"Shut up and act"

I also wanted to talk about your upcoming film, "Man With the Screaming Brain," seeing that you wrote the comic and are both directing and starring in the movie.

We can't talk about a ridiculous movie like that.

Are you serious? It sounds like a blast. I love watching capitalists get their comeuppance.

Well, it's basically a story of karma, and his comes back in a big way.

Is it an accident that the guy who gets his ass kicked by karma is a wealthy industrialist?

Well, those are guys that could learn some lessons. I'm a big fan of redemption. I like a character who is less of an asshole at the end of the film than he was at the beginning. It gives me hope. So "Man With a Screaming Brain" is a story of hope.

OK, so that just leaves us with the upcoming "Evil Dead" sequel and remake.

No, there's no announcement for the sequel, but there is indeed a remake. We'll probably get around to doing it at some point within the next few years. There's no part for me, you know.

Yeah, I know.

I'm going to be the old guy that works at the bait store. "Hey, you kids be careful! I've heard stories about that cabin."

Well, you're going to have to be involved in some way or people are going to go nuts.

Look, when we made the first "Evil Dead," no one cared or knew anything about anyone in the movie. We were five absolute nobodies. So there's no problem with putting out more movies, which doesn't mean that they're all going to be about Ash and his buddies. It just is going to be an "Evil Dead" story with a bunch of new nobodies. It doesn't matter. Or we'll just get Ashton Kutcher and cover him with blood.

Well, it's just amazing to think that, years ago, Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, who started out with the over-the-top horror classic "Dead Alive," are now ruling Hollywood.

Yeah, those guys busted out. They went crazy.

Which says something about genre films like "Evil Dead" and "Bubba Ho-Tep," which are perennially underrated even though they are some of the most lasting movies in existence.

Yeah, some of them are. But it just goes to show you that audiences aren't as dumb as Hollywood thinks they are. A movie like "Evil Dead" can be crude, but it still is a handcrafted film, and there's something about that that audiences really pick up on. Film truly is an opiate, so you have to make sure as an entertainer that you are feeding people the most potent and progressive opium. Sure, you're distracting them from their daily lives, but for what purpose and with what film? That's why I go for humor, because we really need it. This country is getting too serious. We need a return to irreverence. And I'm happy to carry the flag.

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