Bloody buckets and the Book of the Dead and chainsaws? Yes, it's an Evil Dead movie, of which there's no bad ones in the horror franchise. The same team that has been around since the beginning of the series with 1981's The Evil Dead, producer Rob Tapert and executive producers Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell (who was the original character Ash Williams), reunite for Evil Dead Rise.
The fifth film is directed by filmmaker Lee Cronin, who updates the cabin-in the-woods model to an apartment situated in Los Angeles branded a "condemned dump" which is soon to be destroyed.
It's there where single mum Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) lives with her three kids, teenaged Danny (Morgan Davies) and Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and her youngest daughter Kassie (Nell Fisher). Her is a distant sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) appears from nowhere one day . - and this is where the story gets complicated Her arrival is followed by an earthquake, which creates a massive hole in the parking garage. Danny goes down there and picks up some vinyl records and The Book of the Dead.
The building was once an old bank, however there's a lot of religious memorabilia in the rubble, including an enormous crosses that is the image of Jesus Christ. What's the connection between this and other things? We're not entirely sure - something to do with the safety deposit box. Do we care? Not really.
Danny unlocks The Book of the Dead and plays the music (listen out for an audio appearance by Campbell) that releases the demon Deadites who take over Ellie.
After this, the film is a constant bloodbath that offers a terrifying, heart-rending fun that makes you go, "This is what I came for!" It gives people who love previous Evil Dead films something newly claustrophobic with the action taking in the living room as well as the hallway and unstable lift. Yet, you don't need to be a fan of the previous films - this is watch-through-your-hands horror at its finest.
There are some fantastic little nuggets that reference the original films, such as the eyeball being chomped on or creepy nursery rhymes as well as using silver-colored duct tape for wrapping up wounds. There's also a massive nod to The Shining's "elevator of blood" sequence, and how can anyone not be enthralled by this?
While Evil Dead II is viewed as a comedy-horrorfilm, Evil Dead Rise is more of an all-out gorefest, although it does have its moments, such as when Ellie, the dispossessed Ellie tells her children that she's now "free from you titty-sucking parasites "...
Sutherland is a scene-stealing actor as Ellie, who only needed only a little prosthetic to highlight certain areas that accentuate her facial features. Her performance is absolutely amazing when she puts her children in danger and sister, wielding knives as well as a tattoo gun, and a cheese grater for one of her most visceral assaults.
In the finale, Ellie is terrifying enough by herself and does not need all of these "extras" she's provided in this episode. The less is more when it comes to terror. But it is when Beth, played with real depth and scrappy will to survive by Sullivan, revs that chainsaw, and says, "Come get some," her own version of Ash's "groovy", all can be forgiven.
After scrapping together the funds, the trio embarked on the creation of the fun, ingenious feature that would ultimately resulting in several sequels, a musical off Broadway as well as a niche but well-loved television series. For the serious horror fan The Evil Dead might not be considered to be particularly sophisticated or artistic, but fans of the body horror films would be fighting to defend it as damn good fun regardless.
I'm happy to announce that Evil Dead Rise upholds the tradition of the infamous classic, while also holding its own as a stand-alone feature.
Evil Dead Rise is refreshingly simple -- a family due to be evicted from their would-be-Airbnb-goldmine apartment in the shell of a dilapidated ex-bank become subjected to a night of sheer terror after the teenager Danny (Morgan Davies) discovers a mysterious vault that houses -- you guessed it -- the Necronomicon.
From a plot perspective, there's nothing overly imaginative or groundbreaking happening from a plot perspective, but trust us when we say that it doesn't matter. Because ultimately, Evil Dead Rise movie is a spectacular show with enough fun and gore to keep you on the edge of your seat, without the need for a narrative.
The white-knuckle atmosphere of Evil Dead Rise is created instantaneously when viewers are confronted with a whiplash-inducing first camera angle. It causes discomfort right off the start, and doesn't let up for the remainder of the movie's run. The opening sequence is perfectly unusual, and does not overstay its welcome. Actually, when the main bulk of the film actually starts to move, you'll forget what happened.