Evil Dead Rise
Warner Bros. PicturesGetting this out of the way first: The Evil Dead franchise has been massively overhyped. Aside from the incredibly creative and bonked-out Evil Dead 2, every other Evil Dead film is either too silly or completely unmemorable. This will get some heat, but it is what it is. Army of Darkness, for example, was far too goofy for its own good. It was enjoyable, sure, but it suffers from an incredibly lean plot, poorly developed characters, and an over-reliance on physical comedy, unlike Evil Dead 2, which effectively blends cartoonish comedy with impeccably-crafted gore and surprises at every corner.
Unlike Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, Evil Dead Rise is much darker than these films. It’s also better than the 2013 Evil Dead remake, which has impressive gore that sometimes becomes numbing, verging on torture porn. Evil Dead Rise also has tons of gore but isn’t worried about excess. Instead, it crafts detailed sequences where blood, vomit (and blood vomit, of course), and bodily dismemberment go front and center. Moving from a “cabin in the woods” setting to a Los Angeles apartment building allows director Lee Cronin to create an ultra-claustrophobic film. In that apartment, a family has to pit themselves against Elaine Baker (Alyssa Sutherland), who has been possessed by the Book of the Dead, after her son, Danny (Morgan Davies), finds it and plays a record where a priest recites its incantations in what is arguably a contender for the dumbest protagonist of 2023.
It does take a bit to get going, and the “family is forever” plot is inherently clichéd. There’s also the fact that none of this would’ve happened if Danny had left the hole in the ground alone. However, he insists on checking it out and decides to take the records, it makes sense, as he is an aspiring DJ, and the book, that part does not make a shred of sense. Why take a book with large fangs on it? The cataclysm of events that followed could’ve all been prevented.
Regardless of that, once the main event kicks in, buckle up. The next hour or so of Evil Dead Rise is a pure gorefest, with many elaborately staged sequences featuring one hundred different types of gore. To talk about any of these would spoil the fun of discovering Evil Dead Rise in a cinema and seeing it in a crowd full of squeamish viewers, but it’s the real deal. Many trailers and TV spots have shown the “cheese grater” scene, which is pretty difficult to watch, but that’s not even the most gross-out part of the film. One scene involving glass is hands-down the grossest thing to have been put in a film since Peter Jackson’s Braindead, arguably one of the most disgusting movies ever made. Easily squeamish audiences will have difficulty stomaching Evil Dead Rise, which always cranks up the gore instead of subduing it. Its blood-soaked finale is a testament of just how bloody the film will get and how it doesn’t care if audiences can get through it without wanting to throw up. Be warned.
Amidst all that seriousness, Cronin inserts some comedy in the middle of an action beat, which slightly alleviates the tone but never transforms the film into an inherently goofy cartoon-like Army of Darkness. It’s funny enough to lighten the mood until the film comes back swinging with another extremely loud jump-scare or a nausea-inducing scene. It does get exhausting after a while, the sound design is well-done but very loud, but it’s still far better than most Evil Dead movies.
During the film’s press tour, executive producer Bruce Campbell discussed the possibility of having one Evil Dead film every two to four years instead of ten. If they are like Evil Dead Rise or, better yet, Evil Dead 2, then that will not be a problem. If they start to grow stale, like The Evil Dead and its’ 2013 remake or the cartoonish Army of Darkness, they won’t be worth watching. Time will tell how the franchise evolves. However, Evil Dead Rise is a step in the right direction for a franchise that will hopefully further reinvent horror as Sam Raimi did when he made Evil Dead 2.