Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Sam Raimi doesn’t hold a producing credit on the latest addition to the Evil Dead franchise, the first time he’s not at the very least held that accolade on an Evil Dead film. 2013’s ‘reimagining’ was just a remake, despite what it was perhaps marketed as, and didn’t really add anything new to proceedings apart from offering less of the humour and a lot more of the nastiness. Ten years down the line, we get the fifth installment, this time directed by Lee Cronin. The film begins in the forest, instantly placing us in familiar territory with a drone tracking shot, ending at a lake where we eventually witness a possessed woman attacking her boyfriend and friend. Cronin then changes tack, rewinding a day and placing the film in a condemned apartment block for the rest of its runtime, where a mother and her three children are living. Complicating proceedings is Ellie’s (the mother) sister, who turns up with no warning having just discovered she's pregnant. What follows is an absolutely by the numbers splatter fest when the mum becomes possessed after one of her teens finds the book of the dead along with some vinyl recordings of priests saying scary things about said book. Evil Dead Rise is not remotely scary, and that’s its main issue; there’s plenty of jump scares if you’re not au fait with the genre along with some inventive blood and gore, but you fail to care about any of the characters. By the end it’s just an exercise in watching death without being scared or caring. Evil Dead Rise is well made and it’s certainly not terrible, but neither is it anywhere near as good as it needs to be.

5.5/10