their diabolical powers and brought back alive years later

A crazed scientist keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich.

Dana Andrews Anna Palk Philip Gilbert Kathleen Breck Karl Stepanek Basil Henson Alan Tilvern Anne Tirard Oliver MacGreevy Tom Chatto John Moore Charles Wade Edward Fox

Director Director

Herbert J. Leder

Producer Producer

Writer writer, editor editor.

Tom Simpson

Cinematography Cinematography

Davis Boulton

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Robert Goldstein

Art Direction Art Direction

Scott MacGregor

Composer Composer

Hairstyling hairstyling.

Pearl Tipaldi

Seven Arts Productions Gold Star Productions Ltd.

Alternative Titles

I stratia ton zontanon nekron, Los muertos congelados, I redivivi

Science Fiction Horror

Horror, the undead and monster classics Chilling experiments and classic monster horror Nazis and World War II Creepy, chilling, and terrifying horror Terrifying, haunted, and supernatural horror Gory, gruesome, and slasher horror Show All…

Releases by Date

27 sep 1967, 15 oct 1966, 15 nov 1967, releases by country.

• Premiere Boston, Massachusetts
• Theatrical NR

95 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by sirvived ★

So bad I didn't even find it funny.

Review by Paul Anthony Johnson ★★★

[Originally appeared at cinespect.com.]

Herbert J. Leder’s The Frozen Dead is the only movie I know that touches on that awkward teenage feeling of finding out that your uncle is a Nazi mad scientist who’s keeping your best friend’s decapitated head alive in his dungeon laboratory as part of a plan to create an army of zombie storm troopers. Forget rich allegory or fine feelings or even good filmmaking for a moment —the pleasure of The Frozen Dead lies in the disreputable excitement of finding out just how far imaginative sleaze merchants are willing to push the boundaries of bad taste and good sense to earn a paycheck. It’s a lesson in capitalism that will teach you more than highlighting…

Review by mattstechel ★½ 1

Pretty lousy tho it's got the look and at times feel of a Hammer film which may make this more appealing to some but this thing is soooo slowly paced that there's never any suspense here. The end's not half bad tho.

Review by Yo_Roboto ★

Almost in awe of how boring this is. Judged as a lullaby, it’s a triumph.

Review by Chris ★★½

Who knew a movie about bringing back frozen Nazis to restart the Third Reich could be so....dull.

Review by Nuno Costa ★★

Viewed on TCM

Hoop-Tober X #22

Criteria: - Country: UK - Decade: 1960's

In The Frozen Dead (1966) Dana Andrews plays a mad scientist Nazi in England, keeping Nazi soldiers frozen alive, until he finds a way to revive his Nazi army.

The beginning of the film was interesting as its plot was unfolding, and then it meandered for an hour until its finale. The Frozen Dead (1966) is too talky for it's own good.

Review by Ira Brooker ★★★

A German scientist in exile in the U.K. reluctantly heads up a project to revitalize the Reich via reanimated frozen Nazi troops, but mostly succeeds in collecting a basement full of particularly unuseful zombies. When the doctor's niece arrives with a college friend in tow, opportunities arise and pretty soon someone's a living head in a box, someone's locked in a freezer, and someone's embarking on a paint-dull romance with a handsome young doctor.

This could have stood to trim at least 10 minutes and one major character, but it's still some entertaining post-war pseudo-science. It's essentially The Brain That Wouldn't Die minus most of the sleaze and ickiness, which isn't necessarily an improvement or a detriment. It does make being a head in a box look like a bummer, that's for sure.

Review by Paul Senior ★★½

Mad Science Nazis are hanging out at an English mansion with a freezer full of dead Wehrmacht, conveniently still in uniforms. Severed heads ensue!

Fairly entertaining if a bit bloodless, the freaky concept drives it right along to a bananas conclusion.

Film #748 of 2020.

Review by fulci420

Frozen Nazi saga is more melancholy than it is outright goofy but that doesn't make it fun to watch. Ending hits a similar note to the original "The Fly" and is the highlight of an otherwise dreary experience.

