Evil Dead Rise, directed by Lee Cronin and written by Lee Cronin, is also a new reimagining for the Evil Dead franchise. Sam Raimi, director of the original films in the franchise, ends up being an executive producer on this film here. As was the case with 2013’s Evil Dead in which it has similarities but is nothing like Sam Raimi’s original films, Evil Dead Rise is a film with a different structure with some symbolic elements of Evil Dead being considered in the film. I think there is something original and unique with Lee Cronin’s direction and where it wants to go, regarding the gore, the violence or even the excessive blood element, all without bringing that trace of humor that Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell brought to the franchise, this all just leaves an identity of its own to the director who in this case would be Lee Cronin, and I like how the director takes this franchise to another genre different from Sam Raimi.
Evil Dead Rise follows a twisted tale of two estranged sisters, Ellie, played by Alyssa Sutherland, and Beth, played by Lily Sullivan, whose reunion is interrupted by the rise of flesh possessing demons, thrusting them into a primordial battle for survival as they face the most terrifying version of family imaginable. As I mentioned earlier, this film is packed with gore and more gore, from a certain character eating a glass bowl, to even a wooden stake buried in a character’s skull, Lee Cronin takes the rating to the extreme here and he’s shows he’s not afraid of making something agonizing and gruesome for the audience to watch, something extremely positive in my view. I think the biggest point of originality of Lee Cronin is the way he doesn’t lose the essence of the Evil Dead franchise but has originality regarding the tension and approach to suspense and terror totally different from the franchise, the practical effects of Evil Dead Rise is something perfect tending more to the blood and gore as I had talked about before. The protagonists of the film are more curious in my view, emulate the style Ash would be virtually impossible that in this case you need the presence of Bruce Campbell that does not happen here, but the film has its narrative totally different with its new protagonists, the whole family itself are the protagonists, the director manages a division of screen time well executed with all the characters but of course the attention would be more focused on sisters Beth and Ellie.
The whole movie takes place inside a building and inside an apartment, nothing exaggerated because the film’s running time is short having its 1 hour and 32 minutes approximately, a simple coloring for a horror movie but something that works within the standards of Evil Dead, except the last act where we have the excessive red tone both in costumes and blood. The use of Cgi in this film is not overdone, this is not that type of film where it uses Cgi to make a tension builder, which becomes sometimes a bit generic which doesn’t happen in this film here. The film tries to present a kind of acid humor that is a little different from what we have seen in the original films, which in this case works perfectly with the overall aesthetic of the film that the director (Lee Cronin) would like to have shown. A film with several loopholes for continuations that I really hope to have, Lee Cronin showed that he is competent enough to get the franchise back on track again in a new way and reimagining of the franchise. The experience of the movie is very good, very frenetic and with a pyramid of challenges in which the centered characters need to pass, as I said because the movie is not very long it does not appreciate much for dialogues that is very scarce in this movie which ends up being positive. The violence of the film is really spectacular both because of the makeup and sometimes by cgi, a totally different film franchise with passages similar to the originals. The film has a rather forgettable soundtrack for being a film more focused on the ambient sound of the place to create a great and scary tension. For me the only negative point of Evil Dead Rise is the presentation of the “problem” that would be where the Book Of The Dead was, a silly presentation where the film gets a little lost in the first act, but nothing that affects the film in a huge way. A violent and brutal film full of its own personality, a film to see in the cinema, it’s a whole new experience for the franchise.
★★★★
The movie hits theaters in April 21st.
