If you’ve taken a trip to the cinema recently, your dreams may have started getting ravaged by images from the trailer for Evil Dead Rise, the fifth entry in Sam Raimi‘s beloved horror franchise, and the third to telegraph a distinct lack of camp alongside the 1981 original and 2013 reboot.
Indeed, this is no Army of Darkness. From the glimpses we’ve gotten so far, it’s clear that Evil Dead Rise was never going to be for the faint of heart or stomach, but whether one considers this a return to form or a reason to skip, the former party will be happy to know that the film is about as riveting a return as it gets.
By all accounts from those who caught a screening of it at South by Southwest yesterday, Evil Dead Rise is an out-and-out crowd-pleaser with an absolute surplus of gore and scares, making for a home run sophomore effort from director Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground).
Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting praised the film’s ability to keep its most important aspects cranked up to 11, while giving particular praise to leads Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland.
“It’s nowhere near as nihilistic as the last entry, yet it’s frequently as intense. A fantastic pair of leads in Sullivan and Sutherland- especially Sutherland- combined with an endless slew of franchise tributes and unhinged levels of viscera ensure a gruesomely great time at the movies.”
Jacob Hall of SlashFilm echoed this sentiment, suggesting that Cronin proved his talent not only in the realm of evoking the Evil Dead chops fans all know and love, but his ability to chart new waters within them as well.
“Cronin knows what made the first two Evil Dead movies in particular work and leans into it while being unafraid to leave a new mark. While certainly darker than Raimi’s films, this is, like them, a hyper-violent tour through a nightmarish funhouse that pauses only to show off something gnarly enough that you can only scream or laugh.”
And Inverse‘s Ryan Scott was more than happy to pile on the praise, and assured that fans old and new alike would be able to jump into this one and have a good time, provided they don’t harbor a shred of squeamishness.
“Evil Dead Rise miraculously works as both a totally cold entry point for brand new viewers, or the long-awaited return of one of horror’s truly great franchises for longtime fans — the ones who are not faint of heart anyway.”
It looks like producer Raimi can continue to cast his gaze upon his franchise with pride, and we can only imagine what disturbing horizons the series will set its sights on next.
Evil Dead Rise releases to cinemas on April 21.