Review by Kevin Jones ★★ 2

The 1960s, Pt. II: 38/100 1966 Ranked

The Frozen Dead is not a good movie. It is not even a fun bad movie. It is just bad, heightened by the presence of Dana Andrews who, always a good performer, seems deeply convinced this is going to be a good movie and turns in a suitably good performance. If only the rest of the film were up to that standard. Instead, this trite Nazi film that posits the Nazi leadership froze the bodies of 1,500 leading Nazis to unfreeze at the opportune moment - that being the mid-1960s, apparently - wastes a fun premise. Andrews stars as Dr. Norberg, a passionate Nazi who has dedicated his life to trying to find…

Review by AlexandreFR ★★★ 1

Ce film-là s'intéresse aux détails « techniques » et « scientifiques » de la décongélation des cerveaux d'anciens officiers nazis beaucoup plus que ce à quoi je m'attendais.

Review by mrbalihai ★★★

While it's not quite up to the vile and sleazy gold standard of reanimated-head movies set by The Brain That Wouldn’t Die , this Z-grade exploitation shocker has a lot to offer, like a meat locker full of Nazicles, Dana Andrews at the absolute nadir of his career, a wall of severed arms, a creepy lab assistant who molests young ladies, and of course, a vengeful, glowing-blue head in a box, possessed with telepathic powers.

However, unlike the evil bitch melon in TBTWD, this severed noggin gives off a palpable sense of hopelessness and pathos. Her final words, spoken right before the end credits and croaked out in a barely intelligible whisper, haunted my childhood nightmares for years.

All in all, a worthy final entry to my Gimme Some Head! list.

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The Frozen Dead (1966)

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Chiller Of The Year! Fiends frozen dead at the height of their diabolical powers and brought back alive years later

A crazed scientist keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich.

Herbert J. Leder

Director, Writer

Top Billed Cast

Dana Andrews

Dr. Norberg

Jean Norburg

Philip Gilbert

Dr. Ted Roberts

Kathleen Breck

Elsa Tenney

Karl Stepanek

General Lubeck

Basil Henson

Dr. Tirpitz

Alan Tilvern

Anne Tirard

Mrs. Schmidt

Oliver MacGreevy

Joseph the Butler

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• Discussions 0

Featured Review

A review by john chard, written by john chard on october 18, 2014.

Ice Reich Baby!

British sci-fier that’s utterly mad and quite awful at times, yet for fans of “B” movie schlockers from days of yore there’s enough boldness and charm to warrant a look.

In short order the plot entails a nutty scientist planning to revive frozen Nazis to kick start a new world order. Dana Andrews is the name actor in the lead role, complete with bad German accent, and Kathleen Breck is the star performer playing a head in a box; a victim of the mad scientists moving throughout the madness. It’s all very silly and the fact that Andrews and company are taking it serious fur... read the rest.

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The Frozen Dead (1966)

Genre: horror / scifi, duration: 95 minuten, alternative title: kasteel voor monsters, country: united kingdom, directed by: herbert j. leder, stars: dana andrews , philip gilbert and anna palk, imdb score: 5,0  (1.062), releasedate: 15 october 1966.

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The Frozen Dead plot

"Chiller Of The Year! Fiends frozen dead at the height of their diabolical powers and brought back alive years later" A mad scientist has succeeded in developing a method to keep the heads of deceased persons alive. He has come up with a plan to keep track of the minds of some Nazi criminals. When he finds the suitable bodies, he will attach the heads to them.

Actors and actresses

Dr. Norberg

Jean Norburg

Dr. Ted Roberts

Elsa Tenney

General Lubeck

Dr. Tirpitz

Mrs. Schmidt

Joseph the Butler

Inspector Witt

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Trailer The Frozen Dead

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The Frozen Dead

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, herbert j. leder, dana andrews, philip gilbert, kathleen breck, karel stepanek, technical specs.

At the end of World War II, 1,500 of Hitler's top officials were frozen alive and hidden in caves. Former Nazis Dr. Norberg and his aide, Karl Essen, are conducting revivification experiments at a manor in the English countryside. Although they have been successful in restoring body functions, they have been unable to revive the brain. They explain to visiting ex-Wehrmacht officer General Lubeck that they need a live brain with which to experiment. Consequently, when Norberg's niece, Jean, arrives from the United States with her college friend Elsa, the sadistic Essen disposes of Elsa but keeps her decapitated head alive in a laboratory cabinet. Although Jean is told that her friend had to leave suddenly for London, the young girl is unconvinced and reveals her suspicions to Ted Roberts, an American scientist. Roberts is permitted by Norbert to view the severed head, and he agrees to keep the secret. Meanwhile, Elsa's brain is developing a telepathic rapport with Jean in order to warn her that her life is in danger. After Lubeck has concluded that Essen is a security risk and ordered him put into the deep-freeze chamber, Jean sneaks into the laboratory and discovers Elsa's head. When Lubeck aims a gun at her, Norberg intervenes on behalf of his niece. As they engage in a death struggle, Elsa's brain activates a collection of electronically-controlled dismembered arms which reach out and strangle the two ex-Nazis.

