LOS ANGELES, April 19 (UPI) — The Evil Dead Rise , which opens in theaters Friday, puts the "Evil Dead" franchise on another twist , enough to warrant another entry. It also includes enough familiar elements and nods to previous films that fans will love.
Beth (Lily Sullivan) visits her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and Ellie's three children, Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), Danny (Morgan Davis) and Cassie (Nell Fisher). Recently, an old bank vault was opened under the building destroyed by the earthquake.
Danny finds a bound book that looks like a reprint of the Necronomicon. Evil Dead Rise reveals that there were three Necronomicons, so there's also a third that isn't in the Evil Dead movie.
The book also includes a vinyl recording of a priest reciting the words of a priest who releases deadly demons that have possessed a turtle.
Sutherland brilliantly plays the role of hostess Ellie. A dead mother using her body to attack her children is a new level of evil horror.
Ellie's menacing attack on her family is more personal than previous Evil Dead movies, where a group of friends are stuck in a closet on vacation. The dead also use modern tools as instruments of torture.
Each victim of the turtle becomes another trapped monster. The dead soon outnumber the survivors and the danger mounts.
Blood will become the uniform of the survivors. They're more saturated with red liquid than a human body or a dozen bodies, but it's an ugly dead culture .
Director Lee Cronin and cinematographer Dave Garbett found some interesting perspectives on apartment violence, but Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy never missed a beat.
Photographed from a Deadite perspective, the brand also has its own style. Leaving the high altitude gives it a different flavor than traveling through the woods.
A sequence unfolds in the hallway, but it can only be seen from the perspective of a character looking through a hole in the front door. Cronin wreaks havoc before the scene as Ellie and her victims walk in and out of sight.
The dead use the usual tactics. They destroy the stairs of the building, just as they destroyed the only bridge leading to the cell in the previous films.
It actually makes Evil Dead Rise feel more like a TV series. Sure, the undead can adapt to the building, but why not use the same tactics on the evil undead to capture, maim, and terrorize all of their victims?
Other homages, such as mentions of characters or actors' names, are reminders that do not interfere with the plot in any way. They're fun when you get the reference, but you don't have to do the homework to understand the plot.
The Evil Dead franchise has never been more charming than Freddy and Jason. Evil Dead Rise is only the fifth film, though it marks three seasons of the Ash vs Evil Dead TV show since the 2013 remake of the film.
However , Evil Dead was never revealed. As seen in Evil Dead Rise , the franchise may try to transport the dead to places other than remote dungeons or castles.
Fred Topple, who attended Ithaca College's film school, is a Los Angeles-based UPI entertainment writer. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012, and a member of the Critics Association since 2023. Learn more about his work in entertainment.
