Although beginning in 1981, The Evil Dead franchise has continued to find its way into modern horror commentary following the original trilogy, Fede Álvarez’s 2013 remake of the same name and the television show Ash vs Evil Dead released in 2015 on Starz. Ten years after the last film, Evil Dead Rise premiered at SXSW 2023 to be released a month later in theaters.
Lee Cronin has taken on this latest installment after his 2019 film The Hole in the Ground to give us a story of mother Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her three children Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher) as evil is unleashed in their house after Danny finds the Book of The Dead in an old bank vault under the parking lot of their apartment complex. Ellie’s sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) comes to visit to confide in Ellie about a secret she has been hiding when evil takes over Ellie’s body.
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Being a fan of the original film Evil Dead, the entries afterwards have been very straightforward to the franchise with little surprises or deviations from what is expected. Evil Dead Rise is no different. As a result, a majority of the film feels very lackluster as the audience is just waiting for the events to unfold as they do in every other entry. We have the discovery of the Book of the Dead, followed by a possession, the evil spreading to more characters, which then ends in a climax with the final girl. This movie uses this structure just as the franchise has for years, which was disappointing given the new direction by Lee Cronin following Sam Raimi’s vision from the original trilogy.
For a franchise that banks on its kills, gore, and blood, Evil Dead Rise was relatively tame in its execution, not being wildly gory enough or outrageous enough to hide its dull structure. Typically, this franchise creates surface level characters to focus on its effects and action-horror, which isn’t necessarily a problem if the majority of its horror sequences are exciting. Unfortunately, this entry did not live up to others in the franchise. As a result, the few moments in the film that expanded on the characters and the folklore of the Book of the Dead provided valuable elements for the audience.
As a result, a couple of differentiating aspects made Evil Dead Rise stand out. The film focuses on a family rather than a group of friends or acquaintances. This allows for the audience to connect with Ellie as a mother to her three children. As opposed to other Evil Dead films, knowing Ellie would become possessed made me sympathize with her, knowing the effect it would have on her children and her sister. This movie also allowed The Book of the Dead to play a stronger role in the film, allowing the story to follow the lore of the book through the images presented on screen. Seeing the “ancient” evil resurrected in a modern setting amongst a family made the film a little more intriguing.
If you’re a fan of the franchise as a whole, Evil Dead Rise will be another fun installment into the series. However, if you’re looking for any surprises, you’re unlikely to find any.
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