Starring: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Gabrielle Echols
Distributor: Warner Bros
Runtime: 97 mins. Reviewed in Apr 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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The Evil Dead franchise began in 1981 and has had many sequels. This one, made in Ireland and New Zealand, continues the tradition but confines the action to one terrifying night in a condemned high rise apartment block.
Twenty-year-olds who enjoyed the first Evil Dead macabre horror film are now in their early 60s. Which means that the Evil Dead films and television series have quite a large following. Which means then another variation on the theme for 2023.
The initial films were set in the US backwoods. Many audiences will be surprised to find that this is an Irish production, the writer-director Cronin working in the Irish film and television industries. But, filming was done in New Zealand. And, looking at the backgrounds of the cast, we find that the four principals are all Australian actors and that the supporting cast are all from New Zealand. Which means the demand that they all acquire American accents.
This is definitely not a film for any audience that reacts badly to the sight of blood on the screen, let alone blood and gore. Galore rhymes with gore and, a key part of any review is to state that The Evil Rise has blood and gore galore. Often graphic, sadistic, working on the principle that more, even much more, is not only desirable but essential.
So, this is a film for Evil Dead devotees, fans of those horror film festivals which more and more abound. But, this one is not just small-budget independent. It comes from Warner Brothers, New Line productions, produced by the originator, the director, Sam Raimi, and the initial star of the series, Bruce Campbell.
It is all adrenaline-pumping from the earliest scene, the audience flying like a drone through the forests, eventually to a lake, where a young woman is reading Wuthering Heights (there are some quotes from Emily Brontë), a loudmouth belching young man, and a mysterious young woman who suddenly spews (a lot of this throughout the film, insects, blood . . .) And we see that she must be one of the evil dead.
Then announcement: One Day Earlier.
In fact, most of the action takes place this day earlier, especially during the hours of the night. It all seems all right at first, Ellie (Sutherland), at home with her three children, living on a high floor of a condemned building, about to move out. Then her sister, Beth (Sullivan), who has been touring with bands in whom her sister denounces as the Groupie, returns home, trying to reconcile. Then an earthquake, quite vivid. And what happens is that one of those gates to hell (remember the Amityville house) opens up, a basement, a mysterious book whose cover absorbs blood, sinister illustrations, and a collection of records which the young boy plays, from 1923, a group of priests (the writer-director is Irish), reading from the book of the dead which takes over and destroys them all.
No surprise in the plot development – but plenty of surprises in how the demons take over the members of the family, the dire consequences, the violent attempts to destroy the demons – shotguns, knives, and, of course, a chainsaw.
For fans, relishing how it is all turning out, have 70 minutes or more of this terrible night. And, as a kind of epilogue, the narrative returns to the characters whom we met in the prologue, at the lake, and have one of them transforms into one of the Evil Dead. So, not for everyone, the director serving up all that the fans could desire – or more.
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