Evil Dead Rise
For horror aficionados, franchises don’t get much more beloved than THE EVIL DEAD.
Sam Raimi’s low-budget classic not only introduced the world to the indelible Ash Williams (as played by the magnificent Bruce Campbell) but also shocked audiences with blood-thirsty deadites, gallons of goo, and arguably the most abusive tree in the history of cinema. His follow-up, EVIL DEAD 2, was essentially a comedic take on the first film, and the third installment, ARMY OF DARKNESS was a time-traveling camp-fest, relying on humor much more than horror, but still providing the trademark gratuity that fans had grown to love. Decades later, Ash returned in the tragically short-lived series ASH VS. THE EVIL DEAD, and the franchise continued with the modern reboot entitled EVIL DEAD.
Neither reboot nor direct sequel, the latest chapter, EVIL DEAD RISE is another memorable and delightfully disgusting entry in the slasher saga.
When sound engineer Beth (Lily Sullivan) discovers she is pregnant, she goes to visit her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) at her apartment in California. Ellie has three children of her own, Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher) who love their aunt and are excited by the unexpected visit. While the sisters stay home to chat, the kids head out to pick up some pizzas. After arriving back home, an earthquake hits, damaging the garage and wasting the pizzas.
While Ellie is worried about the fate of her children, the kids, who for now are safe and sound, explore a little. Amidst the rubble, Danny finds an old bank vault that had been previously hidden. In his search, he discovers a few creepy records (he’s a DJ, so this is quite the find) and a leatherbound book. EVIL DEAD fans obviously know where this is going, but unfortunately the unsuspecting teen does not.
After listening to the disturbing recordings and discovering that a drop of blood unlocks the barbaric book, Danny instantly begins to question his life choices. Unwittingly, he has unleashed a horror upon his family that is so profound that none of them may live to see the end of it.
EVIL DEAD RISE doesn’t just rework the same old formula. It employs quite a few different tactics; the most interesting of which is to have Ellie infected early on, and have her become the main deadite in the production. Sutherland’s performance is fantastic. Delightfully over the top and disgusting, she employs the same type of body-bending turn that made Jennifer Carpenter so effective in THE EXOCISM OF EMILY ROSE. Tossing out one-liners that keep in the spirit of Raimi’s last two EVIL DEAD flicks, she provides laughs and disgust in equal measure.
Like all EVIL DEAD movies, this one has a number of moments in which you don’t know whether to laugh, gag, or cover your eyes. The amount of bodily fluids flowing throughout the film must have set some kind of record, and there is a moment with a cheese grater that should effectively haunt your nightmares for weeks to come. By the time we get to the franchise’s beloved chainsaw, it’s hard to imagine how much more gratuitous things could get. The answer, of course, was “plenty.”
It’s hard to believe that anyone who willfully chooses to watch EVIL DEAD RISE will be disappointed. It contains all of the elements that has made the series so fun (and foul) to watch over the past four decades, and interjects some originality along the way. If you’re looking for a gross-out good time, you certainly could do worse.
EVIL DEAD RISE: B
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