Movie Review: Evil Dead Rise
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
The Evil Dead series might be the greatest argument against literacy the movies have ever produced. Each film drops its protagonists into a series of bloody horrors that could have easily been avoided had they just never opened a book. The latest entry, Evil Dead Rise, adds vinyl to the list of cursed physical media, but switches out the franchise’s remote cabin in the woods for a high-rise apartment building. The changes mesh well with the franchise’s simple formula, reinvigorating a series that has lasted much longer than Michiganders Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell probably expected 40 years ago.
Raimi and Campbell serve as executive producers for Evil Dead Rise, similar to their roles with Fede Alvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead remake. But where Alvarez’s film seemed intent on proving that it could be the most deadly serious horror movie ever, in its best moments, Evil Dead Rise captures the mix of bloody terror and manic mayhem the fueled the original films, mixing in a few new tricks that deliver gasps, screams and laughs in equal measure.
Campbell’s Ash is nowhere to be found in this entry, which heads to California and focuses on Beth (Lily Sullivan), a guitar technician who heads to hang out in her sister Ellie’s (Alyssa Sutherland) apartment with her three kids when she discovers she’s pregnant. The derelict building used to sit on the site of an old bank, the vault of which opens up in the parking garage after an earthquake. Ellie’s son, Danny (Morgan Davies), goes exploring and comes back bearing some old vinyl records and a book bound in human flesh. A recording of a priest reading from the book quickly unleashes a malevolent spirit, which has Ellie in its targets – and once possessed, she wreaks bloody havoc on the family and the apartment complex’s residents.
The Evil Dead, at 42 years old, is limited by its homemade special effects and low budget, but Raimi’s grossout fest still has a sinister allure that stems both from its low-rent aesthetic and the director’s energetic direction. Evil Dead 2 added a streak of black humor and slapstick violence, making it one of the most memorable horror movies of the 1980s.
Anyone who thought moving the franchise to a big studio would dilute its gory edge was proven wrong with the buckets of blood Alvarez’s remake brought with it, but that film lacked the sadistic glee that fueled Raimi’s films. Here, director Lee Cronin remembers to make the scares fun, albeit without the slapstick of Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. There’s no slow burn here; once Ellie’s been possessed (in an elevator attack that echoes the original’s infamous tree sequence), she goes full-on demented, mocking the remaining family, screaming at inhuman decibels and jumping from the floor to the ceiling in a single bound.
Moving the franchise from an isolated cabin to a slightly more populated high rise gives Cronin room to let this film’s Deadites run rampant, and he does the franchise proud with the buckets of blood and other bodily fluids sprayed around. Glass is swallowed, eyeballs are eaten and spit out, limbs are removed, and there’s very unsanitary use of a cheesegrater. But unlike Alvarez’s remake, which seemed to focus on traumatizing audiences, the terror in Evil Dead Rises moves with energy and visual wit, releasing the tension with bleak laughs.
Sutherland is a fantastic addition to the series. Early on, she’s a strong but loving mother, engendering trust in her kids and giving her sister tough but necessary love. One of the highlights of the Evil Dead franchise is how the Deadites not only derive joy from inflicting physical pain but also from the mental terror they dish out. Sutherland has glee spitting out lines like “mommy’s with the maggots now” and has a sinister smile she flicks on and off. Sullivan is also strong as the capable lead, taking less punishment than Campbell did, but still being put through the wringer – and then being given her own chance to shine with a chainsaw.
Lily Sullivan in “Evil Dead Rise.”
By situating the action not on a group of horny teens but a tight-knit, if fractured, family unit, Evil Dead Rise retains the shocking, transgressive feel of the original. The youngest family members aren’t off limits; Gabrielle Echos’ Bridgette gets tossed into the mix early and acquits herself well in some of the film’s more gruesome moments (including one involving what I’m fairly certain is improper use of a wine glass). Even young tyke Kassie (Nell Fisher) doesn’t escape the mayhem without being doused in blood; there’s a palpable sense of danger that we usually don’t see in studio horror, and Cronin has fun upending expectations throughout.
The film is fast, clocking in just over 90 minutes, with several energetic, scary and highly gross sequences, culminating in the reveal of one of the series’s most quease-inducing creatures in its final act. As is par for the course in this franchise, the characters aren’t the most deeply sketched, but the sister relationship and parental fears give a shading that the previous films mostly lacked.
It’s only when Evil Dead Rise pays overt homage to the previous films that it hits false notes. There are a few too many repetitions of “dead by dawn!” or “come get some” that serve no purpose other than for Easter eggs. And a framing device set at a remote cabin has no bearing on the story and lacks the same sense of sadistic joy; it works neither as context, mood, or even setup for a sequel.
But when it comes to life, Evil Dead Rise roars like a freshly oiled chainsaw, proving that rotten old book still has some tricks we haven’t seen.
