Evil Dead Rise – written and directed by Lee Cronin; is the latest horror movie in the iconic franchise, based on characters by Sam Raimi.
It’s a very entertaining and bloody horror movie to watch; with definitely plenty of gore, and awesome jaw-clenching scenes. Especially, as it gets more intense and terrifying as the film progresses. What a build up!
A new book is uncovered called The Book of the Dead, and it begins to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting family, with flesh-eating demons known as Deadites targetting them.
Exposition in the film’s plot was set up really well, with enough information to inform audiences about who these demons and protagonists are.
There are so many strong performances from the cast, especially Alyssa Sutherland (Ellie), who delivered on being a terrifying posessed character.
Sutherland heavily focuses on having a haunted and twisted expression, purely psychotic in nature and the actor doesn’t hold back.
Lily Sullivan, who plays Beth, also has an impressive standout performance in this film, with some badass scenes.
Supporting actor, Nell Fisher was brilliant in her role as Kassie. Fisher has quite a few shocking parts to act out alongside Morgan Davies, who plays a family member called Jake and Gabrielle Echols as Bridget, who are great additions to the cast.
Apart from the beginning of the film located elsewhere, that throws audiences right into it, with some form of ‘cold-open’.
The majority of the film is mostly limited to being in one building. It’s a very contained story and this also emphasizes isolation and fear, that the characters are struggling with.
Visuals
The practical effects/ makeup are amazing in this movie and it’s in crucial in showing how messed up the appearances of these posessed characters can be.
Monster designs looked absolutely wild, from the marauders played by Edward Clendon and Laura Saxon Jones, to that creepy disguting thing at the end. It’s very graphic!
Plenty of convincingly horrific moments with props such as glass, a cheese grater and some other items, that the camera does not shy away from.
The Book of the Dead has so many beautifully created Macabre artworks in it and the teeth on the end is a cool addition. It does look a little bit like that Monster book from Harry Potter, that tries to eat things, just with no fur on it.
The peephole scenes in the door were intense, as well as some scenes that I think were filmed using a SnorriCam; that creates a skewed and disorienting point-of-view, in order to show a character was having a fear-inducing adrenaline rush. It’s an excellent use for this camera work!
It was a well-lit movie, even in darker scenes, happy that I was able to see what was happening. Had quite a problem in the past with films that are too dark to see anything hardly.
Sound
Sound plays an important part in this, and in some scenes it feels reminiscent to the 1980’s film called Trick or Treat, that presents a demonic sound to progress the film further. The creature and jumpscares sounds were also highly impactful as well as sinister music compositions by Stephen McKeon.
Final thoughts
It’s everything that I have wanted out of a movie in this genre and Lee Cronin did such a great job!
It doesn’t seem necessary to watch any of the previous Evil Dead movies, to be able to see this one, it works well on it’s own.
There’s also never really a dull moment and I was disgusted during most of the gory scenes that happened. It’s definitely a recommended watch, although not for people that get squeamish! Hopefully, there will be another from this director.
Check out the red band trailer for Evil Dead Rise here:
If you want more horror movies to watch, check out our article: 22 Best Horror Films from the 1980s.
