Ever since Bruce Campbell first cranked the books, the Necronomicon (the infamous Egyptian Book of the Dead) has provided a variety of cinematic thrills. From comedic horror to slapstick to extreme gore, the Evil Dead franchise has stopped at all points in between.
This latest chapter is light on the humour and heavy on the red stuff. Set in an almost film noir run-down Los Angeles apartment building, this poor family has no idea of what’s about to come. When an earthquake happens, this is Southern Californian after all, it unearths that sacred tome and all hell breaks loose.
Now just about every family has a horror story about the parental units, My personal shocker involves a mother-in-law but the transformation of ma Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) from pleasant parent to a manifestation of pure evil completely swamps my tale of woe. The combined efforts of costume designers, make-up artists and special effects folks are supremely impressive with the change.
Ellie becomes truly frightening and might set a new standard for demonic transformations. With cartoon levels of blood that shows there is no shortage of the scarlet fluid in Hollywood, Evil Dead Rise raises things to a raucous and almost ridiculous level of gore. Along with all the shocks are a few nervous laughs and some very interesting technical achievements. See it with someone you love, maybe just not the in-laws.
Rob Hudson
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