Evil Dead Rise
EVIL DEAD RISE
Evil Dead Rise is the fifth installment of the Evil Dead franchise and stars Lily Sullivan (Beth) and Alyssa Sutherland (Ellie) as two sisters who fight against Deadites. The film was produced by Sam & Ivan Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Originally it was slated to premier on the streaming service HBO Max but ended up being released to theaters due to positive test audience results.
Evil Dead Rise had it’s premiere at South By Southwest on March 15, 2023 and was officially released on April 21, 2023.
Warning: The rest of this article has SPOILERS.
Evil Dead Rise offers fans of the franchise a non-stop gore fest with barrels of blood, numerous odes to previous Evil Dead movies, and a grotesque assortment of demons, monsters, and freaks.
The movie starts with friends Teresa, Caleb, and Jessica vacationing at a lakeside cabin; Jessica becomes possessed by a deadite and scalps Teresa, decapitates Caleb with a drone, and then levitates above the lake as the movie title displays in the background. The opening moments of the movie set the pace for the entire movie. Everything moves very fast, the storyline is secondary to the bloodshed, and in typical Evil Dead fashion you know to expect horrific scenes where body parts are mutilated and flesh wounds are unforgettably memorable.
One plot twist change in this movie is that the actors do not read passages from The Book of the dead. The character Danny discovers three records along with the Book of the Dead and when he plays the records he hears priests who recite passages that release Deadites. Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) becomes possessed while in an elevator and this sets the pace for the Deadite invasion.
Ellie is never saved and becomes sicker as the movie evolves. One by one her entire family minus her sister Beth and daughter Kassie are devoured by the deadites.
The Cheese Grater scene is absolutely iconic and will go down in horror movie history due to it’s extremely awkward and horribly graphic moment in the film.
Without giving away anymore moments in the movie, the ending explains the beginning of the movie and also sets up for a possible sequel to Evil Dead Rise because when the movie ends the deadites are still loose and the book of the dead has not been sealed up so all of humanity is not safe yet.
Bruce Campbell’s cameo in the film comes in the form of an audio role. Campbell is heard in a recording on one of the records warning the priests “It’s called the Book of the Dead For a Reason!”. The role Campbell plays is described as a “time displaced Ash Williams”.
Principal photography for Evil Dead Rise began on June 6, 2021 in New Zealand. Filming officially wrapped on October 27, 2021. Supposedly the film used over 6,500 liters (1,717 gallons) of fake blood and the movie leaned heavily towards practical effects over computer generated situations.
As of April 23, 2023 Evil Dead Rise has grossed over $24.5 million in the USA and Canada, and $17.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of over $42.4 million. The film made $10.3 million on it’s first day including $2.5 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to finish as #2 at the box office behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie which was #1.
When Bruce Campbell was asked about the possibility of a sequel to Evil Dead Rise he stated: "I think the stories will progress a little more now. We're going to try and do them more like every two or three years rather than every 10 years. It's also the first time Sam is working with his brother Ivan to create an overall Bible that will give future writers and directors an idea of where this thing should go next to potentially tie in some of these stories. So, I think it's going to get a little more tied in as the years go by. But because it's all about the books. It could be a book in the past, a book in the future. It's yet to be determined.”
Evil Dead Rise is definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of the franchise because the new film delivers everything that a true die hard fan could want from the new film.
