Dubstep fills the theater before writer and director Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise premiere at this year’s SXSW, hyping audiences for the experience. The excitement carries itself throughout the film’s sharp 97-minute runtime, and after my viewing, I can say with confidence: fans of the sick and twisted should prepare themselves for Evil Dead Rise. It mixes the same absurd humor from Sam Raimi’s 1980s Evil Dead films and the unrelenting brutality of Fede Álvarez’s 2013 remake. Ditching the cabin in the woods for a refreshing change of scenery in a Los Angeles high-rise was an excellent move by Cronin. The self-contained setting plays to the film’s visceral and grotesque Deadite mania. With its amazing performances and endearing themes about family, Cronin proves that the Evil Dead franchise returns to fans in good hands.
Touring music technician Beth (Lily Sullivan) urgently visits her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) for guidance after a positive pregnancy test result. Months have passed since they last spoke. What Beth doesn’t realize is that Ellie has been going through her own issues: her husband left, leaving Ellie to raise her three children, Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher) alone. The now broken family needs to urgently find a new home — their current apartment building is aged and crumbling.
After an earthquake an underground bank is revealed and it holds the “Book of the Dead.” Bound by human skin and razor-sharp animal teeth, the demonic book opens only after blood touches its cover. Vintage vinyl records warn too late of the entrapped supernatural entities eager to release chaos on Earth. It falls to Beth to protect her family, or everyone will be “dead by dawn.”
Evil Dead Rise is a slow suspenseful burn, and as the narrative gets more out of control, the pacing reflects that spiral. One pleasing set piece after another supports the moments of carnage, but Cronin also understands when to hold back to build tension. He pays tribute to iconic Evil Dead trademarks by recreating its most iconic shots, like Raimi’s shaky POV shots, dutch angles, split diopter shots, frantic cutaway shots, and lightning-fast close ups. There’s a clever inclusion of a fisheye lens through the peephole of a door that forces the audience to get uncomfortably close to Ellie’s possessed and grizzled face.
The film packs Evil Dead homages of beloved weaponry, hero shots, lines of dialogue, never-ending buckets of practical effects, blood, and unsettling body horror. One of Evil Dead Rise’s finest achievements is its high-rise apartment setting causing it to stand out amongst its predecessors. Cronin utilizes all aspects of the urban environment, which includes hallways, elevators, vents, and a parking garage to emphasize the carnage. In Ellie’s demonic possession scene, wires come alive, wrapping around her neck and limbs as a nod to tree branches in past series films. There’s an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia as the Deadites entrap the characters, who are ultimately unable to escape the confines of the building.
Cronin expertly balances the film’s atrocity and levity with one not diminishing the other. It possesses a dark slapstick that brings out laughs, and moments of playfully poking the audience with the great lengths it goes to for our enjoyment. Although the film’s tone is overtly grim, the weight of family themes and child endangerment brings added tension to its structure. The gore and kills are gnarly, with everyday household items creatively utilized as weapons (a cheese grater is certainly a standout). The creature designs are unique and visually shocking, supported by remarkable sound and foley work. Piercing shrieks, oozing, cracking, and crunching sounds aid the disgusting Deadite transformations that’ll make your body shiver. Evil Dead Rise is best viewed with a large crowd of horror fans. Its many engaging moments of both horror and comedy will ignite physical reactions including screams and cheers.
The entire cast is fantastic, but Sutherland and Sullivan are sensations. They fit perfectly into the Evil Dead universe, and instantly become some of the strongest characters in the franchise. Sutherland performs brilliantly as Mama Deadite as she punctures the comical and deranged perfectly. She is just as convincing as a soft and supportive figure as she is as the evil that eats her alive, cruelly terrorizing, insulting, and manipulating her family. Sullivan, as Beth, starts the film lost and vulnerable, before transitioning into a fierce and independent final girl who embraces her own sense of motherhood by doing everything she can to keep her loved ones safe. Beth and Ellie’s dynamic as sisters make their standoff more terrifying and emotional.
Evil Dead Rise successfully slays a new era of the Necronomicon with artistic pizzazz. Cronin levels up everything fans love about the franchise: the barbaric, the bloody, and the kooky. He never loses sight of what makes Evil Dead great, but he isn’t afraid to strike new ground. It’s a tale of humans versus hell and a bold and beautiful gorefest.
