People shocked at the horror factor of “Evil Dead Rise”

“Evil Dead Rise”  is the fifth addition to the “Evil Dead” franchise. After a short glimpse to the next day at a lake, the majority of the film takes place in a less-than-perfect apartment building in Los Angeles, California watching the Deadite transformation of Ellie, Bridget, and Danny, along with supporting cast members.

“Evil Dead Rise” was set to release in 2022 on HBO Max, however, the film made it through the Discovery merger and was promoted to a theatrical release, according to Outlook.com. The movie opened second place in the domestic box office, making $40 million worldwide. The release date was April 21 for the U.S. and March 15 for most international locations. With a budget of only $19 million, the movie has made over $86.5 million as of May 1. Warner Bros. Studio helped to produce the film, which ran a little over an hour and a half in length. 

The director and writer, Lee Cronin, definitely achieved his goal with the movie. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Cronin states that his main goal for “Evil Dead Rise” is to “deliver audiences a roller coaster of terror” because that’s what he felt when he first saw “Evil Dead”. 

One of the main themes of “Evil Dead Rise” is family and motherhood. At the beginning, we see Beth in the bathroom of a concert venue taking a pregnancy test. The test comes back positive, so she leaves to find her sister, Ellie. Ellie was the first to be possessed and transformed into a Deadite, but she held off her transformation as long as she could to ensure that her children made it to safety. While possessed, she used her motherhood in her favor to taunt her children, and at one point gets the youngest child, Kassie, to reach her arm out the door so that she could grab it. I think the director’s ideas are very worthwhile. Seeing as the film is part of a franchise, the ideas are closely related to those of the previous installments, and since the franchise is so popular and has made so much money, I think it is wise to stick to what the company knows will work. 

Cronin has always had an interest in directing horror films. According to IMDb, a few of the movies he has directed have been “Through the Night”, “Ghost Train”, “Minutes Past Midnight”, “The Hole in the Ground”, and most recently, “Evil Dead Rise”. His strengths in directing are keeping up with the times and changing certain aspects of the franchise for the better, like having two female leads instead of the classic male/female pairing. I believe he did a great job in portraying how family can change for the worse. According to Stephen Porzio at JOE, Cronin had some difficulty directing the final scenes of the film. 

The music of “Evil Dead Rise”, by Stephen McKeon, fits the movie very well. It is mostly heavy metal/ rock music, other than when Danny is messing with his DJ equipment, supporting the mood of the film. The cinematography is by Dave Garbett, who fully achieves the dark look necessary for a successful horror film. The costuming doesn’t seem like it took a lot of effort at first glance, but to find an outfit to fit each specific character must have been difficult. Luckily, there wasn’t only one or two people for the costuming department, but instead, an entire team. Editing was by Bryan Shaw, who also did the editing for the film’s 2013 installment. 

The actors did a tremendous job at portraying their respective roles. Alyssa Sutherland played Ellie, Lily Sullivan played Beth, Morgan Davies played Danny, Gabrielle Echols played Bridget, and Nell Fisher played Kassie. These are only a few of the characters seen in the movie, but the majority is centered around their family and plotline. Sutherland and Sullivan particularly stuck out to me because of their motherly roles and how well they played their parts. These are all first time “Evil Dead Rise” actors/actresses. 

Many special effects were used, especially for the ending scene where all of the Deadites morph together. The actors had to move and twitch in very specific ways to scare their next victim. 

Overall, this film is definitely worth the watch. The plot flows very well, the storyline fits with the other installments, and there are definitely some humorous moments. I’d recommend the movie to anyone who doesn’t have a weak stomach and can handle a lot of blood.