I had planned to watch something different for review, but seeing the Lee Cronin written and directed Evil Dead Rise was now on Netflix, I felt it increasingly calling to me. I love the Evil Dead series of films and TV shows, and had heard this latest one was a good-un. I liked the new serious tone the series went in with 2013's reimagining of Evil Dead, and this quasi-sequel seemed it was following a similar path. A big issue I had with the previous film was that it billed itself as being super scary, yet it wasn't, mistaking lots of bodily trauma as a stand-in for legitimate horror. I had heard Evil Dead Rise was meant to be genuinely scary, so I left watching it until the dead of night. Sadly, this isn't a scary film, it was however quite good.
After experiencing an earthquake, siblings Danny (Morgan Davies - One Piece TV show), Kassie (Nell Fisher), and Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) discover a hole has opened up in the ground of the parking garage at their apartment building. They discover an old bank vault is hidden below, with Danny deciding to explore the place. It is there that he discovers some old records, as well as a very creepy looking book. With their family facing eviction from the apartment building, Danny takes the book, figuring he may be able to sell it to help his mother, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland - The Mist TV show), with finding a new place to live. He also takes the records due to being into DJing as a hobby. Instead of music however, he hears a strange recording from a priest from the 1920's, who talks of having discovered a cursed book, and who planned to study it. The recording, unfortunately for all involved, includes a recitation of a particular spell, which summons a demonic force that swiftly possesses Ellie. It isn't long before the newly turned deadite is on a path of mayhem, with Ellie's estranged sister, Beth (Lily Sullivan) the only person able to protect Ellie's children from sharing a similar fate to their mother.
I knew that this movie took place within an apartment block in the middle of a city, but I didn't know how events would transpire to have that as the setting. Thankfully, early on it is established how this is possible, with the cool reveal that there are actually three different books of the dead, one for the original trilogy and TV show, one for the 2013 remake, and one for this new entry. That explains away a lot of the differences to be found here. Due to that fact, while this is the fifth Evil Dead film, it works perfectly fine as a standalone movie, with no knowledge of any of the other films needed to enjoy this. I had expected it would tie in to the remake, but this seemed completely separate from that one. Bizarrely, the change in location still works, with the residents of the particular floor Ellie and her family live on stranded due to the stairway collapsing and the demonically affected elevator being out of action, while no one is able to contact the outside world with their phones or internet.
On a side note, this was coincidentally the second horror film I watched in a row that took place in an earthquake affected apartment building in Los Angeles, after the so bad it's good horror The Blackout. It may be a new stand alone film, but there are lots of fun nods back to the previous films, Beth gives one of Ash Williams iconic one liners at one point, while the shotgun and chainsaw both make appearances.
Much like the 2013 remake, this again seems to have confused horrific violence with being frightening, but with the special effects looking so darn good here that wasn't too much of an issue for me. You get eased in with a scalping and an earring being ripped out of an ear, with later violence being increasingly nasty. A highlight for wincing was a cheese grater to the leg, elsewhere a character's arms are ripped off among other horrors, culminating in a blood drenched finale that may possibly be the most bloody sequence I have seen in a horror.
Much of the film has the characters trying to defend themselves against the possessed Ellie, someone who was the pure highlight for special effects. Her perpetually grinning deadite was very impressive looking, and it was neat that she is eventually joined with other deadites. It culminates in a sequence that felt weirdly familiar to a memorable boss fight from the video game The Evil Within, the creature design even strongly resembled that, while the location used was identical.
Much of the film has the characters trying to defend themselves against the possessed Ellie, someone who was the pure highlight for special effects. Her perpetually grinning deadite was very impressive looking, and it was neat that she is eventually joined with other deadites. It culminates in a sequence that felt weirdly familiar to a memorable boss fight from the video game The Evil Within, the creature design even strongly resembled that, while the location used was identical.
I was disappointed that this wasn't a scary horror, but I am getting to the stage now where I am starting to think the problem is with me possibly being severely desensitised to horror films. Despite a lack of fear, I thought this was a solid and nasty horror film, one that doesn't shy away from allowing absolutely any character to become a victim. With great makeup and special effects, this looked fantastic, roll on the next one! Evil Dead Rise can currently be streamed on Netflix.
SCORE:
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