Evil Dead Rise

Evil Dead Rise honors the classic trio of Tapert, Raimi and Campbell and is unrelenting in its intensity, amount of blood and high technical level. For the first time outside of a cottage in the forest, but in the no less inhospitable environment of a social housing complex without a functional elevator or fire escape. The diabolical make-up and behavior of the demon-possessed victims are a proven fan-service trademark of the franchise. The characters don’t act as stupidly as they did last time and their casting and “rock-emo” stylization are properly unconventional and bring to mind the ensemble cast of the last Hellraiser. The mysteriously beautiful Alyssa Sutherland was born for her role as a demon. And we are well aware that this franchise has the most cunning demons ever. And this time, even a little girl is exposed to them! It’s a pleasure to see such an outstanding genre treat made with so much love on the big screen again. (04/23/2023)

Evil Dead Rise is a solid horror flick, but if you're familiar with the franchise, you'll just be mentally ticking off a list of must-haves. The setting of an old tenement house is not as atmospheric and interesting as a cabin in the mountains, and while the filmmakers attempted to bring evil to a new cramped location, they didn't miss the tried-and-true cabin, giving the film a framing device that's quite impressive but completely unnecessary to the main story (but at least it brought the best reveal of the film's title in years). The 2013 remake was far more impressive, engaging and entertaining in its reinterpretation of a well-worn formula; this one is just OK. (04/28/2023)

I liked the opening and the brilliantly built-up finale, but between that, the new Evil Dead was nothing to write home about. What surprised me was that, compared to the film that started everything in 1981 (for a couple of bucks), this one is rather mild. What pleased me, on the other hand, was how they didn't mess around with it (thank you for the reasonable running time), and that there was no lack of black humour either. (07/09/2023)

Sam Raimi produced and Lee Cronin directed Evil Dead Rise to make fans of the original as happy as possible. An audiovisually aggressive gore flick with great sound design and a lot of imaginative violence, it's a wild ride that goes by pretty damn fast even with its short running time. It also has fine heroes and even the derelict building setting works well enough to not mind that it doesn't bring much new to the table. I'm just not sure if a similarly off-the-rails horror film can capture audiences. (04/19/2023)

I expected a film that would completely break free from the conventional bounds of bloody and explicit horror! Evil Dead Rise didn’t quite deliver on that front. Don’t get me wrong... Technically, it’s a flawless film, set this time in the intriguing environment of a dilapidated apartment building somewhere in LA. I even managed to warm up to the main protagonist during the enjoyable hour and a half. And when it comes to gore, it’s absolutely top-notch (though by my standards, it’s disappointingly sparse... the trailers promised a bigger dose). However, the story ultimately let me down. Adding in a few illogical situations (especially the bizarre way the blood-borne infection behaves) and some stupid character actions, it just can’t reach the genre's peak. On the plus side, Alyssa Sutherland played the demonic mother brilliantly... And the final chainsaw sequence? I genuinely squealed with delight :D It ends up with a weaker 7/10. (05/23/2023)