Evil Dead Rise ★★★★
Lee Cronin
Starring Alyssa Sutherland, Lily Sullivan, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher
Following an intense cabin sequence, the words Evil Dead Rise lift above a lake in what is one of the most amazing title card reveals on film. From that point on, you know that the fifth instalment in the Evil Dead franchise will be bold, unique and nail-biting.
The Evil Dead movies have one of the strangest progressions, but that's part of their absurd charm. And here, with Sam Raimi producing, Lee Cronin creates the scariest Deadite film to date.
Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her three kids are being evicted from their apartment, whilst Ellie's sister Beth (Lily Sullivan), making an unannounced visit, has fallen pregnant and needs some siblings support. The family don't have long to hash it out though, as the discovery of an ancient book sends demons screeching, crawling and POV shaky-camming into the apartment building.
It's been a constant part of the marketing that Sutherland plays the lead Deadite, and she is haunting. With a discomforting smile or the chilling blink of an eye, she terrifies the other characters and the audience alike.
There are scenes with cheese graters and elevators and record players and of course the iconic chainsaw, but none of it feels gimmicky. It's one of those horrors that makes your skin crawl.
It's definitely not as funny as the original trilogy, with the third movie Army of Darkness essentially just a comedy, but it does have a very dark humour at its core. The camera techniques and plot moments are there to pay respect and homage to the original trilogy of which this owes its thanks.
But although this does honour the films that came before it, it adds so many new concepts to make it stand out as its own original horror, that new audiences are going to flock to...and then run from.
There's a surround SFX noise that plays a handful of times throughout the film, in which a rattle gently shakes from side of the cinema to the other; it makes you feel a part of the horror. This is one of those horrors that will have you double-taking your mirrors on your drive home and putting on all the lights when you get back.
Innovative, outrageous and of course..."groovy"!
Evil Dead Rise available in UK cinemas now