Why You Have to Watch Evil Dead Rise on HBO Max
When Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead hit the theaters back in 2013, faith in horror was restored. Álvarez shot with a script co-written with Rodo Sayaguez and turned the wheel around to make his own version of an Evil Dead reboot. He ended up making a disturbing, gory, and very serious installment of the old horror trope of “victims in a remote cabin,” but he was completely supported by a franchise name that was guaranteed to bring people to theaters. We’re guessing fake blood was still being cleaned from the set when people started asking for a sequel. Considering Sam Raimi himself was producing the film, anyone would guess production started right away.
But it didn’t. Years passed and Raimi didn’t speak much about the plans. Álvarez kept busy with thrillers and he only made sure to refer to his version of Evil Dead when people asked him about the sequel. It wasn’t until 2019, when Raimi confirmed there would be another film in the series, and months after Lee Cronin was selected as the guy responsible for writing and directing the film.
Evil Dead Rise hit theaters earlier this year and this movie makes us believe in the power of the series. Now Raimi must be a good guy. Not everybody would green-light a risky film like Evil Dead Rise. Why, you ask? There are enough changes to make this one a production completely foreign to the franchise. And even so, this is why you have to watch Evil Dead Rise on Max. As soon as possible. Like your life depended on it.
A Decent Entry in the Evil Dead Universe
The movie’s intro will fool you. Plain and simple. This scene is so shocking, it’s not a “cabin in the woods” movie. After teenagers were slaughtered in such a cabin, we got the message that Evil Dead Rise was actually a prequel to that moment. Cut across an urban area of Los Angeles, where Beth decides to visit her sister Ellie, who lives in a sketchy apartment complex with her three children Danny, Bridget and Kassie. After they returned from buying takeout, an earthquake tore a hole in the parking lot. Danny decides to investigate and he finds an underground archive containing religious records. Inside, he found plastic plates that he brought back to his room. While playing a game, he accidentally summoned the Deadites.
It’s So Gory, You Will Remember It For a While
For the final scene in 2013’s Evil Dead, the crew needed almost 2000 gallons of blood. And that’s not necessarily what we remember the most about the film. It was the face carving, the needle stabbing, and the head bashing. All of those took place in a matter of seconds. In Evil Dead Rise, bets are raised. Early on we get a decapitation and scalping, but then we get scissors up a nostril, eye munching (Evil Dead 2 style!), and body parts are thrown in a wood chipper. The film is very gory, but if you’re used to it, you will probably appreciate the practical effects without going into shock. The ones that’ll make you squirm are probably the glass-eating scene, and the cheese grater on a leg. Yeah, you read that: cheese grater on a leg. You will remember us after watching this scene.
There’s a Twist and It Works
The film is also very well shot, the script is uncompromising with the number of corpses and the characters are quite attractive. But the main reason you should give this movie a try is that it’s no ordinary Evil Dead movie. The change of setting and departure from the traditional plot makes it more original than what Cronin could have done if he had gone for the easy way out (this isn’t necessarily the first time this happened in the franchise, because Army of Darkness also went for a huge change in the franchise’s tradition and it was very popular with the fans of the franchise). Instead, he decides to conjure up a different character group and make the film about “twisted family dynamics.”