Once Partial to the Woods, an Ancient Evil Returns in a Dingy Apartment

Lily Sullivan in "Evil Dead Rise"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

When it comes to horror directors, one of the most distinct visions comes from Sam Raimi.  With his trilogy of films that includes “Evil Dead,” “Evil Dead 2,” and “Army of Darkness” (1981-1992), he gave us a series that reveled in its scares and campiness, creating an enjoyable viewing experience that was bolstered by Bruce Campbell’s iconic performance as protagonist Ash Williams.  Then, in 2013, Fede Álvarez made his feature directorial debut with the series reboot, “Evil Dead.”  While somewhat inferior to the original, I developed a bit more of a liking to it upon a recent rewatch.  It can be appreciated as a notable addition to the series with its shift in tone to something much darker that helped set itself apart from what came before.

For the film’s fifth installment, we have something that maintains the tone of Álvarez’s film with writer-director Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise.”  Lifted by good performances, a fast-paced story, and disturbing visuals, Cronin’s movie deserves its place in this series.

In Los Angeles, guitar technician Beth (Lily Sullivan) visits her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), a single mother with three children: Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher).  When Ellie’s children happen upon a volume of the Book of the Dead in a hidden part of their apartment complex, their family will face a terror unlike they’ve ever known.

Sullivan gives a performance that’s worthy of what Campbell delivered in the earlier films.  She exemplifies a fearlessness when it comes to protecting her family, going all into the horror of the situation and battling an evil that threatens everyone she loves.  Even with the seemingly unstoppable quality of the demonic entity, Sullivan brings out her character’s ferocity that will have you cheering as she uses her on-the-spot ingenuity to dispatch this ancient threat.

Sutherland provides chilling work as a mom who becomes possessed by a demonic force that’s released from the book.  With unnatural body movements and unsettling facial expressions, Sutherland presents a character who’s frightening to behold, a person who goes from being a loving mother to someone who’s enshrouded in evil.

Although Cronin’s screenplay is mostly a same-thing-different-location sort of affair, he still manages to write set-pieces that utilize the change of scenery.  Whether it be the family’s apartment, a low-lit hallway, or an underground parking garage, he creates scenarios that show different ways to view the usual “Evil Dead” template.  Aside from the sequences of horror, Cronin dedicates much of the film’s first third to letting us get to know the characters and the dynamics that they share, ensuring that you’ll care for their plight once it hits.  The concept of a family being tormented by evil is something that we saw in his 2019 writer-directorial debut, “The Hole in the Ground,” and Irish horror film where he focused on a mother and son being haunted by an unknown terror, and that aspect works just as well here.

The cinematography by Dave Garbett uses the franchise’s signature move of the camera sweeping through the setting, acting as the demonic entity as it travels to its next victim, and it’s just as eerie as ever.  He also employs several other standout visuals, most notably a sequence where we view a scene of horror through the peephole of the family’s apartment door.  There are several things that the “Evil Dead” series promises with each entry, one of which is nifty camerawork, and Garbett delivers in this respect.

As a director, this is Cronin’s second movie.  After “The Hole in the Ground,” he makes the confident leap from the low-key horror of that film to the searing, blood-and-gore intensity that we see throughout “Evil Dead Rise.”  He proves his capability with dramatic moments in the film’s first third, but once the film goes full-tilt into the horrors that we’ve come to know with this franchise, Cronin doesn’t hold back.  Just as Álvarez did with his reboot, Cronin does Raimi proud with the levels of blood that are on display, exhibiting creative ways for all of the splatter to hit the screen and giving us a visceral and crazy fun experience.  He maintains the momentum of the film as a quick-moving red-shower horror show, ensuring that you get the most out of the film’s brisk running time.

It’s been 10 years since we had an “Evil Dead” movie, and Cronin and his team have the series return in full force.  Whatever this franchise has next in store, I can’t wait to see it rise again.

Grade: A-