Evil Dead is an exceptionally rare type of horror franchise in that it is one that has surprisingly few bad entries in its catalog. There are only a total of five movies and a TV series that make up the brand itself, so it’s not had the same opportunity for failure as the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Hellraiser films have had. Nonetheless, I would argue that it would be difficult to find another popular horror series that had as stellar of a track record—even Alien fell apart after two movies. Some purists may argue that it’s not really an Evil Dead movie if there is no Ash, but I would disagree. The most important things in any Evil Dead movie are the Necronomicon and the demons that are summoned with it, who are capable of possessing the living and turning them into murderous monsters. Once again, there is no Ash present for Evil Dead Rise, however, the brilliant minds behind the series’ beginnings, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, were involved in the production. So I was hopeful that, having enjoyed the previous film in the series, Evil Dead Rise would fit nicely into the collection as another classic.

Pros

Makeup and practical effects are great
Acting from the entire cast is very good
Just barely over 90 minutes long
Some very creepy moments and camera angles

Cons

Some character arcs are not fully explored
Some of the special effects and camera work don’t look great
Overuse of the ‘deep focus’ technique, which also doesn’t look good
Minor nitpicks and flubs that add up

Plot & Thoughts

Beth (Lily Sullivan) is a roadie for a traveling band and has been on the road for a while. Unfortunately for her, she may have complicated her life a bit by getting pregnant, though we no nothing else about the situation. While she’s in Los Angeles, she stops in at her sister’s apartment in a rather old building. The building has an Art Deco design to let us know that it has existed for decades, and its interior shows it has clearly seen better days. Beth’s sister, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), lives with her three children, Dan (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher). Beth arrives expecting to see Ellie’s husband but is surprised to learn he is no longer in the picture, and some dialogue is exchanged to indicate she probably would have known if she wasn’t so busy with the band responsibilities. After the kids go out to get some pizza, an earthquake occurs and opens up a hole in the parking lot. Inside, an old part of the building that had been covered up contains a lot of spooky paraphernalia, including some old vinyl records and a mysterious and ominous-looking book. Dan, being the oldest, bravest, and the one the movie selected as the curious individual who will commit the necessary sin of unleashing the evil (as is required in every Evil Dead movie), takes the book and the records back to their room. Of course, evil is unleashed upon playing the records, and Ellie becomes possessed by a demon, causing all hell to break loose in the apartment building. Since the earthquake destroyed all the stairs in the building, and nobody trusts the elevator after the earthquake, everyone is trapped in the building with the demonic Ellie who quickly starts killing people.

I would consider Evil Dead Rise to be my least favorite entry in the franchise, which isn’t saying much when it’s in such good company. Rise is still a competently made movie and is far better than most other movies that have been released since Evil Dead in 2013. I just happened to be a little annoyed when it was over. It was only after I thought about it for a while that I’ve come back around to liking it. The reason? I was distracted by small issues I had with the film and unable to initially recognize the better sum of its parts. They’re nitpicks, but they added up. Here are some examples:

The records themselves were supposed to be from 1923, which wouldn’t be possible because records didn’t really start to exist in that format until the 1930s. Not to mention, the sound quality of them would have been far worse than they are, even on a new turntable like the one that Dan uses.
The way the characters use the turntable and how it would affect the sound from the record is inaccurate.
Numerous small contrivances, such as how the movie lets Ellie back into the apartment, or how Beth’s pregnancy suddenly causes her pain for no reason.
The power goes out, but there are still lights, the stove is turned on with an electric igniter, and other electrical devices just manage to work, somehow.
The zooming camera technique, a key element of the movies, looks poorly done.
There are frequent, distracting instances in which the deep-focus technique is used. The technique that was most notably identified with Citizen Kane, is when something in the foreground and something in the background are in focus in the frame. However, in other movies that use it, it’s either used sparingly or in ways that make it seamless to the experience. Evil Dead Rise overuses it, and there are sections of the screen that are blurry to the point that it just looks bad most of the time.
Yet another one-liner chucking heroine with a chainsaw at the end of a horror film that makes me roll my eyes and groan as the movie attempts to make them look cool.

These and other examples I didn’t mention are minor problems that just happened to overtake my first impressions. Looking past them and giving the benefit of the doubt, however, there are plenty of things that Evil Dead Rise does well. The acting is very good, including the two younger children who don’t have many acting credits between them. Ellie is a horrific presence, and Alyssa Sutherland has some facial features that naturally lend to the makeup effects to make her even scarier. Even though it takes a while for the evil to be unleashed, it is only 96 minutes long, and once everything gets going, it doesn’t let up.

With a relatively small budget of $12,000,000 and a worldwide gross of over $140,000,000, it’s clear that the Evil Dead brand is popular enough to be profitable, which means we’re likely to get more sequels down the road. I think Rise does a good job of telling its own story without deviating from the important aspects of Evil Dead as a movie series. Even during the uneventful portion of the movie, there are some decent bits of characterization about how Beth believes that Ellie looks down on her for one reason or another, which establishes some tension between Ellie and Beth. I think the arcs like this are just a little underexplored, but they are still there and not clumsily done, at least. Considering how modern writing tends to be terrible in movies, that level of intelligent subtlety and character complexity makes Rise look like Shakespeare. My hope is that whatever comes next is as well-made and continues the tradition of good, scary (and occasionally funny) Evil Dead movies.

TL;DR

While I wasn’t overly pleased with Evil Dead Rise at first, I think it does enough right to be a worthy entry in the franchise. The acting is solid. The effects are mostly good. There are some creepy and horrific moments that stick with you. In addition, the movie is relatively short by today’s standards, so it won’t wear out its welcome. If you are a fan of the Evil Dead movies and don’t have a stick up your craw about whether or not Ash needs to be present for it to count, you could do far worse than Evil Dead Rise.

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