Evil Dead Rise (2023)
April 20, 2023 11:32 AM - Subscribe
In the fifth Evil Dead film, a road-weary Beth (Lily Sullivan) pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), who is raising three kids <on her own in a cramped L.A apartment. The sisters' reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie's building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons, and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.
Also starring Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Gabrielle Echols, Mia Challis, Jayden Daniels, Tai Wano, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy, Nedim Jahić, Anna-Maree Thomas.
Written and directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground). Based on characters and ideas created by Sam Raimi. produced by Robert Tapert. Executive produced by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Macdara Kelleher, John Keville, Victoria Palmeri, Romel Adam. Cinematography by Dave Garbett. edited by Bryan Shaw (who also edited the 2013 Evil Dead). Music composed by Stephen McKeon.
92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now playing in theaters. JustWatch listing.
Also starring Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Gabrielle Echols, Mia Challis, Jayden Daniels, Tai Wano, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy, Nedim Jahić, Anna-Maree Thomas.
Written and directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground). Based on characters and ideas created by Sam Raimi. produced by Robert Tapert. Executive produced by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Macdara Kelleher, John Keville, Victoria Palmeri, Romel Adam. Cinematography by Dave Garbett. edited by Bryan Shaw (who also edited the 2013 Evil Dead). Music composed by Stephen McKeon.
92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now playing in theaters. JustWatch listing.
Oh god, I'm so glad it's showing now and I won't have to see the trailer anymore. It was in front of every R-rated movie for months and I wasn't always in the mood.
posted by praemunire at 5:51 PM on April 20, 2023
posted by praemunire at 5:51 PM on April 20, 2023
My kid and I just saw it. More detailed review to come, but for now, it's the second best ED movie behind II. (AoD is hilarious but we all know it's lumpy and uneven. The first film did a ton with no money and introduced the world, but in a vacuum, this one laps it.)
We're exhausted, in a good way, like after you get off a roller coaster. If kiddo didn't have school tomorrow, we might sincerely have bought tickets to the next showing and seen it 2x in a row.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:16 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
We're exhausted, in a good way, like after you get off a roller coaster. If kiddo didn't have school tomorrow, we might sincerely have bought tickets to the next showing and seen it 2x in a row.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:16 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Raimi, Campbell, and Tapert say Cronin's idea that "it's all about the books" has reorganized the franchise such that will be making a new film every 2-3 years about "where the books turn up."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:33 AM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:33 AM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I haven't seen the 2013 movie or the show, but I really enjoyed the first installments and used to watch them a lot with buddies in undergrad. Should I jump back in with this one, or should I back-track?
posted by LegallyBread at 7:02 AM on April 22, 2023
posted by LegallyBread at 7:02 AM on April 22, 2023
This one stands alone. No need to catch up.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:02 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:02 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Watched this one with a group of friends last night on a whim. We're all horror film fans, and the consensus was that it was good, but not great. While we all agreed there were some really impressive elements (including being willing to turn two kids into deadites) there was just something missing. And it wasn't that we wanted or even expected it to be exactly like ED 2. I've been thinking about it all night and I'm still not sure what it was. Maybe I was just missing that Raimi mix of horror, gore, and slapstick. But I'm also not sure how Ash would fit in this universe because that would be a pretty big tone shift. I will just wait and see how they work that out.
I will say part of the problem was seeing the trailers everywhere every day for months so there are some moments in the film that probably would have been extremely effective if I hadn't been exhausted by them before I got into the theater. The creature design for the final boss, however, was fantastic. And I'm glad they managed to keep that underwraps.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:29 AM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I will say part of the problem was seeing the trailers everywhere every day for months so there are some moments in the film that probably would have been extremely effective if I hadn't been exhausted by them before I got into the theater. The creature design for the final boss, however, was fantastic. And I'm glad they managed to keep that underwraps.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:29 AM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I liked this way more than the 2013 film, but I've also been meaning to revisit that one since I've only seen it once. That one mostly just felt like a mess to me, with a way-too-serious "addiction" story that didn't feel like it really worked with the supernatural horror stuff. This time I think the new approach, characters, and location were all great and actually felt fresh. But I agree with miss-lapin that as much as I liked it, it felt like something intangible was missing. I think part of that is that nobody can agree what makes an Evil Dead movie an Evil Dead movie. That's both because art is subjective and because Raimi and company did not make aligning the first three movies a priority on either a tonal level or from a narrative standpoint. The former is a much bigger deal than the latter; a lot of people would be happy to have an anthology-style franchise where new characters deal with demonic terrors in new and different places, but if the tone is wrong it's going to grate.