Basil Henson

Alan tilvern, oliver macgreevy, charles wade, davis boulton, eric carter, mary gibson, robert goldstein, doug hermes, ronnie maasz, scott macgregor, philip martell, tom simpson, doreen soan, kevin sutton, pearl tipaldi.

Released in Great Britain in Eastmancolor in 1967.

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The Frozen Dead Reviews

• 1 hr 36 mins
• Horror, Suspense, Science Fiction
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Horror film about a German scientist (Dana Andrews) conducting experiments to resuscitate Nazis who were frozen alive. Anna Palk. Roberts: Philip Gilbert. Essen: Alan Tilvern. Elsa: Kathleen Breck. Lubeck: Karel Stephanek. Tirpitz: Basil Henson. Directed by Herbert J. Leder.

Ridiculous, unintentionally funny horror drama starring Andrews as a mad scientist determined to bring dozens of frozen Nazis back to life after he has kept them in a meat locker (in uniform) since the end of WW II. He succeeds in making the Germans ambulatory, but he can't get their brains to work. To remedy this, his colleague snips the head off a female friend of Andrew's niece. They attach the head to a complicated apparatus in the hopes that her telepathic powers will aid them in their experiments. As it turns out the head will have none of it, and she uses her telepathy to mobilize some dismembered arms hanging on the lab wall which strangle the Nazi scientists to death. Too strange to thaw out initial disinterest. This film was shot in Eastmancolor but was released only in black and white in the U.S.

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Netflix’s ‘The Frozen Dead’ Is A Chilling French Thriller With A Killer Twist

Where to Stream:

• The Frozen Dead
• international crime drama

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Looking to lean in to the bitter cold currently plaguing us? Netflix has the answer with original series  The Frozen Dead , a French-language serial killer thriller set in the French Pyrenees. If you love murder mysteries, film noir, and dark, daring thrillers, prepare to become addicted – because it’s exactly up your alley. Over the series’ six episodes, Detective Martin Servaz (Charles Berling) is sucked back into a case that has haunted him for years thanks to the discovery of a gruesome crime atop a mountain – and what unfolds is totally horrifying (and proves again that European thrillers can keep pace with American series).

Originally titled  Glacé  and translated to  The Frozen Dead , the series kicks off when two men in a cable car in Saint-Martin-de-Comminges, a town in the French Pyrenees, discover a flayed horse erected atop the mountain. It turns out this horse is worth a pretty penny and belonged to a rich guy, so the cops get involved and discover that there might be a lot more to this grisly crime than just equine animosity. It turns out that a certain serial killer may be connected to what becomes a heinous string of crimes, and the ensuing cat-and-mouse game is absolutely riveting.

The cast of characters involved – including Berling’s grizzled Servaz, Julia Piaton’s determined Irene Ziegler, conflicted psychiatrist-with-a-secret Diane Berg, and unhinged killer Julian Alois Hirtmann (Pascal Greggory) – combine to make a stellar ensemble cast, one that perfectly tackles the heavy subject material. They’re aided by a tight script and well-fleshed out characters that are easy to root for and totally despicable in equal measure.

If you think you know what’s coming with every twist and turn, think again –  The Frozen Dead  waits for no one, and throws viewers for a loop with every installment. Whether you’re a casual lover of a serial killer show or looking for your next creepy crime binge, this freaky French series is bound to satisfy your needs. Just make sure you bring a blanket or two before settling in for the evening.

