'Evil Dead Rise' Review: The Dead Has Never Been More Alive in Gnarly, New Evil Dead Installment
Evil Dead Rise
R: Strong bloody horror violence and gore, and some language
Runtime: 1 Hour and 37 Minutes
Production Companies: New Line Cinema, Renaissance Pictures, Pacific Renaissance, Wild Atlantic Pictures
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Lee Cronin
Writer: Lee Cronin
Cast: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher
Release Date: April 21, 2023
Exclusively in Theaters
During our time at SXSW, there was one movie I dreaded that Myan anticipated: Evil Dead Rise. Before the Paramount Theater world premiere, I’d never seen an Evil Dead movie. Don’t close that tab; I’ve seen the original since then! I was scared of Evil Dead since I saw the still image of possessed Jane Levy in the 2013 remake. We couldn’t leave Myan’s first SXSW until we saw some Deadites do their damn thing. So we did my first Evil Dead as our final flick from this year’s festival. Condolences to that loser who screamed, “THIS MOVIE SUCKS!” at the premiere and got roasted by Bruce Campbell. Couldn’t be me.
Set in an LA high rise, Beth (Lily Sullivan) visits her older sister Ellie (an incredibly horrifying Alyssa Sutherland) and her three kids: Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher). As the sisters reunite, the kids go on a pizza run. Upon reaching the parking garage, an earthquake hits the city, opening up a passageway where the Book of the Dead lies. Danny takes the Book of the Dead upstairs and unintentionally unleashes the Deadites into their home, possessing Ellie.
The Necronomicon traveled through hell and back for years, usually near a cabin in the woods. When that book opens, chaos and gory carnage ensue. While screening Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead for the first time, I sensed its pioneering campy energy that few horror filmmakers these days know how to replicate. Fede Álvarez stripped the camp out with his reboot and exchanged it for terrifying carnage. Evil Dead Rise’s writer/director Lee Cronin hearkens to Raimi’s campy tone, taking the familiar ingredients of the first installment’s story and wondering, “What if we took the Necronomicon and moved it somewhere else?” This idea shifts the setting from a remote cabin to an apartment complex. Going by an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” formula, Evil Dead Rise fucking rips with its new location and dynamic.
It’s fun to witness how Cronin covers Evil Dead’s familiar flesh within the confines of this new setting. All of the expected beats receive a fresh new coat, and it’s exciting to watch the effort and creativity he puts into making this film stand out while closely aligning with the franchise’s identity. The tree branches that get a hold of its first female victim are now electric elevator wires. The trap door is now the apartment’s front door, the Book of the Dead’s narration occurs via record player, and all the rascally Deadite violent antics involve kitchen appliances. The creativity behind making a relatable setting such as one’s very home—objectively a more familiar location than a cabin—into a Deadite’s paradise adds to Evil Dead Rise’s scare factor. It’s unsettling how Cronin makes everyday things like a FUCKING CHEESE GRATER into a makeshift weapon.
Cronin updates the setup with a fresh dynamic alongside its environment. This time, the demon vs. human battle is a family affair. Once the matriarch Ellie gets all wired up, you’re in for the ride to witness someone survive the night and pick up that chainsaw. Admittingly, nobody is watching an Evil Dead movie for the characters. Although nobody will ever be as badass as Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams, you genuinely root for each family member to make it through. The characters are likable, peculiar individuals. Beth is the cool aunt, Danny’s the dumb teen DJ, Bridget’s a rebellious spirit, and young Kassie is weirdly obsessed with decapitating her dolls. It may be a contemporary horror, but it’s not as forgiving as a Scream movie these days, for people get axed in the most fatal, celebloodtory manner. The gnarly blood and carnage worn on the sleeve from the cold open are worth the price of admission. Cronin’s direction makes the dead come alive through solid practical effects and makeup.
From the opening roller coaster tracking shot through forest terrain, Rise pays tribute to its roots. With Raimi-like shots, horror in a cabin, and iconography, you feel Cronin’s love for the franchise without feeling like fan service. Yes, some of the story’s attributes are more forced than others, but his passion for the series overrides them.
There’s one moment of fan service I wasn’t fond of: that damn chainsaw. I know chainsaws are significant to Evil Dead’s identity, but the novelty wears off. It went from being the most cathartic weapon of mass destruction for sealing the Deadites away to becoming the lone survivor’s golden crown. Evil Dead Rise does its damndest to give the most familiar beats of the franchise a new coat of paint to coincide with its new environment, but damn it, that chainsaw deserves an upgrade too.
Evil Dead Rise is a rip-roaring bloody great time at the movies. Transporting the franchise from the woods to a family home finds filmmaker Lee Cronin creating a modern installment with its own identity and loving tribute to its originator. With gallons of blood thrown at your face alongside all the graphic carnage, Evil Dead Rise invigorates new adrenaline into its live system.
