EVIL DEAD RISE
Mommie Deadest
RELEASED 21 APRIL 18 | 97 minutes
Director Lee Cronin
Cast Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland,
Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols
Is there another horror franchise as reliable as the Evil
Dead series? Forty-one years and five films in we still await a turkey, with this latest iteration jostling for bronze medal position.
Gorehounds will know the drill: cabin in the woods, sinister incantation, demonic possession, extreme violence, dismemberment by chainsaw. Except this time the cabin in the woods is – barring a short prologue – absent, with the carnage unfolding in a rundown LA apartment building after a quake leads to the discovery of a Necronomicon in a forgotten vault. Soon mother Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) is on the turn, leaving visiting sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) tasked with protecting her kids.
If you’re thinking that such a premise would lead to punches being pulled, think again. Evil
Dead Rise’s gleeful, winceinducing extremity arguably surpasses even the nailgun and electric carving knife shenanigans of Fede Álvarez’s 2013 take. At the same time, its visceral brutality often has its inherent humour – akin to a Looney Tunes character being flattened by an anvil.
Writer/director Lee Cronin pulls off the tricky balancing act of striving for faithfulness while providing enough innovation to freshen things up. Some may click their tongues at the videogame boss level feel of the climax, but it provides the requisite escalation. Cronin playfully remixes elements like the gliding demonic POV shots and the infamous “tree rape” sequence, and scatters a basketful of Easter eggs – some obvious, others far more subtle.
Expansive production design prevents the domestic setting ever feeling oppressively cramped. Characters are sufficiently well-developed to make us care for them without eating into the running time allotted for spew and arterial blood spray. And Cronin and Sutherland have great sport with the possibilities for sadistic taunting that mummy-talk affords (“Let me kiss it better”). A film of blood-drenched brio, which Deadites should find delightfully disgusting. Ian Berriman
Pay attention to the wallpapers and lampshades – leaf and tree patterns nod to the woods that this entry has left behind.