Stream  The Frozen Dead  on Netflix

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Movie Review: The Frozen Dead

(1966) Directed by Herbert J. Leder Starring Dana Andrews, Anna Palk, Philip Gilbert, Kathleen Breck, Karel Stepanek, Basil Henson, Alan Tilvern, Ann Tirard

There are those films we first see in our youth that sent a sense of awe through our brain, as well as chills down your spine. A time way before we’re smart enough to know whether something could really happen or not, or how far science could really go, when most concepts or ideas where completely new and therefore fascinating to our young minds, sparking that imagination. That is when I first experienced The Frozen Dead . I can remember telling the kids on the playground the next day at school, about a wall of arms that were still alive, or Nazi soldiers that could only comb their hair or bounce an imaginary ball, or even more exciting, a decapitated head that was STILL ALIVE!!! Years or maybe even decades later when we see these films again, we’re a little ashamed to think that it was it was that amazing at the time. But others, like this particular film, even though it might be a little silly or even outrageous, it still impresses me.

The film was written, directed, and produced by Herbert J. Leder, who didn’t work that long in the industry. In fact, besides writing Fiend Without a Face (1958) and writing, directing, and producing It! (1967), starring Roddy McDowall, the following year, he only directed three other feature films. Which is a shame, I feel, because with It! and The Frozen Dead , they were two fond memories from my childhood. While critics even today might say that it is boring, or with comments like it should have stayed frozen, there are a few besides me that have a fondness for it. In his book Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film , Michael Weldon calls The Frozen Dead “an incredible film”, as well as being “an unheralded wonder of silliness.” So, there you go. I loved them then, and I still do now.

Dana Andrews plays Dr. Norberg, a Nazi doctor hiding out incognito in England as he continues his experiments on being able to freeze a human body, sort of like in cryogenic status, which he has done with several German soldiers at the end of WWII. The idea is to bring back the “party” at the right time to take control. The only problem is that the good doctor hasn’t exactly perfected the part about bringing these frozen bodies back to life, at least with them having complete motor functions and the full use of their brain. So far, the ones he’s brought back only remember one thing, such as one soldier constantly combs his hair, while another constantly cries out in sadness. On a side note, he also has a wall of severed arms that are able to move through electronic impulses. Not sure what all this has to do with cryogenics, but who cares. A wall of arms was pretty damn cool when you were a kid!

But just when some higher ups in the Nazi party pay a visit to the doctor to see his progress, progress that was falsely stated by his devious assistant Essen, played wonderfully by Alan Tilvern, and unexpected visit from his niece and her friend throw a wrench into everything. Essen devises a plan on his own to get rid of the niece’s friend, as well as getting a severed head the doctor needed to continue the research on bringing back the soldiers with full brain capacity. This results in one of the films best developments, when the severed head is alive and starts to communicate.

Now, Andrews, who had become a big star after the film Laura (1944), had a long career but battled alcoholism the later part of it. In fact, he was one of the first celebrities to speak out publicly about the evils of it. As far as the horror genre, besides The Frozen Dead , and an appearance in The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery , Andrews only really appeared in one other genre title, and it was a big one, Night of the Demon (1957). In Frozen , he doesn’t skip out on his performance, no matter the subject matter or how downright silly some of it seems, it took the role completely serious, even with the slight German accent. Sure, while he does play it somewhat for sympathy, he does take his role in the science more importantly than his thought for human life.

Anna Palk plays Andrews’ niece, who does an okay job here, but really isn’t given much to do other than have either different emotional reactions, or just seem like she’s staring off into space. But it is Kathleen Breck, who plays her friend and meets a grisly end, who really shines here. Yes, most of her screen time is as a decapitated head, but it her performance that gives the viewers the most lasting images.

But for a young horror fan, it was probably the work of Art Director and Production Designer Scott MacGregor that fascinated me the most, even though I never realized it at the time. One can only assume it was MacGregor that created not only the doctor’s lab, but also the wall of arms, the frozen body chamber, as well as how to pull off the talking severed head on the table. There is obviously an optical shot in when we see the full shot of the head on the table with nothing underneath it, hiding the Breck’s body. Sure, looking at it now, it can look a bit dated, but back in the early ‘70s, it was pretty damn effective. And looking at it now, it takes me back to a time when you were watching this stuff with a much younger and more open mind than now.

MacGregor had worked on films like Doctor Blood’s Coffin (1961) as well as Leder’s next film, It! , before joining Hammer Films, replacing production designer Bernard Robinson when he passed away. He worked with the studio through the last of their gothic pictures, such as Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969), The Vampire Lovers (1970), Vampire Circus (1972), with Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973) being the last title he worked on. Like most art directors and production designers, they don’t seem to get the credit they richly deserve, especially when it comes to the labs of mad scientists!

