Main cast: Lily Sullivan (Beth), Alyssa Sutherland (Ellie), Morgan Davies (Danny), Gabrielle Echols (Bridget), and Nell Fisher (Kassie)
Director: Lee Cronin
When people talk about the Evil Dead franchise these days, they seem to forget that only the original film can be qualified as full blown horror. The sequel and subsequent Ash Williams stuff are more fantasy comedy with elements of horror. Considering how the bulk of the franchise is basically a fantasy action hero thing, I’m therefore puzzled as to why reboots of the franchise tend to focus on horror alone.
Of course, one can argue that this is because horror is still a lucrative market today while fantasy movies are still dominated in many ways by cape crap, but still, it seems odd that the latest attempt at a reboot or sequel or whatever they call it these days, Evil Dead Rise is, like the one that came before it, still trying to recapture the first movie.
It’s pointless. The original The Evil Dead is a product of its time, a perfect amalgamation of body horror, sacrilege, and humor. The humor still manages to come off as terrifying due to how over the top crude and vulgar it is, perfectly fitting with the overall blasphemous feel of the whole film. There is no way any movie meant for mainstream consumption, like this one and the previous wannabe, is ever going to capture that feel without having the usual suspects coming down hard on it.
On the other hand, it would be far easier and less offensive to recreate a fantasy action hero movie with elements of horror, like everything that comes after The Evil Dead, so I don’t know why these creatively bankrupt people won’t go for the route of less effort. Maybe they are masochists or something.
This one starts with a fake-out scene of a possessed girl attacking her cousin and her boyfriend before going back a little further in time to reveal the “meat” of the movie takes place in an apartment block instead of a cabin. That’s basically the most inventive aspect of the film.
Beth and Ellie are sisters, so when Beth realizes that she is knocked up and it’s not something that makes her weep in joy, she decides to seek out Ellie for a shoulder to cry on. Sadly, she learns that Ellie is not keen on being solely Beth’s beloved sister only when it is convenient for the other woman. Her own husband left her and her kids, and when Ellie wanted to seek out Beth for comfort, Beth ignored her because life is only about her, you know.
Fortunately, Beth doesn’t have to deal with tedious issues like a sister that doesn’t like being taken for granted—ugh, how selfish—because Ellie’s idiot son Danny decides to go bring out some stuff unearthed in the basement parking lot after an earthquake. He reasons that he can make some money by selling these things, but too bad, one of these things is a volume of the Naturom Demonto box set, and soon Ellie is possessed and transformed into a Deadite.
I give this movie credit for spending time to flesh out the main characters and their relationships with one another, but unfortunately, it’s all just filler as once the party starts at around the 45th minute mark, these family ties no longer matters and the film then goes down the usual gore and carnage route and everyone’s just busy trying to stay alive.
The gore and violence are fun, sure, but still, there’s nothing here that I have never seen many times already in other horror films. As a result, this one could have been any horror movie out there.
In other words, this is a serviceable horror film, but at the same time, it feels oddly safe and muted for an entry in a franchise with a reputation such as Evil Dead. One can watch it for what it is, but don’t expect it to come close to the original experience!
