Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi and Ghostbusters reboot director Paul Feig are teaming up for the horror-comedy Suburban Hell. No one knows more about the horror-comedy genre than Raimi, who arguably perfected the form with his Three Stooges-inspired 1987 gorefest Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. Currently, Deadite fans are gearing up for the latest installment in the franchise Raimi created all those years ago, as Evil Dead Rise prepares to unleash its own horrors with director Lee Cronin at the helm.
But Raimi of course continues to work on projects outside the Evil Dead realm, having directed last year’s smash MCU hit Dr. Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. But next up for Raimi (via Deadline) is something more in the vein of his ‘80s classics, as he takes on producing duties alongside Ghostbusters: Answer the Call helmer Feig for an adaptation of the novel Suburban Hell. The movie is being set up at Legendary with The Bear co-showrunner Joanna Calo tapped to write the script. No director has been named for the project as of yet.
Why A Feig & Raimi Collaboration Is Perfect
Feig obviously is less of a presence in the horror world than Raimi, but is one of the top producers of comedy in Hollywood, thanks to movies like Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, Bridesmaids and The Heat. The teaming of Feig and Raimi does sound ideal however, when considering the subject-matter of Suburban Hell. Published in 2022 by novelist Maureen Kilmer, the book “tells the story of a tight-knit group of suburban moms whose friendship is put to the ultimate test when one of them becomes possessed by an evil spirit.”
Evil spirits possessing people is of course right up horror maven Raimi’s alley. The suburban mom side of the equation is much more in Feig’s wheel-house however, given his work directing female ensembles on movies like the aforementioned Bridesmaids and the recent The School for Good and Evil. It remains to be seen how this genre-bending project will ultimately mix its horror and comedy elements, but it’s fair to assume Suburban Hell will not skew as far to the blood-soaked side as one of Raimi’s all-out 1980s horror movies.
The wild card in all of this of course is the screenwriter Calo, who executive produced and worked as a writer on FX’s acclaimed 2022 series The Bear. Skillfully blending tones is indeed what The Bear is all about, and it sounds like Suburban Hell will try to pull off a similar mix of genre elements. With a lot of talented people slotting into place, Suburban Hell sounds like a project for horror and comedy fans to keep an eye on as it moves forward.
Source: Deadline
