Forty-two years ago, a group of college students gathered in the woods of Tennessee to make their first feature-length film together. Who would have thought, all these years later, that The Evil Dead (1981), would spawn a franchise that lasted decades and included: five feature-length films, a television series, videogames, comics, and countless action figures and merchandise?
It also MADE the careers of all those involved, namely director Sam Raimi, star Bruce Campbell, and producer Rob Tapert. These three lifelong friends have gone on to have successful careers. All owed to a cabin in the woods and mounting a camera to a long plank of wood (the Ram-o-Cam), and blood, lots and lots of blood.
Now, in 2023, the Deadites have risen again in Lee Cronin’s soft-reboot, Evil Dead Rise, the fifth film in this now iconic horror franchise. Cronin’s film is also the most commercially successful, grossing over $130 million dollars domestically since its theatrical release on April 21, 2023. While Campbell and Raimi’s names appear in the film’s opening credits, it’s strictly as executive producers only.
Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) portrays a possessed mom who stalks her children in “Evil Dead Rise.” Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
The sixty-four-year-old Campbell has officially “retired” from playing the now legendary role of Ashley “Ash” Williams, legendary buffoon, a sales clerk at S-Mart, and slayer of Deadites. The franchise, however, seems to be in good hands, as Cronin stated he used over fifteen hundred gallons of glorious fake blood while filming Evil Dead Rise. He’s certainly off to a good start.
Synopsis
In Evil Dead Rise, Beth (Lily Sullivan), a guitar technician who never gets off the road, discovers during a pit stop that she’s pregnant. As a result, she reunites with her estranged sister, Elie (Alyssa Sutherland) for moral and emotional support. Elie, however, is a single mother, trying to raise three kids on her own. She’s barely keeping her head above water.
Elie and her three kids, Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher), are holed up in a squalid tenement apartment building that is condemned and soon to be vacated. This being an Evil Dead film, one of the kids discovers the infamous Necronomicon (The Book of the Dead) after an earthquake reveals a secret vault in the building’s basement (the building used to be a bank).
Lily Sullivan is covered in blood and wielding her Boomstick in a scene from “Evil Dead Rise.” Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Danny also discovers some very old pieces of vinyl which just happen to conveniently contain the demon resurrection passages. All Evil Dead fans have been down this road before, and we KNOW what’s going to happen. With the flesh-covered book being discovered and the passages being read aloud, it seems as if the Deadites are set to reemerge. Only, this time it’s not in a cabin in the woods, it’s in downtown Los Angeles.
Unlike previous films in the Evil Dead franchise, we are not dealing with an ‘army’ of Deadites. In this latest version of hell on Earth, the main baddie is Ellie, who quickly becomes possessed and starts going after her kids, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Ellie’s sister Beth soon becomes both protectors of her nieces and nephew, as well as the main protagonist in the film.
While this isn’t on the level of an A24 emotional rollercoaster, we do care a bit more because these are kids, not horny twenty-somethings. They’re family. This has always been something lacking in the Evil Dead franchise. Still, this film is about blood, scares, and gore, of which there is plenty. Plus, there’s that scene involving the cheese grater.
Analysis
There has never really been a BAD Evil Dead film, just varying degrees of insanity. Much of this is an ode to Sam Raimi’s meticulous nature and his unending desire not to tarnish the franchise he started over forty years ago. The Evil Dead was low-budget and gory, Evil Dead II (1987) ramped up the slapstick, laughs, and blood. Army of Darkness (1992) was a sword and sandal horror epic mixed with Harryhausen-like stop-motion effects. Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead (2013) rebooted the franchise and went back to basics.
If you had to pick a category, Evil Dead Rise would likely be much in the same vein as Raimi’s first film and Álvarez’s remake, with a sprinkling of the madcap insanity of Evil Dead II. Whatever the ratio is, it works and it’s effective. It also delivers the scares.
The killings in Evil Dead Rise are creative, brutal, and gnarly. Plus, the X-factor of involving children and family members is an added gut punch. While Cronin’s film is dark, bleak, and depressing, there are moments of comedy that harken back to the Evil Dead II days. Whether it’s a flying eyeball, the inevitable chainsaw, or a shotgun, Cronin respects and is paying homage to the source material. There’s also a nice shout-out to The Shining (1980).
Nell Fisher in a scene from “Evil Dead Rise.” Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
If there’s any drawback to the film, it’s the exposition-filled first act. In the old days, this would be delivered in five minutes. Here, it takes almost a half hour. The Evil Dead franchise invented the Cabin in the Woods sub-genre of horror. However, Cronin smartly shies away from this. There is, however, a nod to this trope at the beginning of the film, and it’s really the only other flaw, as it feels tacked on.
Australian actors Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland both deliver memorable and commanding performances and fit right into this legendary franchise. Sutherland, specifically, has a face that was born to be possessed by the Deadites. Her facial expressions and mannerisms are simultaneously hilarious and frightening. It’s an incredible physical performance, right up there with Toni Collette in Hereditary (2018) as one of the best horror performances of the last decade.
Sullivan’s portrayal of Beth is right in line with Bruce Campbell’s ‘Ash’ as she starts off as a total screw-up and is forced to confront her fears and become the protector and champion of her nieces and nephew as she battles her possessed sister.
Director Lee Cronin should be commended, not only for his direction but in his writing of an inventive and fresh screenplay. Having one of the three versions of the Necronomicon turn up in a Los Angeles bank vault is simply something that never would have been considered until Cronin took over the reins of this franchise. His commitment to pouring on the gore and having the balls to place small children in peril is also noteworthy.
Alyssa Sutherland delivers an astonishing performance in “Evil Dead Rise.” Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Evil Dead Rise is also visually stunning and the use of practical effects is a joy to watch. While breaking the mold and throwing out the customary Evil Dead blueprint for scares, Cronin also manages to throw in all sorts of shout-outs to the previous films that will have fans leaving the theaters with wide creepy smiles on their faces.
Conclusion
Evil Dead Rise is a worthy entry into the canon that Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Rob Tapert created forty-two years ago. Writer/director Lee Cronin also nails what it means to be a flawed and imperfect hero. From Bruce Campbell’s buffoon-like loser/hero to Jane Levy’s tortured, flawed and addicted Mia, and now to Lily Sullivan’s portrayal of Beth, the Evil Dead films have always had a hero that we could root for. The tradition continues with Evil Dead Rise and Sullivan’s bad-ass performance.
After ten long years, Evil Dead Rise re-energizes this legendary franchise and takes it into places fans never thought it would go. Soaking up the screen with blood, guts, and laughs, it also took in a haul at the box office, so far grossing over $130 million on a $20 million budget. I think it’s safe to say that the battle with the Deadites is far from over.
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