TL;DR – A good case study of what happens if you go to max-intensity right from the start and stay there.

Post-Credit Scene – There is something at the end of the credits but not something you need to stay back for.

Warning – This movie contains scenes that may cause distress.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Evil Dead Rise Review –

At the start of this year, I set myself the challenge to explore cinema that is more outside of my comfort zone, and one area that I don’t have a lot of experience in was Horror. I have dabbled here and there, but I know that I have barely scratched the surface of the diverse genre. When I heard there was a new imagining of the classic series Evil Dead, it felt like an excellent place to jump in.

So to set the scene, Beth (Lily Sullivan) is a guitar technician constantly on the road until she makes another mistake. When this happens, she always goes to visit her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), who lives with her children Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher) in a bank that was converted into units. After realising that Beth has been out of her family’s lives for too long, the kids go off to get some pizza so the grownups can chat. But when an earthquake hits, a chasm reveals the old bank vault under the car park. Danny takes it upon himself to explore and disturbs something he should have let lie.

Now, while I will be pretty critical about this film, I also know that the subjectivity is high in a movie like this. There was a lot that I did want to champion. I have to give it to the actors here because they throw all of themselves into these roles. Alyssa Sutherland has to have this almost permanently unhinged expression on her face that must not have been easy to keep stoically in place. Oh, did I forget to say that she was hanging from the roof most of the time. It is said that they used over 6,500 litres of fake blood, and I think that might be underselling it a bit. That must not have been a fun time, given what I know about fake blood, but they make it work. It also helped that bar the opening teaser, most of this film takes place on the same floor of the same building, and they make the most of that space.

However, I soon found myself disassociated from the film, and I think it began with its structure. It starts with the opening teaser, which might have the best title card drop in cinema. But this opening, set one day later than the rest of the film, also tips their hand about where the film is going. The subsequent frustration is that some of those kids are old enough to know better than to play with the skin-covered book that can only be opened with blood found within a tomb hidden away and covered with more crosses than a nun convention. “It’s my fault” Yer, my dude, it was.

But while these were potential stumbling blocks, they are not what torpedoed the film for me. The film goes from 0 to 100 real quick in the elevator scene as the musical score blasts out as you feel the rumble of the scene in your soul or at least your seat. The movie then turns up the creep factor even more as a mother turns on her family. However, the film jumps to that intensity and stays there for the entire runtime. Because it stays at that intensity, there is no relief or ebb and flow. So, you become desensitised to everything, then you start disassociating from the film, and then sadly become just bored with the proceedings with only one use of a kitchen utensil to burst through.

In the end, do we recommend Evil Dead Rise? Well, this is a difficult question to answer. Because for me, there was one clear point where I dropped off this film. However, I am unsure if that will happen for you, and the shrieks around me during my screening back that feeling up. If you liked Evil Dead Rise, I would recommend Upgrade for you.                  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched Evil Dead Rise?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Evil Dead Rise
Directed by – Lee Cronin
Written by – Lee Cronin
Based on – Evil Dead by Sam Raimi
Music by – Stephen McKeon
Cinematography by – Dave Garbett
Edited by – Bryan Shaw
Production/Distribution Companies – New Line Cinema, Renaissance Pictures, Pacific Renaissance, Wild Atlantic Pictures, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros Pictures.
Starring – Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher, Richard Crouchley, Mirabai Pease, Anna-Maree Thomas, Jayden Daniels, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy & Tai Wano with Bruce Campbell
Rating – Australia: R18+; Canada: 18A; Germany: 18; New Zealand: R16; United Kingdom: 18; United States: R