EVIL DEAD RISE (2023)

Good grief - I'm actually reviewing a new film, a NEW FILM, that came out THIS YEAR !!!! What is this blog coming to ? Something else I don't normally do is put out spoiler warnings but seeing as this film is so recent and only just started streaming on Netflix I feel that this time I have to. So if you haven't yet seen this film, stop reading now and come back when you have...

DIRECTED & WRITTEN by Lee Cronin based on characters created by Sam Raimi.

STARRING  - Lilly Sullivan as Beth,  Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie,  Morgan Davies as Danny,  Gabrielle Echols as Bridget,  Nell Fisher as Kassie,  Richard Crouchley as Caleb,  Mirabai Pease as Teresa,  Anna-Maree Thomas as Jessica.

PLOT - Two cousins Jessica and Teresa, along with Jessica's boyfriend Caleb are on holiday at a lakeside cabin. Jessica appears to fall ill and it becomes apparent that she is possessed. Jessica attacks Teresa and rips her scalp off before decapitating Caleb...

One day earlier - Los Angeles - band roadie Beth has just split up from her boyfriend and found out that she is pregnant. For moral support she visits her sister Ellie, a struggling single mother who lives in a condemned high rise apartment building with her three children  - teenagers Bridget and Danny and little Kassie.

That night there is an earthquake which reveals a hitherto undiscovered old basement in the building. Upon investigating it Danny finds some religious artefacts, three old phonograph records dating from the 1920's and an ancient looking book.

Danny (a vinyl enthusiast) plays the old records which contain the voice of a preist that tells the tale of the book. The ancient book is one of three volumes of the Naturum Demonto - the book of the dead. Playing these recordings causes an evil housed within the pages of the book to be released.

Further earth tremors cause the building's power to fail and Ellie is possessed by the evil force becoming a terrifying Deadite.

Very soon, Beth finds herself having to defend her neices and nephew against thier demonically possessed mother and a rising level of Deadite activity within the building. With no way out due to the power failure, her only option is to fight...

DIALOUGE  - Danny - "Mom ?"

Deadite Ellie - "Mommy's with the maggots now !"

PERFORMANCES  - As with Evil Dead 2013 this movie tells a new story with new characters. Which once more means no Ash Williams. Unlike the 2013 film which suffered for his absence, here it doesn't matter so much. 

I think theres two reasons for this. Firstly, for a few years prior to this film we had the TV series which told us of Ash's further adventures - we got to see his home town, we met his father, several old girlfriends and even his previously unknown illegitimate daughter. The character got taken to his ultimate destiny and his full story was finally told. That nagging sense of unfinished business which hung over Evil Dead 2013 is no longer there. The time was finally right to move on from Ash and for new stories to be told. 

The other reason is that unlike the previous film which gave us unsatisfying characters to act as poor replacements, here we instead get some really good new characters.

The main character of Beth (Lilly Sullivan) is likeable, somewhat damaged and down on her luck but seems to have an inner strength regardless. She doesn't sit around at length moaning about her lot in life like Mia did in the previous movie, she instead turns to her family and takes comfort in them. Beth is shown to be a loyal sister and auntie (she's pretty much the young, cool auntie which most teenagers probably wish they had). She speaks to the kids on thier own level without patronising them and went it comes to the crunch is willing to defend them to the hilt. Oh, and give her a chainsaw and she kicks arse (but you knew that already didn't you...)

Probably the best performance though comes from Alyssa Sutherland playing Ellie. When we first meet her she's shown to be a loving mother who works hard to support her kids. She's finding it hard to financially cope and seems tired and weary, she's careworn but never stops being a dutiful mother and clearly loves her kids to bits. That is until she gets possessed and turned into one of the creepiest Deadites yet.

Deadite Ellie is awesome. The way she moves, the way she talks. She's a full on deadly predator. Gone is the caring mother, in her place is this jeering, spitting hate filled psychotic demon. It is this transformation and the emotional trauma of seeing a mother turn on her children and seeking to do them serious harm is where the film derives most of it's horror from. Any parent worth thier salt would sooner die than harm thier own children and yet here we see that happen. That's more horrific and chilling than a thousand chainsaw decapitations or showers of gore.

Another thing I like about Deadite Ellie is that she regains that mocking quality which the Deadites always had in the original films and the TV show. Traditionally, the Deadites always taunt and mock thier intended human victims (something which was present in the previous film but dialled down somewhat). It's nice to see the Deadites get thier wicked sense of humour back. She gets all the best lines as well.

