Evil Dead Rise Review
Theatrical Movie Review
In 1981, writer and director Sam Raimi made a name for himself with the low budget, independent film, “The Evil Dead.” It launched both Raimi and star Bruce Campbell into stardom and spawned an entire franchise of films in the Evil Dead universe, with the original still being a cult horror classic. This year, writer and director Lee Cronin has created the newest entry into the Evil Dead franchise with his film, “Evil Dead Rise,” opening in theaters this week.
Beth (Lily Sullivan) has found herself in trouble again, this time out on the road as a guitar tech for a band. To try to get some perspective on her situation, she decides to go visit her sister, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), along with her nieces Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher), and her nephew Danny (Morgan Davies). While she is there, an earthquake hits, opening up an underground vault where Danny, a wannabe DJ, finds a strange looking book and a number of old records. When he opens the book and plays the record, he unleashes an unholy terror on his family, one that won’t stop until they are all dead.
Like its predecessors, “Evil Dead Rise” is not here to make big statements. It exists to be shocking and gory and scary. It feels like one of the ultimate “yell at the screen” kind of movies, because of course you shouldn’t open a book with a cover made of human flesh and written in blood and kept closed with a terrifying set of interlocking teeth. Most of the time, you’re just waiting to see what kind of horrifying death each character is going to experience as the demons make their way from one corpse to the next.
The movie doesn’t really give you much of a break. It starts with a great scene in the classic cabin in the woods scenario before moving to the main story back in the city. But while there is almost non-stop horror throughout the film, it chooses not to rely on jump scares. Certainly they exist in the movie, but for the most part, the cringe you experience as an audience member is related to what is happening on screen more than a sudden jump accompanied by an orchestra hit.
The performances are fun. Sutherland as Ellie, the mom who is the first to be possessed, delivers an especially great blend of horror with some humor mixed in. The kids all do a great job and work well together. The body horror that is common in these movies is on full display and I couldn’t really tell when it was a visual effect and when it was the actor, so it was all seamless.
One of the tests of the effectiveness of a horror movie for me is if I still feel unsettled when I head out to the parking lot after the movie. Since every gust of wind after our showing had me twitching at least a little bit as we walked to our car, I would say that “Evil Dead Rise” made the cut.
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on April 23, 2023.