SXSW 2023 Review:
"Evil Dead Rise"
Release Date: April 21, 2023.
Rating: R Running Time: 97 minutes Goodbye cabin in the woods. Hello condemned L.A. apartment building. The fifth film in creator Sam Raimi’s “Necronomicon” franchise, Evil Dead Rise differentiates itself from Fede Álvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead reboot by relocating the demonic goings-on from the thick of the woods to the concrete jungle known as Los Angeles. The change of scenery certainly refreshes a franchise now in its fourth decade, with an earthquake kicking off the bloody proceedings. Writer/director Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground) makes perfect use of an apartment building that is as dilapidated as it is spooky when the power goes out. The first demon possession occurs in an elevator, and it is as memorable and horrific as comparable moment in the Raimi and Álvarez Evil Deads. This location also allows Cronin to get his Die Hard on as his hapless victims seek a way out of a building filled with demons summoned by accident from the Book of the Dead. (There’s also a brief but obvious nod to The Shining.) More important, the target of the evil spirits known as the Deadites are no longer adults or teens on a weekend getaway but a divorced mother, her three kids, and her pregnant sister dealing with their everyday problems. Cronin takes advantage of this different dynamic, offering fully realized depictions of the various Intrafamilial relationships before unleashing unspeakable evil on both sets of siblings. So it comes as quite the shock when Alyssa Sutherland’s mother and sister Ellie becomes possessed and turns the apartment building into a slaughterhouse. Sullivan, also the star of the impressive SXSW Film & TV Festival Midnighter Monolith, makes a disturbing transformation from loving mother to a supernatural unstoppable killing machine. An undeniably malevolent presence, Sutherland seizes this opportunity to play a Deadite unlike any other seen in an Evil Dead, one that inverts Beth’s maternal instincts for its own nefarious means. “Mommy’s with the maggots now,” Sutherland intones menacing wit. And Cronin has Sutherland’s family throw everything but the kitchen sink at her to stop her in her tracks. And Sutherland rolls with the punches, creating in the process of one of the most memorable horror villains of this decade. Conversely, as Ellie’s sister Beth, Lily Sullivan digs deep to find and reveal the emotional core of a woman who has live life one day at a time but now protect her three children and an unborn child with the strength and resourcefulness of a parent. Cronin spares the family no mercy as the possessed Ellie spreads her evil throughout the apartment building while attacking many of her neighbors. The end result is a bloodbath with enough scares and gory, inventive set-pieces to make it a worthy Evil Dead entry. That said, Raimi purists may lament Evil Dead Rise’s lack of cartoon-ish humor as Cronin adopts the same solemn tone as Álvarez’s reboot (even though the two are not connected). But Cronin, who also wrote the script, fulfils his mandate of delivering an Evil Dead symbolic of an era when politics has turned family members against family members. That said, there is still room for chainsaws, the “Dead by Dawn” chant, and a cameo by Ash himself, Bruce Campbell. Oh, and you’ll never again look at a cheese grater in the same way. Robert Sims Posted: March 21, 2023. Web sites: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2023/films/2081368 https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/evil-dead-rise |
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