Yes, there are going to be some reviews out there that really criticize and dismiss this film as dumb, silly, or just cheesy. No matter what, I still have great fondness for this title and think that it holds up as an effective story, which some chilling moments. This might be the 8-year-old horror fan in me writing this, but if he’s still entertained by it, then so am I.

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If a horror film gives you a palpable sense of discomfort it has certainly done its job, and this film still delivers handsomely. An excellent write-up of a most underrated chiller.

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Another New Evil Dead Movie Is Escaping the Basement

Evil Dead Rise

Evil Dead’s cackling Deadites can never truly be defeated, which means there’ll always be fresh Evil Dead stories to tell—even without horror icon Bruce Campbell playing the lead, as last year’s excellent Evil Dead Rise proved. A few months back, an Evil Dead “spin-off” was announced, and now there’s news of a whole new movie on the way too.

Deadline broke the news that Francis Galluppi will write and direct a new Evil Dead movie for Ghost House Pictures, the production company headed up by Evil Dead OGs Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. There are zero plot details to share, though the trade notes it’s “an original story that Galluppi developed and brought to Raimi and team,” and shares an enthusiastic statement from Raimi himself: “Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence. He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

Raimi is ahead of the curve on Galluppi, whose debut feature—The Last Stop in Yuma County, about a traveling salesman who encounters two vicious bank robbers—premiered at Fantastic Fest last fall to positive reviews, but won’t hit theaters until May 10. As for that Evil Dead spin-off, it’s being created by another Fantastic Fest breakout: French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček, whose creepy Infested (which io9 called “ Attack the Block with spiders ”) arrives on Shudder today.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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The 'Evil Dead' Will Rise Again With New Film from Writer/Director Francis Galluppi

The director's first feature, 'The Last Stop In Yuma County,' will be released next month.

The Big Picture

• The Evil Dead franchise began with a low-budget film in 1981, spawning sequels, a TV series, and a 2013 remake, grossing over $150 million.
• Director Francis Galluppi impressed Sam Raimi with his storytelling skills, earning the opportunity to helm a new Evil Dead movie.
• Raimi plans to continue expanding the Evil Dead universe with new movies every two to three years. Stay tuned for updates on Galluppi's project.

The Evil Dead are set to rise again. Filmmaker Francis Galluppi has been tapped to write and direct a new movie in the immortal horror franchise. Deadline reports that Galluppi approached Evil Dead impresario Sam Raimi with a proposal for the franchise, which impressed him enough to metaphorically hand over the keys to his filmic Oldsmobile Delta 88 .

In a statement, Raimi lavished praise on the filmmaker, saying "Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence. He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut." That feature debut, the crime thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County , premiered at last year's Fantastic Fest and is scheduled to be released on digital and in select theaters on May 10. The tale of a knife salesman stranded at a remote rest stop with a pair of bank robbers, it stars Jim Cummings , Jocelin Donahue , and Richard Brake . Prior to making the film, Galluppi directed several music videos for the indie rock band Mt. Joy .

What is 'The Evil Dead'?

The Evil Dead franchise is proof that success can come from even the humblest beginnings. In this case, those humble beginnings are a movie made with five unknown actors (including Bruce Campbell ), some goopy special effects, and less than $400,000 USD. The resulting 1981 film, The Evil Dead , told the tale of a group of friends who accidentally unleashed the evil of the ancient Necronomicon , and became a cult hit. The 1985 sequel, Evil Dead II , added Raimi's love of slapstick comedy into the mix, and spawned a third film, the medieval horror comedy Army of Darkness . Fede Álvarez remade the original film in 2013, and a Campbell-led TV series, Ash vs. Evil Dead , ran for three seasons on Starz. Most recently, Lee Cronin 's Evil Dead Rise hit theaters in 2023, earning nearly $150 million USD to make it the highest-grossing (emphasis on "gross") of the series.

Galluppi's film isn't the only Evil Dead project in the works. According to longtime Raimi collaborator Bruce Campbell , Raimi intends to keep the gore flowing with new Evil Dead movies " every two to three years ".

Francis Galluppi's Evil Dead project is in the early stages of development; no release date has yet been set . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

The Evil Dead (1981)

Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.

