Evil Dead Rise: The Rise and Fall of the Dead

At a cabin in the forest, cousins Teresa (Mirabai Pease) and Jessica (Anna-Maree Thomas) are trying to relax, with Jessica’s new boyfriend, Caleb (Richard Crouchley). Jessica begins acting weird and then all hell breaks loose.  Flashback to a day earlier, Beth (Lily Sullivan) gets some news that disturbs her so she flies to her sister, Ellie’s (Alyssa Sutherland) home in Los Angeles and finds her sister’s family is in disarray, with her brother-in-law gone and the apartment building she lives in about to be torn down.  Ellie’s three kids, Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and Kassie (Nell Fisher) are doing the best they can too keep their spirits up.  Shortly after Beth arrives, an Earthquake opens a hole in the old buildings parking structure where Danny finds an old book and some records.  After being warned by his sister not to fool around with the book or records, Danny opens the book and listens to the first two records, which releases something evil into the building. With the help of some neighbors, the family tries to survive, fighting against each other as they become possessed by the evil dead.  Can any of them survive? Watch and find out!

I am going to be in the minority consensus when reviewing this movie, but I really didn’t care for it.  I particularly do not like gore for the sake of gore.  And this movie is almost all gore which made for a very disturbing film for me to watch.  I like my horror films to be atmospheric, spooky and with a good story and this had hint of all 3 of those things, but never really committed to them and instead hit you over the head with blood, guts and bits of brain! The first scene in the woods does have some nice elements to it with a nice spooky factor, but once the movie moves to the apartment complex, much of that dissipates. The flickering lights and 1920s style architecture of the building does add an eerie atmosphere and isn’t a bad setting for the film, but instead of playing up the building’s own character, it opts to paint the walls with blood.  The story had some nice elements, although nothing we hadn’t seen in an Evil Dead film.  The idea of the evil reenacting pictures from the book Danny finds is hinted at, and used from time to time, but with no real purpose or meaning.

In no way can I fault any of the actors in this film, they do quite a good job.  Alyssa Sutherland is wonderfully creepy once she is possessed, and Lily Sullivan’s Beth is a strong independent woman who is also broken and vulnerable.  The actor playing the three kids all do a great job as well. The scripted dialogue also isn’t bad.  It felt natural and flowed nicely, but it was lacking the campy humor that made the first Evil Dead and subsequent films so much fun.  In fact, just overall, this film was missing that magical element that sets it apart from its peers and makes it a classic.