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Uruguayan Film Director Fede Alvarez and Spanish Film Composer Roque Baños greeted fans at a signing event held in Dark Delicacies, a specialized horror bookstore in Burbank, California. Theresa Tilly and Betsy Baker from the original Sam Raimi film were also present, mixing both Evil Dead worlds.

After singing dozens of posters, cd’s and memorabilia -and shaking even more hands- Fede was nice enough to talk to us for a “post-resuscitation” interview, where the young talent reflected on his first Hollywood experience, clarified some rumors, addressed some criticism and confessed being starstruck when meeting a Rock legend.

Evil Dead was the number one movie in America. How was it that weekend?

It was incredible! Nobody expected the movie to do so well. It is so violent and bloody that you think it won’t attract the masses. The amount of people that went to see it and finishing at the top of the box office was unbelievable. I never saw that coming.

I guess that Sam Raimi was happy

Without a doubt. I think they saw clearer than me the potential of the movie in that respect. I made the movie with a small amount of people in mind. This is one of those weird things you don’t expect.

What is the moment you will never forget of this experience?

There is one in particular, the day it was released. It shows the power of a Hollywood movie. I was in the theater and somebody came to me saying “Slash is here and wants to meet you”. So Slash from Guns n’ Roses greeted me and told me he loved the movie and that he was a fan. It was the strangest thing, the God of Rock and Roll telling me he was a fan. You realize that there are people you admire a lot that will see your movie. Surreal.

You said you didn’t want to do two horror movies in a row but the sequel was announced…

We will write it but I am not attached to direct. I love the story and I want to define where Mia’s story goes in the second one. But it doesn’t mean I will be the director.

Some people say the movie “isn’t scary”. I believe they define “scary” as the mechanics in Paranormal Activities, the surprising “jump” . But this one goes to the roots of Horror, like The Exorcist…

Fear is very subjective. Some people are scared about some things while others not and vice versa. There are some that enjoy the movie without suffering the tension of horror, and there are people that have a bad time from beginning to end.

I also believe that as an adult it is very difficult to be genuinely terrified by a movie. Many older critics say “it isn’t scary”. Well, when was the last time they were scared by a movie? What you can do is give them an adventure that has moments of suspense and tension. I think that everybody agrees that the movie is very tense.

There was a rumor regarding you guys going to Marvel Studios, doing Dr. Strange…

That was a rumor that started in the Internet. All that Dr. Strange stuff isn’t true.

Your success is already inspiring young people in Uruguay. Is that gratifying?

Of course, the best thing you can do is to inspire the younger generations, not just in Uruguay but in the entire Latin America. To believe that there are opportunities and if you dedicate yourself to do something you love, you can work where you want.

– Here is the video interview in Spanish and some pictures of the “Evil day”.