The chainsaw and shotgun (particularly Ash’s “Boomstick”) are iconic weapons in the Evil Dead franchise. As we’ve seen in the Evil Dead Rise marketing material, both make an appearance in the new film, but there’s also a brand new weapon in the mix, and it’s bound to become a fan favorite. Meet Staffanie.

Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise relocates the franchise from the traditional cabin in the woods setting to a Los Angeles apartment building. That’s where Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) lives with her three kids, Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher). While their aunt Beth (Lily Sullivan) is in town for a visit, a Necronomicon surfaces and funnels its evil straight into Ellie. As the only adult left standing, Beth takes charge, but the kids do what they can to fend off their deadite mother, even little Kassie. Her weapon of choice? A homemade creation she calls Staffanie, a combination of a doll and a very sharp staff.
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Image via Warner Bros.

While in Austin for the film’s SXSW premiere, Cronin took the time to do an extended interview with Collider and highlighted Staffanie during the non-spoiler half of our conversation. While explaining how he struck such an impeccable balance between sheer terror and quintessential Evil Dead humor, he used Staffanie as an example:

“I think the already infamous Staffanie moment is probably a good one to look at because what happens is so outlandish, and I think where the audience gets the fun out of that moment is they were in on the trick at the beginning. They were aware of the development of this thing, they saw this, let’s call it, weapon getting made, and then when it returns, it comes out of nowhere. But it’s also planted through character in just a couple of scenes before where there’s a callback to how this thing might offer protection, and then it does offer protection in a very, very brutal way.”

Ready to fall even harder for this twisted yet wholesome weapon? Here’s how the idea for Staffanie first came to mind for Cronin:

“It was in my head before I even wrote Evil Dead Rise. My little niece, Georgia, who lives in Ireland, my sister’s kid, loves horror movies. She’s like me when I was her age in terms of the family. She loves horror. Now she’s 14, but she was probably about nine, and I called into my sister’s one day — she’d love that I’m telling this story — and she was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to show you something.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ And she’s like, ‘Meet Staffanie.’ So I was like Beth in that moment, except it never ended up with the pointed end. But she has the OG Staffanie at home, which she’s gonna bring to the premiere in Dublin. So she was the creator of Staffanie and I have to give her props for that. What I then did with it was turn it into something incredibly violent.”

Looking for even more on Evil Dead Rise? Be sure to catch the full non-spoiler half of my interview with Cronin at the top of this article! Also, stay tuned. We’ll have the spoiler half of the conversation for you as soon as the film hits theaters nationwide on April 21st.