c/o IMDb
The latest entry in the “Evil Dead” franchise is stirring the pot and bringing the heat with gallons of blood. “Evil Dead Rise” is getting praise from many sides, and it’s easy to see why. The movie offers a fantastic selection of creative gore, combinations of practical effects with CGI, and just the right amount of chainsaw-wielding grooviness. For all its strengths, however, I also found many faults on display.
The “Evil Dead” movies aren’t known for great acting. However, due to director Sam Raimi’s signature style of camp, this shortcoming tends to fly under the radar. You’re often distracted by watching the wackiness of the situation unfold. In this sense, “Evil Dead Rise” succeeds. When it holds your attention, it grabs you by the throat. The moments of body horror are terrifying and work remarkably well. When the demons spit out something crude and foul-mouthed, you can’t help but be taken aback with unexpected enjoyment.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to reboot a goofy story in a way that takes itself seriously. Many iconic and well-known horror movies are themselves remakes of goofier, older versions, and “Evil Dead” being the next in line for a remake makes sense. Many people argue whether or not the 2013 remake did the original justice. But how does the new one stack up? The answer is mixed.
Because “Evil Dead Rise” insists on taking its protagonists seriously, you cannot help but cringe when they say a hokey or weirdly-delivered line. The original movies are very aware of their awkward dialogue. Bruce Campbell knows he’s not the best actor in the world; he’s just having a great time on screen. But here, every actor is really trying. And yet, no matter how hard they try, they consistently make incredibly stupid decisions and deliver one-note generic lines.
In regards to the horror aspects, “Evil Dead Rise” throws absolutely everything at the wall to see what sticks. In the creative department, it definitely delivers. The new methods of deadite-possessing demon action are all over the place in the best way, complete with new distorted and genuinely disturbing voice alterations to an actor’s voice once their character is possessed. Of all the actors in the movie, Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie definitely gives the most impressive and versatile performance. She can flip from beautiful, loving mother to trash-talking deadite on a dime, seemingly without effort. Adding to the madness is Lily Sullivan as Ellie’s sister Beth, who, for the most part, does a solid job.
When the film tells you it’s going to do something crazy, it commits. Mostly, this is a positive quality. One cool and horrific scene involves creative use of scissors and a cheese grater. On the flip side, the third act’s final enemy feels more generic and uninspired than anything else. Up until that point, the possessed creatures are handled in pretty fun and genuinely disturbing ways. When “Evil Dead Rise” is a simple smile with yellow eyes, it’s at its most terrifying. But at the end, it all just gets tossed to the side in favor of some “epic moments.” And on a personal note, something that always bugs me is when a movie establishes a hard rule and then breaks it immediately in the next scene. This one unfortunately has that problem, which was annoying and completely took me out of the film’s world.
Bottom line, if you strip away the fantastic scenes of creative creature effects and use of distortion, all you’re left with is an average horror movie that offers nothing new. Aside from how the demons act, the plot, characters, dialogue–everything–is cut from the same cloth as everything else. The opening also doesn’t go anywhere after promising an interesting setup. Ultimately, I enjoyed my time in the theater, but I didn’t feel much afterward. I’d give it six cheese graters out of ten.
Nate Wheeler can be reached nwheeler@wesleyan.edu.