My biggest issues with Evil Dead Rise were the direct references to the previous movies, because they started messing with the tone of this one. When a character says "Come get some," it is 100% only happening because Bruce Campbell said that in the previous movies and not because it makes sense for this character. When some possessed corpses start taunting "Dead by dawn!" it just felt like an unnecessary callback. The movie didn't need those things. It had an evil book, an ill-advised recording, and demons toying with people before gruesomely dispatching them. That's all it really needed.
All that said, I did like the movie well enough and had fun with it overall. I hope if they start making more than one of these movies per decade they'll let future creative teams have more leeway to make their own thing and dial back the "fan service" stuff, though.
posted by tomorrowromance at 8:58 AM on April 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
My biggest issues with Evil Dead Rise were the direct references to the previous movies, because they started messing with the tone of this one. When a character says "Come get some," it is 100% only happening because Bruce Campbell said that in the previous movies and not because it makes sense for this character. When some possessed corpses start taunting "Dead by dawn!" it just felt like an unnecessary callback. The movie didn't need those things. It had an evil book, an ill-advised recording, and demons toying with people before gruesomely dispatching them. That's all it really needed.
All that said, I did like the movie well enough and had fun with it overall. I hope if they start making more than one of these movies per decade they'll let future creative teams have more leeway to make their own thing and dial back the "fan service" stuff, though.
posted by tomorrowromance at 8:58 AM on April 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
I agree that the fan service lines didn't feel organic. There's already a lot of fan service in the film which does work so the lines aren't necessary.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:41 AM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 9:41 AM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I do want to take a moment though and say Alyssa Sutherland was incredible in this. Her body work and acting in this was great. And I always enjoy movies where people end up literally showered in blood.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:27 PM on April 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 1:27 PM on April 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm also not sure how Ash would fit in this universe because that would be a pretty big tone shift.
What if the Ash that shows up in a subsequent movie (presumably bridging Evil Dead (2013) and Rise) isn't the glib anti-hero of Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, but the original Ash Williams of Evil Dead (1981), who went through the ultimate experience in grueling horror and came out forever haunted. Let the elder Bruce Campbell wow us with a totally unexpected legacy-hero performance and put a final capstone on the original Evil Dead saga, while continuing to leave things open for other takes on the concept.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:01 PM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
What if the Ash that shows up in a subsequent movie (presumably bridging Evil Dead (2013) and Rise) isn't the glib anti-hero of Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, but the original Ash Williams of Evil Dead (1981), who went through the ultimate experience in grueling horror and came out forever haunted. Let the elder Bruce Campbell wow us with a totally unexpected legacy-hero performance and put a final capstone on the original Evil Dead saga, while continuing to leave things open for other takes on the concept.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:01 PM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I saw this a little while ago. As a fan of ED, EDII, AoD, and AvED - I welcome this movie into the cannon, especially with Raimi and Campbell's endorsement.
Watched this last night with someone naive to The Evil Dead corpus - the fan service was completely lost and confusing, but the core of the movie and the effects (and Alyssa Sutherland) were a hit.
posted by porpoise at 7:49 PM on May 27, 2023
Watched this last night with someone naive to The Evil Dead corpus - the fan service was completely lost and confusing, but the core of the movie and the effects (and Alyssa Sutherland) were a hit.
posted by porpoise at 7:49 PM on May 27, 2023
We're exhausted, in a good way, like after you get off a roller coaster. If kiddo didn't have school tomorrow, we might sincerely have bought tickets to the next showing and seen it 2x in a row.
I watched this (as I often do with movies these days) in two parts over the last two nights, and this is exactly how I came out feeling. The gore is intense and suspenseful enough to be really affecting, for me, without veering into torture porn, which I do not enjoy at all. Thrilling, like a good roller coaster.
This is a pretty-great horror movie, although I really do miss humor in my Evil Dead.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:13 PM on July 17, 2023
I watched this (as I often do with movies these days) in two parts over the last two nights, and this is exactly how I came out feeling. The gore is intense and suspenseful enough to be really affecting, for me, without veering into torture porn, which I do not enjoy at all. Thrilling, like a good roller coaster.
This is a pretty-great horror movie, although I really do miss humor in my Evil Dead.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:13 PM on July 17, 2023
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
His premise is this: remember how in Army of Darkness, Ash had to choose the correct book from a group of three? That's it: there are three books. The first one is the one in the original trilogy, the second is the one from the 2013 film, and the third is the one from the new film. this means they're all part of a whole and yet can all play with different rules and tones. Raimi loved the idea (and this film) so much, he's looking at bringing Ash back and connecting him to all of this. He sent Bruce Campbell a postcard that said, "Get in shape, lardass."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:16 PM on April 20, 2023 [13 favorites]