Five college students make their way to a cabin in the woods, and find an ancient book bound in flesh and a tape recorder reciting incantations from it. What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing, especially when it’s from Evil Dead: The Musical, playing September 16 through October 16 at The Garage Theatre in Long Beach, CA. I recently took a drive out to The Garage (which is described on Google Maps as “an intimate theater that does quirky shows”) to chat with director Matt Kollar and producer Matt Maguire about the upcoming show and what people have to look forward to.

As soon as I walked in, the Blazing Saddles soundtrack was playing, so I knew we were going to get along just fine.

Both Kollar and Maguire were incredibly friendly, and graciously shared their love of the movies, and the show, with me during our interview.

While this is first show at The Garage, both of them have been associated with them in the past, with Kollar doing some video work, and Maguire having many friends who performed there.

“This is their first horror musical they are doing, and it is sort of their flagship production for this year,” said Kollar, as something fell off a stand on the music station behind me.

“It’s also very haunted,” said Maguire, with a smile on his face.

The pair began working together just over a year ago, because Maguire’s girlfriend is in the same band as Kollar. They bonded over a horror television show that Kollar was developing, and became fast friends since then.

“This is the first musical theater show we are putting on. We usually do film, but we wanted to bring the cinema experience to the stage,” explained Kollar.

“There are some multimedia elements that you won’t usually see that we are bringing into the show, such as digital projection, and so on. We wanted to really embrace the small theater aspect of it, and really go for it,” Maguire said.

While neither of them has seen the musical in person before, they have seen the original production on video, and are massive fans of the original trilogy. Kollar told me that the films were the whole reason he wanted to get into the entertainment business to begin with.

“Sure, it’s a campy, fun musical, but we wanted to take some of the ‘evil deadness’ of the original films and put them back into the show,” Maguire said.

“We want to keep the horror serious, and make the scares actually happen,” Kollar said. “There is something naturally funny about Evil Dead 2, even when it is being serious, so we wanted to include those elements into the show.”

That translates over into the intimate size of the theater itself, lending to a more immersive experience over all.

“Really, the whole thing is an immersive splatter zone. If you’re sitting in the front row, you’re definitely going to get it. But because of the size of the theater, basically, either wear your best whites or some clothes you don’t mind getting bloody,” Kollar joked.

The set will also begin as soon as the audience walks in, with the woods taken over the front door, and having to walk over a bridge in order to get to their seats.

“Our lighting designer came up with the idea of making a space where no one wants to sit down on. Like ‘something isn’t right here, I don’t want to sit,’” said Kollar.

The two also teased a special guest, who will be walking around and ‘torturing’ the audience before the show even begins.

While it wasn’t finished when I visited last week, the set was coming along nicely, and looked fantastic. They even showed me a wonderfully hilarious puppet that was being made for the moose head, one of the highlights of the musical overall. I can’t wait to see it in action.

Maguire talked about the incredible team of designers and choreographers they have pulled together in order to make the show happen.

“The fight choreographer does the Pirate’s Dinner Theater in Buena Park, so we’re going to have a great ending demon fight,” Maguire said.

Both of them spoke to me about how, because it was Evil Dead, that they jumped at the chance to do it.

“Had it been Brigadoon 2, I would have been hesitant, but because it was Evil Dead, how could you say no to that?” said Maguire.

“I felt comfortable doing this, especially because the movies mean so much to me. When you get a chance to work in the Sam Raimi world, you take it. But I also wanted to try our own approach to it, our own take,” Kollar said.

We touched on the Evil Dead remake from a few years ago as well, which Kollar did enjoy.

“I get it now, though. With the name attached to it, fans expect a certain thing, because it’s a world that people love. There is an expectation and a pressure that is on you because it is Evil Dead, and I feel that now,” Kollar said.

But both agreed that Evil Dead 2 is their favorite.

“Movies were different after I saw that. It was a gateway drug for so many other horror films,” said Maguire.

Overall, I was very impressed with their take on the show, and I am very much looking forward to checking it out for myself later this month. A big thanks to Kollar and Maguire for taking the time out of their schedules to chat with me and give me a peek into the show.

The show runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm from September 16 through October 15.

Tickets are available now, and you can find them at www.thegaragetheatre.org