Lee Cronin has hit the box office with an excellent big budget debut. Taking all the humor and tropes from previous iterations of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness, Cronin made the bold move of scripting a family in an apartment in Cali, instead of the usual cabin in the woods bit for Evil Dead Rise.
The setting and usual cast change works at a level that makes this Evil Dead stand apart from other incarnations. Even having Ash replaced by Lilly Sullivan’s “Beth” actually goes over as opposed to the typical pushback of having male pop culture leads being replaced by Mary Sue character. Beth is no Sue, though, as with the rest of the characters she gets bathed in gratuitous amounts of gore played up to the point of laughs. Evil Dead Rise is sight gag after sight gag, with Dave Garbett shooting expertly with tilted shots from HDR’s to fish eye spots that will leave any film fanatic in awe.
Stephen McKeon’s score sounds oddly whimsical, like something out a Warner Bros. children’s film, cueing up whenever something absolutely outrageous happens on-screen. This score is nothing short of an excellent accompaniment for a picture that refuses to take itself seriously, but there is nothing done in Evil Dead Rise that is put up as a laughing matter.
The comedy is all self-referential and pokes fun at the utter ridiculousness of the genre of horror films. The schlock is as heavy as the vintage items used to push the plot along (vinyl records and chain locks for doors – the world should have never moved on from either of you), but it doesn’t get in the way of Cronin’s cut, it propels it forward into a great movie. Even with the underlying family themes, there still Cronin did not take much of a chance for Evil Dead Rise to slow down.
There is not a lingering scene anywhere here, but there are sure to be plenty of sequences that will stick in the heads of supporters of this legacy franchise. With the sequences moving at a breakneck pace, choice camera shots, a small cast and only a master chef in the director and writer’s wing of the kitchen, wisely set in the home of Tinsel Town, Evil Dead Rise is what cinematic entertainment is all about.
Score : 5/5