In 1980, Sam Raimi and company created a singular filmmaking experience that was visceral, stylish, and a bit insane. The Evil Dead, released in 1981, was a commercial and critical hit, launching the careers of director Sam Raimi, producer Robert Tapert, and actor Bruce Campbell. Two sequels followed, each wilder than the one before it, followed twenty years later by a stunning remake/sequel in 2013, directed by Fede Alvarez, and with creative input from Raimi and his team.
Now, more than forty years after the release of the original, comes Evil Dead Rise (2023), a loose sequel/reboot set in a crumbling high rise.
Written and directed by Lee Cronin, Evil Dead Rise is a disappointment on almost all fronts, taking a franchise that is known for its originality and energy, and delivering a competent but bland and forgettable entry that seems more interested in subtext than scares.
A few years ago, when it was announced that Cronin would be the next filmmaker chosen to play in the Evil Dead sandbox, I was genuinely surprised. Cronin’s only feature, The Hole in The Ground, is a depressing, dour, and pretty style-less horror drama. Watching it, you never get the sense that Cronin - whose humorless, neo-goth style is pretty at odds with everything Evil Dead is known for - is not the right filmmaker for the job. Evil Dead Rise proves it.
Cronin’s script transports the proceedings from a cabin in the woods, to a dilapidated high rise in a bad neighborhood, another isolated setting in which the deadites, the evil spirits of the unholy book, the necronomicon, can wreak havoc.
But the setting is never used to its fullest potential. Instead, Cronin presents us with a single mother, whose tattoos and snarky attitude is supposed to make her “a strong female character”, I suppose. But since she isn’t developed in any meaningful way, and seems bored of her own children, she just comes off as extremely unlikable. As for the rest of the characters, they barely make a dent in one’s memory. Just more fodder for the cannon.
And Cronin seems to be intent on taking the franchise into a sort of po-faced, emo direction, resulting in one dour viewing experience. Because, as any good storyteller knows, if you want to get serious, you need to have likable, relatable characters that the audience can root for, that the audience can feel for when they get hurt, or maimed, or dismembered, things that Cronin subjects his cast of characters to relentlessly.
And then there’s the muddled subtext about feminism, fear of motherhood, “the male gaze”, and other heady subjects, which have no place in The Evil Dead franchise, which has alway been about terror, imagination, and style over substance. As for gender-swapping, The 2013 Evil Dead remake already did it, and did it wonderfully, under the guidance of writer/director Alvarez, who delivered a sleek, punchy Evil Dead entry that hit all the right notes and then some, while exuding plenty of energy and originality. In other words, it was both contemporary and timeless. Both respectful to the original, and intent on creating something new. Cronin’s film doesn’t have any of that. Instead, it’s just another well-made horror movie with plenty of gore and technical trickery, but no heart or soul. Just plenty of posturing, faux sentimentality, and one hell of a downer streak.
Evil Dead Rise is not a worthy addition to the series. Hell, it barely feels like an Evil Dead movie at all.
And while The Evil Dead movies have always been more about style than substance, Evil Dead Rise ends up having little substance, and even less style.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2023.
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