
"The Best Evil Dead Movie Ever Made"
When I was a very young my older, protective brother hid a horror VHS tape from me. I eventually found it and started watching it when I thought my brother wasn't home. Halfway through the movie my brother came into the living room and caught me watching it, I turned to him and simply said three words...
This is AWESOME!
The movie I am referring to was the original 1981 'The Evil Dead' and since then I have been a huge fan of the franchise from the sequels, the Ash Vs Evil Dead Show and (Obviously) the Video Games from 'Hail to the King' To last year's Evil Dead: The Game.
Let me assure all of you deadites reading this review that Lee Cronin's written and Directed addition to this ICONIC franchise 'Evil Dead Rise' is a very warm welcome one.
A family of two estranged sisters and three young kids are at the centre of a living nightmare when one of the kids finds a Book of the Dead and some LP's that are played allowed and an ancient Evil is unleash.....You know where this goes from here...Blah Blah Blah Deadites, Blah Blah Blah boomstick, Blah Blah Blah chainsaw....Blah Blah Blah body count, Blah Blah Blah gallons (and GALLONS) of blood as the bloodshed ensues.
HOWEVER, this is (and IS NOT) your typical Evil Dead movie... Allow me to explain.
Instead of a group of friends (or a time-travelling one handed badass) you have a family of three kids and two adult sisters where one of them; Beth played by Lily Sullivan has to become a badass in order to protect her loved ones, which I think makes the movie more intense with such high stakes.
Instead of a cabin in the middle of nowhere you have an apartment in the middle of LA where anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time becomes a Deadite meat sandwich.
Executive Producer (and Ash) Bruce Campbell is quoted as saying about the production of Evil Dead Rise that "it was time to get out of the cabin" and I have to agree.
I find the dark and scary tone quite similar to Fede Alvarez' 2013 Evil Dead but I must say that Evil Dead Rise may very well be The Best Evil Dead Movie Ever Made. It's certainly the scariest of all of them at the very least.
The performances from the main five cast members are great all around from 11-year-old newcomer Nell Fisher as the sweet but at times weird Kassie, Morgan Davies as the little too curious Danny, Gabrielle Echols as the more level headed teen Bridget.
Lily Sullivan steps up as the young adult sister Beth who is put into a hellish nightmare scenario and is pushed through such lengths and tries to be a surrogate mother to the kids that she has to guard them against the Evil.
There are many reasons why I believe this is the scariest and possibly BEST entry in the franchise; the dark, chilling atmosphere from start to finish, the horrific score by Stephen McKeon, amongst them, but what really makes this Evil Dead movie stand out from the others has to be the performance of Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie. Her presence from when she turns into a Deadite is horrifically entertaining throughout. I haven't felt this way about a character in a movie since Heath Ledger's Joker from 'The Dark Knight' she even has a Joker style smile in the movie that is quite sinister and extremely effective in producing terror.
The sound effects of the Deadites movement, the look of the book itself, the relentless carnage throughout, the fact that there is SO much that not even the red band trailers have prepared you for.
This is an Evil Dead movie made BY Evil Dead fans FOR Evil Dead fans. I may very well have to stand on this hill and declare Evil Dead Rise the BEST Evil Dead movie Ever Made. I am very excited to see where writer/director Lee Cronin goes from here. I'm hoping he could make another one. One can only hope and you will too when you see Evil Dead Rise which is out in theatres from April 14th.
A Groovy MASTERPIECE!
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