Evil Dead Rise (2023)
The Evil Dead franchise occupies a peculiar corner of horror history. Sam Raimi's original 1981 film was a shoestring-budget affair shot in rural Tennessee, equal parts terrifying and accidental slapstick, and it launched careers, spawned a devoted cult following, and essentially wrote the rulebook for a certain kind of practical-effects splatter horror. Its 1987 sequel, Evil Dead II, leaned harder into the comedy and became arguably the more beloved of the two. A 2013 remake, directed by Fede Álvarez, pulled things back toward genuine dread and picked up a new generation of fans. Evil Dead Rise, then, arrives as a continuation rather than a reboot, produced by Raimi and original star Bruce Campbell under their Renaissance Pictures banner alongside New Line Cinema, and carrying the considerable weight of franchise expectation. What it does differently, at least in premise, is relocate the horror from the familiar isolated-cabin setting to a condemned apartment block in Los Angeles, threading the Necronomicon mythology through a story about two sisters reconnecting under spectacularly grim circumstances. The tagline, "Mommy loves you to death," tells you everything you need to know about the film's angle on domestic horror.
The project was written and directed by Lee Cronin, an Irish filmmaker whose 2019 debut feature, The Hole in the Ground, demonstrated a real feeling for slow, suffocating dread rooted in maternal anxiety. That film was produced with Irish and European funding and earned Cronin enough credit in genre circles to land this considerably larger assignment, though Evil Dead Rise operates on a noticeably different register from his earlier work, bigger, louder, and more committed to franchise aesthetics than personal vision. The New Zealand and Irish co-production elements are visible in the crew credits more than in the finished film's geography, which is entirely that anonymous urban-American apartment aesthetic. The film's production design does solid enough work within its confined setting, and the practical effects work (a genuine hallmark of the series) is handled with care and evident craft. At the centre of the cast is Alyssa Sutherland, a New Zealand actress probably best known to television audiences from Vikings, who takes on the role of the possessed mother, Ellie, and brings a physical commitment to it that is, by most accounts, the film's standout element. Lily Sullivan plays her sister Beth, the more grounded of the two leads, while Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, and a notably young Nell Fisher play the children caught in the middle. For fans of New Zealand horror comedy, it is worth noting this is very different territory from the dry wit on display in What We Do in the Shadows (2014), another genre picture from that part of the world that found its own very distinctive voice.
The Irish angle is worth a brief word, too. Cronin's background gives the project an interesting transatlantic character, and Ireland has been producing genre-adjacent work of growing confidence in recent years. For a sense of how differently Irish filmmakers can approach weighty, uncomfortable subject matter, the contrast with something like The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) is instructive, even if the genres are miles apart. Evil Dead Rise had a reported budget in the region of nineteen million dollars, modest by Hollywood standards but generous enough to ensure the practical and digital effects work looked polished, if not exactly restrained.
Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise (2023) as the third instalment in my personal Evil Dead watch history, having previously tackled the original and Evil Dead II. I’ll be completely honest with you: I just don't seem to gel with this franchise. I wasn't a massive fan of the originals, and I have to say, I wasn't exactly blown away by this one either. It’s a loud, bloody, unapologetic slice of horror that does exactly what it says on the tin, but it never quite clicked for me as a cohesive, gripping experience.
Credit where it’s due, the technical craft is undeniably there. The special effects and prosthetic makeup are absolutely brilliant, which is pretty much a given for a franchise built on gore and demonic mutilation, and Alyssa Sutherland does a physically committed, genuinely unhinged job as the possessed mother. But when you strip away the visceral splatter, the story is basically a carbon copy of the earlier films. It’s the exact same "find the book, read the tape, get possessed" formula, just swapped out from a remote woodland shack to a crumbling Los Angeles apartment building.
To make matters worse, the film is saddled with some of the most grating characters I’ve seen in a horror movie in years. The young actors playing the kids were incredibly annoying, spending most of the runtime screaming or making bafflingly stupid decisions that just dragged me right out of the tension.
What really held it back for me, though, was the complete lack of actual suspense. It doesn't really do "slow-burn" or psychological dread; it’s just a relentless, exhausting slog of trying to survive a demon that wants to chop you up. It felt a bit basic in its execution, lacking any real terrifying angle to the possession. If you want to see how genuinely unsettling and grounded demonic horror can be, go watch When Evil Lurks, which handled the exact same themes with a much more terrifying, suffocating grip.
Evil Dead Rise is a technically impressive, gore-soaked ride that will delight hardcore fans of the franchise, but for me, it was just a noisy, carbon-copy exercise with far too many annoying characters and not enough genuine scares.
Evil Dead Rise sits comfortably within the franchise's tradition of technically proficient, gore-forward horror, and genre devotees will likely find plenty to enjoy on those terms. Whether it broadens the series' appeal beyond that existing audience is a different question. Cronin is a director with enough genuine ability that his next project, whatever direction it takes, will be worth watching with some interest. Horror is a genre that rewards filmmakers who find their own particular pressure points, and the best examples of the form tend to linger well after the credits roll. This one, for some viewers at least, may fade a little faster than the bloodstains suggest it should.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2026-06-17
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Evil Dead Rise (2023) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: STUDIOCANAL PRESENTS Apple TV Channel · Studiocanal Presents Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · YouTube TV · Cinemax Amazon Channel · HBO Max
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
