Stream it:
|
Own it:
|
With: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Nell Fisher, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Mirabai Pease, Richard Crouchley, Anna-Maree Thomas, Noah Paul, Nell Fisher, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy, Tai Wano, Jayden Daniels, Mark Mitchinson
|
Written by: Lee Cronin
|
Directed by: Lee Cronin
|
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, and some language
|
Running Time: 97
|
|
Date: 04/21/2023
|
|
|
|
Deadite Mom
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
This fifth entry in the classic horror franchise unfortunately relies on kids in peril, but it ramps up the terror with its great use of creepy settings, potent characters, and insane gore effects.
Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) is a newly single mom living in a dilapidated apartment building (soon to be condemned) with her three children: budding teen DJ Danny (Morgan Davies), teen activist Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and youngest Kassie (Nell Fisher). Ellie's errant sister Beth (Lily Sullivan), after getting some alarming news, shows up unexpectedly.
Not long after, an earthquake rocks the building, and Danny discovers an opening leading to the old bank that stood before the apartment building went up. He uncovers an old book and a few vinyl records. The book is filled with horrific images, and the records contain some kind of incantation that unleashes a horrible evil force. Soon Ellie is possessed and trying to kill her own family. It's up to Beth to protect her nieces and nephew from the unpredictable and chaotic force.
Written and directed by Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin (of the creepy 2019 horror movie The Hole in the Ground), Evil Dead Rise starts confidently with an excellent joke involving camerawork, and a teasing prologue. Then the main story, set on the 13th floor of a truly impressive high-rise apartment building, makes full use of its physical space. Inside the family apartment is cozy, full of art projects, but the hallways, elevators, and underground garage, are all ominous, with stark, flickering lights and a sense of decay. (One sequence, shot entirely through the peephole in the front door, is inspired.)
The movie also takes time to set up its characters in a fully-rounded way, upping our emotional involvement. References to the earlier classics are handled slyly, both as a gift to fans, but also as a way of suggesting the eternal, ongoing quality of this brand of evil. The fact that the movie places children in danger — especially Kassie, who, in real life, is only 11 — creates a slight, unpleasant distraction from fully enjoying the craziness, but overall Evil Dead Rise is ready to give you some sugar, baby.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Blu-ray release features an excellent audio & video transfer, as well as various audio track and subtitle options. There's a bonus DVD and a digital copy, but no bonus features, at all. Even so, this is Recommended.
|
