Review: Evil Dead Rise

Alyssa Sutherland and her three kids are visited by her guitar tech sister Lily Sullivan when a small earthquake hits. The ground in the parking garage of their crappy apartment building opens up and one of the kids stumbles upon a book and some old gramophone records. An ugly, ugly book called the Necronomicon. Oh no, don’t do that. Silly kids.

 

I’ll quite often have a different take on a film to the general consensus, but every now and then I find myself having the extreme polar opposite opinion to most other people. I think this 2023 film from writer-director Lee Cronin (whose background is in shorts) might be such an occasion because I’d heard good things from all quarters it seemed. I thought the trailer was quite effective, although far more serious and scary than I normally associate with this particular franchise. I probably should’ve seen the warning signs right there.

 

In terms of the camerawork here, Cronin tries very hard to make you think of the first (and best) “Evil Dead” film, but Cronin doesn’t seem to understand what made those first two films work more than any other factor: Fun. The only fun here is an excellent reveal of the film’s title. The first two films were a blast, and both had a very silly, slapstick-y sense of humour, “Evil Dead II” especially brought the comedy factor. This film, even more so than the 2013 remake (which I thought was middling) takes things way too seriously. The remake was a Three Stooges skit compared to this total downer. Why is Cronin giving us kitchen sink drama bullshit in an “Evil Dead” movie? It’s supposed to be simple, cheesy cabin in the woods fun. Instead we get a dingy, rundown apartment and no fun at all. They’ve even screwed up the Necronomicon and made it look stupid.

 

The characters are boring as hell, no one stands out as interesting or appealing. Instead of the infamous ‘tree rape’ from the original (which simply wouldn’t fly today and I’m fine with that, times and attitudes change) we get a clever elevator attack scene but I just didn’t care because none of it was fun. The franchise is supposed to be fun. Yes, the first film was intense and frightening, but it was also goofy as hell, though thankfully not as goofy as “Army of Darkness” (never been a fan of that one). The original even looked like it was fun to make (though Bruce Campbell’s brilliantly funny autobiography If Chins Could Kill seems to suggest it was quite hellish at times). If you don’t want to make a fun horror movie, don’t make an “Evil Dead” movie. Simple as that. “Cabin Fever” already exists if you want a disgusting downer version. The “Evil Dead” remake already exists. Call this something else.

 

This is a slog and Cronin clearly had no clue what the assignment was here. I’m sure plenty of money was made for all involved and hopefully they use the money to make something vastly more entertaining next time.

 

Rating: D+

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