Evil Dead Rise – Movie Review (4/5)

EVIL DEAD RISE is a new horror movie in the well-known horror franchise. There are crazy amounts of blood and sounds that attack the senses to an almost violent extent. It should work well for even the most hardcore horror fans. Read our Evil Dead Rise review here!

EVIL DEAD RISE is the latest installment in the Evil Dead horror franchise. This is a horror movie with an emphasis on horror in all the audio and visual ways you can imagine. Some horror fans don’t like to call psychological stories horror movies and opt for the “thriller”-moniker instead. This movie is not that!

In fact, if Evil Dead Rise isn’t a movie that everyone can agree to call a horror movie, then I don’t know what would qualify anymore.

I suspect that horror fans who have long been hungry for a “real” horror movie will enjoy Evil Dead Rise. Is it the most amazing story? No, probably not. But it stays true to the lore of the franchise. And good lord, it wins on every other parameter for what an effective and solid horror movie should be. It is actually a real heaven of horror!

Continue reading our Evil Dead Rise movie review below. Find it in US movie theaters (and many other countries worldwide) when it premieres on April 21, 2023.

Out of the woods and into the big city

The plot in Evil Dead movies typically takes place out in the woods with a group of friends. Preferably in a cabin where there is a dark cellar and some water nearby. We do also begin in precisely such familiar surroundings, but it does not last long. As the trailer reveals, we are now in a family home instead.

Or actually, it’s in an apartment complex in a part of Los Angeles, so we’ve come to the big city. And the core characters are a family instead of a group of friends.

Now, you could think that it became less creepy with this setting as more people are nearby. But no, it is at least as scary and violent as in the various forest locations. There are even developments that make it even worse!

The main characters, two sisters, are played by Lily Sullivan (Barkskins) and Alyssa Sutherland (The Mist, Vikings). Here, it is especially the latter who gets the most “horror stuff” to work with, while the former must function more as a new Ash (Bruce Campbell) who must fight against the evil powers.

Alyssa Sutherland’s character also has three children, played respectively by Morgan Davies (The End), Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), and the very young talent Nell Fisher (Northspur). All three do well, but it is especially towards the end that they get a lot to work with. Isn’t that always the case with horror movies, though?!

In addition, there are a number of supporting characters. Again, we are now in the city and not out in the woods. I won’t reveal anything about them here, but they ensure that there are enough people who can be attacked and ripped apart as things escalate. And boy, do they escalate… as in every Evil Dead movie!

Evil Dead Rise brutally assaults your senses

There are horror movies that just have to be experienced in a movie theater to get the most out of them. I would definitely say that Evil Dead Rise is one of them. By their very nature, all films in the Evil Dead franchise are violent experiences of gore and demonic violence.

Still, it seems this latest installment is just a notch wilder.

Or maybe just hits more of your sense.

And harder!

Yes, there are copious amounts of blood (we’re talking The Shining amounts in one particular scene that offers a nice reference to that movie) and brutal violence. You can actually see much of this already in the trailer. In that sense, many of these core gore scenes of visual violence have been paramount for the marketing of the movie.

However, this is just one part of the horror. What you can’t quite sense from the trailer is the extremely violent sound side. We’ve experienced it with a few horror movies in recent years, but it’s actually been more often in movies with more psychological horror. This applies, for example, to a movie such as the Danish Speak No Evil.

But rarely is it experienced quite so violently in a horror movie that is also visually aggressive. That’s why you can rightly say that Evil Dead Rise brutally assaults your senses. All of your senses! And in a way that feels almost violent… and I do mean that in a good way.

The fact that Danish sound magician Peter Albrechtsen is behind this horror sound assault, can only warm even the coldest horror heart of this Dane. Peter Albrechtsen has simply created a sound component that makes it completely useless to have a pillow in front of your face. Simply because the sounds match the craziest visuals in Evil Dead Rise.

For the record, it’s actually both the completely “practical” sound side and the music that works so extremely well in Evil Dead Rise. The music score comes from Stephen McKeon, who also worked on the director’s previous feature film.

Watch Evil Dead Rise in theaters now!

Evil Dead Rise is, as I said, the newest movie in the horror franchise, which most recently featured Evil Dead (2013) by Fede Alvarez. Here, 10 years later, Lee Cronin is the writer and director. Lee Cronin was most recently behind The Hole in the Ground, which can also be highly recommended.

Although Evil Dead Rise, with Lee Cronin at the helm, has once again replaced the director, you’ll find the original forces still on board as producers. This applies not least to the creator of the original Evil Dead movie, namely the horror icon Sam Raimi, and the lead actor Bruce Campbell. He also recently made the TV series Ash vs Evil Dead.

To be honest, as long as Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are on board, I feel quite safe. It just can’t go all wrong. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will necessarily be very good either. However, fortunately, that is actually the case here. It’s damn good. Essentially, horror fans can very much look forward to being attacked by this horror movie!

Evil Dead Rise is out in US theaters on April 21, 2023. It will already be out on Digital and VOD on May 9, and on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD from June 27, 2023.

Photos © Warner Bros. Pictures

Details

In Theaters: April 21, 2023 (US)
Director: Lee Cronin
Writers: Lee Cronin
Cast: Alyssa Sutherland, Lily Sullivan, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Mia Challis