Having appeared in numerous horror and related genre features as an actor, Ted Raimi has stepped behind the camera for MORBID MINUTES, an on-line anthology series inspired by past TV classics like NIGHT GALLERY and ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. He discusses those, and upcoming movie work (plus a few words on the EVIL DEAD remake), with Fango below the jump.

Speaking to us at last weekend’s Monster Mania convention in New Jersey, Raimi recalls the origins of MORBID MINUTES, which can be seen at Break.com: “I had pitched some shows to 20th Century Fox, and at the time they weren’t really right for them,” he says. “But they recommended me to Break and I gave them some of my pitches, and I guess they must’ve liked them, because here I am now creating web content for them.”

A few of the MORBID MINUTES are already on-line, and Raimi adds, “In the end, there’ll probably be about 10 or 11 episodes. They’re bite-sized for the Internet, but they’ll also be in 3D at some point in the near future. We’re using Panasonic’s new system, and it’s fantastic; it’s highly portable, very fast to set up. It has a few caveats, but mostly we’re getting beautiful hi-def 3D images. It’ll require glasses, but you’ll have the option where you can use the traditional blue and red—you know, the old-fashioned 1950s ones, or you can use the fancy anaglyph glasses, the kind you get at movie theaters these days. They’ll both work. So, just find yourself a pair of 3D glasses—or if you’re very cheap, you can just go to a hobby shop and get red and blue vinyl pieces and tape them to your face. But I do recommend the glasses.”

MORBID MINUTES is a co-production of Break.com and Raimi’s new Spooky Voodoo Pictures company. “I was the director on all the episodes; I wrote the show and created it with my producer Johnny Wickham, and the whole thing’s been headed by Danila Koverman, who’s an excellent producer because she more or less lets me do what I want. So I’m very lucky over there. It’s a really loose, great atmosphere.” There’s no host for this horror omnibus, and Raimi adds, “I thought about doing that, and the next show I do, I do want to host it.”

One place he’ll definitely be appearing is in his brother Sam Raimi’s big-ticket fantasy prequel OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, as part of a cast that includes BLACK SWAN’s Mila Kunis, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES’ James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Abigail Spencer, Michelle Williams and, of course, Bruce Campbell. “I will likely play three parts,” Raimi reveals, “though I cannot tell you what they are or in what context, because if I did, goons wearing Mickey Mouse costumes would come in the middle of the night and take me and beat me with Goofy sticks.”

What he can say is that he’s excited that this huge production will be shooting in his and Sam’s old backyard: “Sam came back to Detroit and attached a money hose from Burbank, and is dumping it all in Michigan. It’s fantastic. It’s employing probably half a grand of people in Detroit, and it’s just great to see that the Motor City’s getting some business like that. As a Detroiter, that’s especially gratifying; it means a lot to me.”

He also can’t say for sure right now whether he’ll be involved in the impending EVIL DEAD redux: “I don’t even know if [Diablo Cody has] finished the script yet. I can say this: I think the new EVIL DEAD is going to be fantastic. I believe Rob Tapert is producing it again, and I’m fairly certain it will be shot in New Zealand. Rob is very fond of that country [where his HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS TV shows were based] and shooting there, and I’m guessing some American actors will probably go over there for it, but other than that, I don’t know anything about it.”

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