Evil Dead Risible: the headline was practically writing itself for yet another tired-out horror reboot/sequel (the fifth in the series) to 1981’s The Evil Dead. Except... not so fast!
Surprisingly, Lee Cronin’s offering doesn’t feel like the work of a man who’s sold out. This scary movie, as well as being fantastically violent and jolting, is profoundly amusing and full of soul.
The film first introduces us to two goth sisters, technician Beth (Lily Sullivan) and tattooist Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), plus Ellie’s three children, Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and Kassie (Nell Fisher).
Within minutes of Beth arriving in Ellie’s shambolic LA apartment (Ellie’s not only broke but about to be evicted), there’s a gag about tampons and a not-so-subtle hint that sweet, intrepid Danny is trans.
The franchise revolves around a bad book (the Necronomicon) and jerky-limbed demons (Deadites). Surprise, surprise, all hell breaks loose in the high-rise, and unconventional-but-caring Ellie stops being her best self. Meanwhile Beth (who’s pregnant, though wishes she wasn’t), is forced to defend the kids from their newly terrifying mother.
Imagine the Addams family with a manic Morticia, and more Wednesdays. Seriously, what’s not to love?
Irish-born director Cronin is a magician when it comes to directing kids and depicting complex single mums under pressure (see his feature debut, The Hole in the Ground). It’s obvious he adores this series, but he’s no copy-cat.
Evil Dead Rise retains the energy of Sam Raimi’s original, but thankfully spares us the nastily phallic tree (Raimi, who executive produced this, has come a long way since the Eighties). Cronin is also confident enough to keep fan favourite Ash (Bruce Campbell) out of the equation.
Having Ash show up, right at the end of the 2013 remake, felt like such an admission of defeat, on the part of that installment’s director Fede Alvarez. Like Michael B. Jordan, (unfazed by the responsibility of directing Creed III, technically the ninth Rocky instalment, and without Sylvester Stallone), Cronin respects the fans, but doesn’t pander to them.
By the way, this is the third supernatural epic of the year to be set in a big city and feature slay-tastic sisters, aunties and nieces. Like the film-makers behind M3GAN and Scream VI, Cronin also understands the importance of changing the scenery and placing the focus on non-nuclear family ties.
The actors are superb. There’s no weak link though Sullivan, Sutherland and Davies are the standouts.
Yes, the pace flags when the action moves away from the flat (there’s stuff with a lift that is so derivative) but things perk up nicely in the basement. Not to mention the cool use of a passage from Wuthering Heights (in the prologue), the wince-inducing weaponisation of a cheese-grater or the haunting bit where Kassie tells Beth why she’ll make a good mother.
Undead or alive, thank God - or the Kandarian Demon - for Beth and co.
