Written and Directed by Lee Cronin
Starring Lily Sullivan, Anna-Maree Thomas, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Alyssa Sutherland

I’ll be real, I haven’t watched a single entry into this series. Not an episode of series Ash vs Evil Dead, nor a reboot, nor the classics, but they’ve finally lulled me into the fold with this follow-up? Reboot? Continuation? I’m not sure where this fifth instalment of the Evil Dead film series sits exactly, but despite this timeline being more confusing to me than MCUs, I do know that it’s got me hooked.

Evil Dead Rise almost exclusively hones its focus on a single family residing on the 9th-ish floor of a decrepit high-rise somewhere in America. The family is loving, and heartbreak is recent, but while you can recover from heartbreak, the demon floating around the basement likes to break a whole lot more in permanent ways.

Getting into it, all I knew was that it proudly flaunted its R18+ classification here in Australia and that they’d used hundreds of gallons of blood on set. I was set for a gore-fest, and it really didn’t hold back, which is particularly surprising considering its ensemble of child actors starring in main roles. There are only two adults taking up main roles, supported by another two in the supporting cast, and it’s to the movie’s favour for it to be this way. This sight of kids running around, being possessed, and doing everything that warrants a rating which will exclude them from screenings for years is distinctly uncomfortable, yet at the same time, rather light-hearted.

So that’s where the famous Evil Dead-camp legacy comes in I suppose. This is a movie that’s really fun to watch among a crowd. One where you’re all just enjoying the bloodbath and can reassure each other that you’re not sickos for having a hearty laugh at the sight of a graphic mauling. It’s not that we find the mutilation itself funny, it’s the pacing, the angles, the inflection in characters’ tones. No, I am definitely not a bad man for watching a demon torture families! *Insert halo emoji*. In fact, director Lee Cronin is a bad man for making it funny, but a clever filmmaker for ensuring it works as intended! And you know what’s arguably the best way to deliver comedy? Subversively, in my opinion. And there is nothing more left field than when a horror lets down its knickers to flash the audience with an unexpected flash of it.

On a cinematic note, this thing is gorgeous. In my opinion it peaks too early – the prelude was phenomenal and when the scenes shifted to focus on another part of the story I was gutted. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen such an astonishing mixture of 80’s, 90’s and 00’s tropes fit into one dense package, but once the title of the film ominously appears on screen, it slows down tremendously. That’s a shame, but it sure got me hyped for the following hour and a half (that I still don’t think lived up to those first couple of minutes). When the title does appear however, a whole new concept is introduced: sound. This movie is one of the loudest experiences I’ve ever had in IMAX, and I thoroughly encourage anyone with the capacity to see it that way. Your ears will be left ringing and during the action scenes you’ll be begging for mercy. It’s a new take on immersion that I can only take in small bites but hope returns.

All in all, for someone without the knowledge to stand up in any conversation about this decades-old franchise, Evil Dead Rise nurtured me like a baby with no need to pre-watch anything any previous works. We hit the ground running and I’m not sure if a die-hard fan of the series would’ve enjoyed the lengthy elaborations on the science of the universe, surely, they can look past it for some truly wacky gore.

Evil Dead Rise is showing in cinemas across Australia from April 20th.

Moviedoc thanks Warner Bros. Pictures and Universal Pictures for the invite to the screening of this film.

Reviewed by Zak Wheeler for Moviedoc

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