Evil Dead Rise Review
What more could possibly be said about the Evil Dead? The legendary film, scourge of the legendary Video Nasties hysteria of the eighties had already spawned two sequels, three seasons of a spinoff TV show called Ash Vs Evil Dead and a 2013 remake. Where could they possibly go for a new film. The trailer didn’t really give much away, so this needed to be investigated, because we Pierce Boys like to keep our eves on those Kandarian demons, nasty little buggers.
So, we open up the film on familiar ground, echoing the opening of the classics, a subjective shot from the view of something flying low over a lake in the woods closing in quickly on an unsuspecting girl. Here we go again – right?
Wrong. This is revealed to be the point of view of a drone, flown by one of three young people staying at a holiday cabin. Not THE cabin of the original, but it still looks as downright dirty on the inside. I wouldn’t stay there.
The remaining visitor is ill, and turns out to have been possessed by the demons of the Evil Dead and attacks the other two in a surprisingly brutal attack – THEN the title is displayed.
That’s a hell of an opening, and it is literally just the beginning of a macabre rollercoaster of gore.
The actual meat of the film takes place one day earlier in a run down, mostly deserted apartment block, scheduled for demolition in a few weeks. Among the handful of remaining occupants is the family of two estranged sisters and three kids. The sisters, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) – mother of Danny, Bridget and pre-teen Kassie and Beth (Lily Sullivan) have only just seen each other for the first time in a long time when a mild earthquake hits, opening a hole in the ground which the curious teens encounter while on a pizza run for their mother.
In the hole, Danny finds a vault, because the apartment block is built over what used to be a bank. He finds a handful of what appear to be old long player vinyl records and an ancient book, which he takes with him. (Important note here, kids – if you find artefacts in a vault, leave them where they are. In fact, don’t even go inside the vault. Avoid the hole, kids.)
Danny wants to become a DJ, and has a pretty decent setup in his room, so he plays one of the discs on his deck, unwittingly summoning the Kandarian demons and all hell (literally) is let loose. The book is the Book of the Dead, and contains drawings and incantations etched in the sacrificial blood of past victims, and is bound in their skin.
As an entry in the Evil Dead series, it’s pretty good -it pays homage to the original trilogy in a lot of ways, some of them are ingenious. For example, the kids have gone to a pizza place called Henrietta’s. Henrietta was the name of the witch in the cellar of the cabin in the first two films. Electrical cabling is used to the same effect as the tree vines during a possession, there’s a similar eye swallowing scene to Evil Dead 2, and overall the whole structure of the story is eerily familiar. But, and this is important, the film doesn’t come across as stagnant and devoid of ideas, this isn’t slavish plagiarism it comes across as an inevitability that this has happened before, and will happen again. Someone, somewhere will find the book or the recording and the Deadites will once again roam, possess and cause chaos – because that’s what they do.
As soon as the Kandarian demons are unleashed, they home in on Ellie and they blow the power to the building and we are off and running.
Evil Dead became an iconic film on its release in 1982 because of its unrelenting horror, which caused it to be banned outright in the United Kingdom for several years. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn was almost as gory, but wisely, as a sequel, played up the absurdity facing the remaining survivor Ash (Bruce Campbell- whose voice is heard on a recording here) to a level that it became a way over the top comedy, richly deserving its cult status. As we watch Evil Dead Rise (which I feared was going to be a tedious origin story when I first heard the title) we realise that we’re back to out and out horror.
If your idea of horror is films like The Conjuring and its tedious spin-offs, you’re probably going to find yourself way out of your depth here. This is horror taken to the extreme, with no punches pulled – and it’s sustained throughout the film. As soon as the lights are out in the apartment, the kid gloves are off, there’s nobody to help this family and everybody, regardless of age is a likely fair game victim. Nobody is safe – Kandarian demons aren’t exactly picky or child friendly.
Evil Dead films are of course known for their blood and gore – and this is right up there with the shock and awe of the first film, now amped up to shock and awe a more hardened audience who are harder to, well shock and awe. This family are literally put through hell.
But what does all this have to do with what happens on the following day, by the lakeside? All is explained. I think the whole lakeside sequence is just a setup for a sequel, should they go that way. That’s just my theory though – take it for what it’s worth, with a pinch of salt.
The ONE thing I found disappointing about the film was the actual Book of the Dead itself. The prop. It didn’t look right. It didn’t have the face on the front cover that we all recognise from 1982 onward, it’s plain brown with some inscriptions carved into the skin.
This has definitely earned the score.
Rob Rating 8