• The Inventory

Another New Evil Dead Movie Is Escaping the Basement

Writer-director francis galluppi will helm the latest entry in sam raimi's gory horror series..

Evil Dead ’s cackling Deadites can never truly be defeated, which means there’ll always be fresh Evil Dead stories to tell—even without horror icon Bruce Campbell playing the lead, as last year’s excellent Evil Dead Rise proved. A few months back, an Evil Dead “spin-off” was announced, and now there’s news of a whole new movie on the way too.

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Deadline broke the news that Francis Galluppi will write and direct a new Evil Dead movie for Ghost House Pictures, the production company headed up by Evil Dead OGs Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. There are zero plot details to share, though the trade notes it’s “an original story that Galluppi developed and brought to Raimi and team,” and shares an enthusiastic statement from Raimi himself: “Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence. He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

Raimi is ahead of the curve on Galluppi, whose debut feature— The Last Stop in Yuma County , about a traveling salesman who encounters two vicious bank robbers—premiered at Fantastic Fest last fall to positive reviews, but won’t hit theaters until May 10. As for that Evil Dead spin-off, it’s being created by another Fantastic Fest breakout: French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček, whose creepy Infested (which io9 called “ Attack the Block with spiders ”) arrives on Shudder today.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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Season 1 – The Frozen Dead

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Charles Berling

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The frozen dead — season 1, critics reviews, season info.

A Second Evil Dead Spinoff Movie Is in the Works, Confirms Sam Raimi

The new Evil Dead spinoff is in development alongside the previously announced spinoff that will be directed and co-written by Sébastien Vaniček.

The Evil Dead franchise is showing no signs of slowing down. Sam Raimi has just confirmed that a new spinoff movie, separate from the one being directed by Sébastien Vaniček, is in development.

According to Deadline , Francis Galluppi has been tapped to write and direct a new Evil Dead movie for Raimi and Robert Tapert's Ghost House Pictures. The writer/director is perhaps best known for his award-winning shorts High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project . His debut feature, the crime thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County , starring Jim Cummings, is set to hit theaters on May 10. Galluppi's Evil Dead movie is based on an original idea he had that he then brought to Raimi and his team.

Bruce Campbell Reacts to Evil Dead Easter Egg in SpongeBob SquarePants

"Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence," Raimi said in a statement. "He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut."

Evil Dead Remains a Beloved Horror Series

Galluppi's Evil Dead movie is expected to be the seventh installment in the beloved horror franchise , which began in 1981 with writer/director Sam Raimi's low-budget horror film The Evil Dead , starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Following the massive success of The Evil Dead , both Raimi and Campbell returned for two sequels — Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992). Campbell also made an uncredited post-credits scene cameo as Ash in the 2013 reboot film Evil Dead before starring in the Starz horror series Ash vs Evil Dead , which ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2018.

The franchise returned to the big screen for the first time in a decade with 2023's Evil Dead Rise , which was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $147 million worldwide. Directed by Lee Cronin, Rise stars Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland as two estranged sisters trying to survive and save their family from deadites. Although a sequel has not been officially announced, Sullivan teased in February 2024 that there have "been lots of conversations happening" about a potential follow-up to Rise .

Evil Dead Spinoff Director Addresses Connections to Previous Films

Sebastian vaniček teases his evil dead spinoff.

Galluppi's Evil Dead movie is the second franchise spinoff to be announced in 2024. Back in February, it was reported that Infested helmer Sébastien Vaniček would co-write and direct an untitled installment in the Evil Dead franchise. Campbell, who has produced or executive produced every Evil Dead movie in addition to starring as series lead Ash Williams, confirmed the spinoff's existence on X , writing, "Well, I guess the demon is out of the cellar…"

While plot details remain under wraps for Vaniček's Evil Dead movie, the director has teased that his spinoff will "give justice" to both Raimi's original movie and Fede Álvarez's 2013 reboot. He also shared that Raimi and his team have given him "some artistic freedom" on the project, revealing that they specifically want to see his take on Evil Dead .

Evil Dead Rise is currently streaming on Max, while release dates for Galluppi and Vaniček's respective Evil Dead movies have not been announced yet.

Source: Deadline

Evil Dead is an American comedy horror franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of five feature films and a television series. The series originally revolves around the grimoire the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc upon a group of cabin inhabitants in a wooded area in Tennessee.