The three kids also give decent performances. I wasn't too keen on the character of Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) she came across as being a bit too up herself and cocky, but I suppose that's just her being a stroppy teenager. It's not the actress who's at fault, it's just the way the character was written that I didn't like.

 Her brother Danny (Morgan Davies) is a lot more likeable though, he's slightly geeky but comes over well and you're sorry to see him go when he eventually falls victim to the Deadites.

Perhaps the kid who works the best is Kassie (Nell Fisher), she's a good little actress and has a nice chemistry with Lilly Sullivan. They make a believable niece and auntie. The two characters bond over the course of the movie as they become the final survivors. Thier relationship reminds me a little bit of Ripley and Newt in Aliens, the hardened adult survivor looking out for the frightened but plucky little girl.

Oh, and for those of you still missing Ash, he does (sort of) make an appearance. On one of the old records from the 1920's we hear Ash berating the preist, yelling "Destroy it ! It's called the book of the dead for a reason !" This in itself is interesting as it hints at more time travelling adventures for Ash taking place between Army of Darkness and season one of Ash vs Evil Dead. Maybe it took him longer to get back to his own time than he let on and he got sent on a few detours along the way. A Promised One's work is never done...

SFX - Once again we get lots of decent makeup work for the Deadites. As with Evil Dead 2013 the Deadites have a more "human" look to them rather than the more monsterous  approach favoured by the original trilogy and TV show...

The exception to this rule is a creature known as the Marauder which is a composite Deadite created when several Deadites merge together. The Marauder is this films "big bad guy" and is a lot more satisfying than the anticlimactic Abomination in the previous film...

I think the Marauder is a combination of CG and practical effects work, unfortunately as this is such a recent film there aren't yet that many pictures of it or the other Deadites online yet, so I've had to use the very few pictures I could find, so I can't really show it to it's full extent.

SEX & VIOLENCE  - As with the effects work, there aren't that many pictures or stills from the film circulating online as yet, so you'll just have to take my word on most of this.

Evil Dead Rise is quite a gory film but not to the level that Evil Dead 2013 was. Its more in line with the level of violence and gore that we saw in the first two movies back in the 80's. The violence also lacks that quesy personal intimate quality that the 2013 movie had. There are no needles in eyes or self mutilation to be found here, its much more on the level of the OTT comic book style violence of the originals.

The film gets off to a good start with a scalping quickly followed by a decapitation...

Later on Ellie murders an entire corridor full of her neighbours (which is mainly only glimpsed) and begins her campaign of terror against her sister and kids. At one point the Deadite Bridget uses a cheese grater on Beth's leg tearing a grated chunk of her calf away...

Ouch !

Later on little Kassie impales her sister through the head with a broken broom handle. Never mess with an angry sprog, that's what I say. Continuing the theme of sibling related violence Bridget then fatally stabs Danny who in turn sets her on fire as his final act before becoming a Deadite himself.

Beth and Kassie attempt to escape from the Marauder via the lift and in a scene inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining the lift fills with blood...

Beth fights the Marauder and the monster ends up being ground into mincemeat by a conveniently placed wood chipping machine. Ellie's severed head taunts Beth Linda-style before being unceremoniously kicked into the wood chipper to become a steaming pile of brain/skull/eyes and hair mulch.

Somewhere along the line theres also a homage to Evil Dead 2's infamous flying eyeball landing in mouth scene as well.

RATING  - Evil Dead Rise is to my mind a much more successful attempt to revive the series than the 2013 effort.

It takes the series in an interesting new direction and adds several likeable new characters into the mix. I'd definitely be down for seeing Beth become the new Ash, travelling the roads, towns and cities of America tracking down and slaying Deadites but I guess with the character being pregnant she'll just settle down into motherhood instead.

The tower block setting works well and the film has a more urban feel to it. It's atmospheric, well acted and most importantly it doesn't take itself too seriously, that element of fun is back without it turning into an outright comedy. I think they got the balance right this time for the direction they where looking to take the series.

It's not quite a 5 star film as it still can't compete with the originals but what it sets out to do it does very, very well. I'm giving it 4 and a half siblings from hell out of 5. A fresh new take on an old classic.

POSTER/DVD ART  -