Evil Dead rise movie review 2023

When it comes to horror franchises, few can boast the consistent quality of the "Evil Dead" series. Over the course of more than four decades, there has yet to be a bad movie bearing its name. This is in large part thanks to series creator Sam Raimi, who has been picky about who he lets play with his groovy blood-soaked baby. In fact, there have only been five "Evil Dead" movies to date. But it's not just Raimi's oversight that has made the franchise a success. There's also something about the elemental simplicity of the series' premise that just works.

The latest addition to the series, "Evil Dead Rise," comes from Irish writer/director Lee Cronin, whose 2019 feature debut "The Hole in the Ground" also dealt with sinkholes and mommy issues. Cronin's style is grittier than Raimi's live-action cartoons and closer to that of remake director Fede Alvarez. But he shares with Raimi a diabolical imagination that lends itself well to horror.

One of the marketing points for "Evil Dead Rise" is a key scene involving a cheese grater, but the film is filled with creative and gruesome violence. There's eye trauma, hand trauma, vomit, bugs, broken glass, broken bones, decapitation, dismemberment, stab wounds, shotgun blasts, and sharp objects going straight through the soft palate and out the back of someone's head. The blood flows in such abundance that there are enough gallons to recreate the elevator scene from "The Shining" and soak two of the leads from head to toe in the last 20 minutes of the movie.

The film moves its location from a group of friends in a cabin in the woods to a family living in a run-down apartment building in downtown Los Angeles. Once single mom Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) is possessed by a Deadite early on in the film, what follows is made even more disturbing because Ellie is psychologically and physically torturing her own children. Her youngest, Kassie (Nell Fisher), is quite young, making the fates of her siblings, Danny (Morgan Davies) and Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), no less painful, even though they are teenagers. The film takes full advantage of its violence towards children, which, combined with the extreme gore, makes for a grueling experience that a good "Evil Dead" movie should provide.

However, the film's deviations from the classic "cabin in the woods" formula require more exposition and setup than usual. The first act also has to introduce Ellie's rocker sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) and an earthquake that opens up a hole in the floor of the parking garage, where Danny finds an old safety deposit box containing some mysterious records that unleash everything that follows. The building used to be a bank, which is one of several complicating details that "Evil Dead Rise" has to roll out before it can get to the good stuff. But once the film gets going, it doesn't let up. "Evil Dead Rise" is a loud, giddy, packed-house-at-midnight type of movie, and its premiere at SXSW was accompanied by hollering, cheering, and genuine screams of fright from the audience. Cronin uses both jump scares and "look behind you!"-type of gags to punctuate this pummeling bloodbath, and one scene in particular in the film's middle section seems bound to inspire a lot of yelling at the screen in multiplexes around the world.

The film does have its weak points. A pregnancy subplot feels like it was written by a man (which it was), and the cold open is so random that evil.

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The Evil Dead franchise has achieved an impressive feat by never producing a bad movie with its name. Much of this success is credited to the series' creator, Sam Raimi, who is very selective about who he allows to work on his beloved blood-soaked baby. This has resulted in only five Evil Dead movies being made over the course of 40-plus years. However, it's also the simplicity of its premise that makes Evil Dead work so well.

The latest addition to the series, Evil Dead Rise, is directed and written by Lee Cronin, who previously directed the 2019 feature film The Hole in the Ground. Cronin's gritty style is more similar to that of remake director Fede Alvarez than Raimi's live-action cartoons. Nonetheless, he shares one crucial trait with Raimi, and that's a wicked imagination.

The film takes place in a run-down apartment building in downtown Los Angeles, where single mom Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her three children reside. The story follows Ellie's possession by a Deadite, which results in her psychologically and physically torturing her own children. The film's deviations from the classic "cabin in the woods" formula require more time and exposition to be set up, but once the action kicks in, it doesn't let up. The extreme gore and violence towards kids make Evil Dead Rise a grueling experience, just like a good Evil Dead movie should be.

The film's marketing focuses on a scene featuring a cheese grater, but there's much more creative carnage to be found throughout the movie. From eye trauma to shotgun blasts and dismemberment, Evil Dead Rise has it all, including thousands of gallons of blood, enough to recreate the iconic elevator scene from The Shining.

While not everything in the movie works, it does accomplish a lot with its relatively unknown cast and unseasoned director, particularly in terms of physical performances and gnarly gore. Once the film gets out of its own way and delivers the action-packed horror that audiences came to see, Evil Dead Rise is an absolute blast.

The film is rated R for strong bloody horror violence, some language, and gore. It falls under the horror, mystery & thriller, and fantasy genres and has a runtime of 1 hour and 37 minutes. Evil Dead Rise is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and produced by Wild Atlantic Pictures and Pacific Renaissance. The sound mix features Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos, and the aspect ratio is digital 2.39:1. Fans of the Evil Dead franchise won't want to miss this latest installment, now playing in theaters.