Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Evil Dead Rise is the fifth installment of the venerable Evil Dead franchise that began in 1981. This movie is a spinoff. It does not feature any characters from the previous movies other than, of course, the deadites – evil demons that are summoned by reading from a book of spells.

The film begins in traditional fashion. A trio of young people, two girls and a guy, are staying together in a cabin in the woods. One of the girls begins to behave strangely and things quickly turn violent. After brutally scalping and decapitating her companions, the girl levitates above a nearby lake.

The storyline then flashes back to a day earlier and focuses on two estranged sisters, Beth (Lily Sullivan) and Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland). Beth, a guitar technician, decides to visit her sister after learning that she has unexpectedly become pregnant.

Alyssa is a single mom with a teenage daughter Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), a teenage son Danny (Morgan Davies), and a younger daughter named Kassie (Nell Fisher). After an earthquake rocks their apartment complex, Danny finds a mysterious book and century-old recordings made by a priest. No points for guessing if this book is the Necronomicon, a mystical collection of spells that can summon demons.

If you’ve seen any of the previous Evil Dead movies, you know where this is going. Danny accidentally unleashes the deadites, who possess his mother and turn her into a grotesque murderous monster. Beth then teams up with her sister’s kids to attempt to defeat the deadites.

Evil Dead Rise is just as loaded with wild over the top gore as the previous movies in the series. As usual, nobody is safe from the deadites. This franchise has never had any qualms about killing off kids and this installment is no exception.

Back in the ’80s, the first couple of Evil Dead movies were released unrated due to their extreme gore. There’s little if any difference between what was shown in those movies vs. the content in Evil Dead Rise. It’s a perfect example of how the MPAA ratings board’s standards have evolved (thankfully for horror fans who want to watch movies in theaters) compared to a couple decades ago.

Related: The Evil Dead Movies Ranked

Along with its extreme gore, the Evil Dead franchise is also known for its goofy sense of humor. This installment comes up short in that regard. The storyline isn’t really conducive to providing a lot of laughs. Ash Williams, the bumbling antihero who added goofy charm to the first three movies (and the tv series) is sadly nowhere to be found.

The cast’s performances aren’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but they are perfectly fine for this type of movie. The main star is Lily Sullivan as Beth, the reluctant aunt/expectant mother who must summon the courage to protect her nieces and nephew against her deadite-possessed sister.

In this series, people who are possessed by the demons are as good as dead (usually). Beth has to face the fact that her sister is already gone and that she must destroy and dismember Ellie’s possessed body in order to defeat the demons.