Right from the moment the title card of Evil Dead Rise appears, I couldn’t help but think of how many litres of blood an average human being can lose to keep them going despite the unending carnage they go through in this film.
Evil Dead Rise, the latest reboot of the horror franchise unleashes demonic creatures that are scary enough to make us shut our eyes with our hands but exciting enough to make us peek through closed fingers at the 100-minute unadulterated gallery of raw violence, and gore, accompanied by the right amount of jump scares and ghastly imagery.
Evil Dead Rise begins with three young adult friends, Teresa, Caleb and Jessica camping near a lonely cabin amid the lake and woods. The film does not take too long to reveal a possessed Jessica devouring her two friends, not to mention how she rips a major portion of Teresa’s scalp before she finishes off Caleb.
This is just the beginning of the goriness. We are introduced to Beth (Lily Sullivan), a guitar technician, who has just come to know of her pregnancy and turns up at the doorstep of her estranged elder sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland).
Evil Dead RiseThe latter has her own problems to deal with after she separated from her husband and now takes care of her three children Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and Kassie (Nell Fisher). Currently living in a dilapidated building and forced to vacate within a month, the film gives little room for Ellie and Beth to reconcile before the three children stumble across a secret vault below their building, unleashing a wave of infernal powers.
This is not the first time, (or the last), you would secretly wish for the protagonist to not venture into something that is clearly labelled dangerous.
After discovering ancient religious artifacts, Danny, much to the chagrin of Bridget, brings some of them to their flat and unleashes demonic powers. Of course, the powers get hold of Ellie, who in turn takes Beth and her children for one hell of a ride. The film checks all the boxes needed for a horror film.
There are possessions (it’s not limited to just one), enough jump scares, and an unapologetic showcase of gore and violence. It also employs the last-girl-surviving trope, well in this case two. There is a lot of violence in the film, and it acts as the main source of experiential investment drawn out of the film. Several instances of the duel between the demons and humans end up with gore that when watched on big screens can make you squirm, but Evil Dead Rise draws its drama out of it. So, no complaints on that front. There is also a close loop payoff towards the end on how the story of two sisters and three children is connected to that of the three teenagers we see in the beginning. As much as Evil Dead thrives on the legacy of its previous instalments, the latest offering does not make their viewings a determining factor. But credit for much of this experience goes to the primary cast of five.
Alyssa Sutherland as the demonic mother puts up a stellar show, along with the actors who portray her children. The film also inserts some emotional fragments about family, longing and belongingness. There is a subverting take on motherhood too, but these elements are not too indulgent, and just serve as baits to lure us into the storyline. Evil Dead Rise has enough to make room for an experiential horror unfold onscreen and warrants a theatre watch to get frightened the right way.
Director: Lee Cronin Cast: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher
