A Review

I'm the first person to admit that the movie industry right now is more than overstocked on belated additions to long-running franchises. But "Evil Dead Rises" is easily one of the best of the recent outpouring. While not anywhere as inventive as 1 or as cleverly meta as 2, this heart-pounding, nightmare rollercoaster built in Hell is still a worthy addition to the series.

After a fairly conventional setup that we've seen more than enough times before, "Evil Dead Rises" kicks into overdrive and never once throws on the breaks. We know this formula inside and out where the monster or whatever appears, terrorizes the characters, and then whoever is lucky enough to get away waits around until it happens all over again. This movie, however, is one of the first times I've ever seen this done where most of the entire film is one solid terror sequence. There's a great sense of momentum to "The Evil Dead Rises" that really kept me hooked.

If there's one thing holding this movie back though, it's that the characters are kind of a bore. Their personalities, backgrounds, etc. are archetypical at most and nothing about them really stands out from just about any other protagonists to be found in any other survival horror film. You could transplant them into any "Conjuring," "Annabelle," "Insidious,"... (the list goes on and on and on) movie and you'd be getting the same outcomes. I still had a great time at this one for its no-holds gore and action. There's also a good number of call backs not only to the "Evil Dead" franchise, but classics like "The Shining" as well. A good night of fright whether you choose to look at it as a sequel, remake, reboot, or something else entirely.