We’re out of the woods and into a dilapidated apartment building, but don’t you panic—there’s still plenty of blood, a Kandarian demon or two, and a honking great chainsaw, because this is an Evil Dead flick! Load your boomstick and fill up the Oldsmobile, because Evil Dead Rise hits cinemas on April 20.
This one comes to us not from OG Evil Dead maestro Sam Raimi, who has instead taken an Executive Producer role, but Irish director Lee Cronin, who helmed the acclaimed folk horror The Hole in the Ground in 2019. And there’s a marked absence of Bruce Campbell’s long-suffering Ash, too; our hero this time out is guitar tech Beth (Lily Sullivan), who’s trying to patch things up with her sister, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland).
However, family drama must take a backseat when Ellie’s teenage son Danny (Morgan Davies) goes poking around in an abandoned bank vault, and finds a dusty old book. As fans expect, it’s the Necronomicon, and before you can say “Klaatu barada nikto” we’re up to our armpits in possessed family members, Deadites, and blood. So much blood.
Much like Fede Alvarez’s 2013 remake, Evil Dead Rise eschews the goofy comedy of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness (and Ash vs Evil Dead, of course), preferring to tap a purer vein of horror. Which is great news for those of us with a yen for terror and gore, but we have to wonder if the absence of Sam Raimi’s gonzo, Three Stooges-inspired lunacy will help or hinder this latest instalment in the legendary horror franchise. Is there a difference between a good horror movie and a good Evil Dead movie?
Well, that’s for history to decide, we guess. In the meantime, the dead will rise at your local fleapit soon—that sounds pretty groovy to us.
