Where I Watched It: HBO MAX

English Audio Description?: Yes

While I can understand the awesomeness of Bruce Campbell and his Ash character, i have to admit that my connection to this franchise is very limited. I’ve only seen Army of Darkness (and it’s probably been 20 years). however, if it helps, I’m quite familiar with Evil Dead: The Musical.

Evil Dead Rise has gotten a lot of praise and I can’t really tell you it’s well deserved. Look, to be honest, based on what happens in this film, the gore would be too much for me if I could see and i would not have chosen this title. Having gore described to you is a lot less impactful, even when it’s great audio description, than actually seeing it. Some images you can’t get out of your head, but these words? I slept like a baby.

Basically, with no real rhyme or reason, the Necronomicon (the Book Of The Dead) wakes up, seemingly causing an earthquake so some kids can find it, and bad shit happens. The main cast here is a family living in a soon to be condemned apartment building, at the time the mom’s sister comes to visit. So, three kids, two adults. There are other people in the apartment building, but honestly, this plot cares not. At no point did any of the underdeveloped densians living in squalor. No real attempt. There are even people in other parts of the apartment building on other floors, as we find out later, but we have no idea what their life was like while hell was unleashed on this one floor. Did they just assume the neighbors were being loud again?

This is kind of a dumb film wrapped in a terrific amount of exploratory gore. The Evil Dead franchise has always been known for gore, and this doesn’t disappoint. The minute you realize there’s a wood chipper in the parking garage, even before the shit starts to go down, you expect it to be used as a set piece. Lots of blood, bodily harm, vomit, creepy voices, but all shot rather well by this director. Even though I can traer apart this nonsensical script bit by bit, he directs the hell out of it. It’s even occasionally funny, even if it’s not making sense.

The performances here are all pretty solid for the horror filled blood fest, with me perhaps being the least interested in the actress who plays the aunt. Though, her character is poorly written, so I’m not sure that’s entirely her fault. It’s a disaster of a script, yet I almost want to give the director an award for almost making me forget that this never attempts to make sense.

The audio description really does try to get all the gory goodness in there for horror fans, and a lot of the things that happen are disturbing. This is less of a jump scare film, and more of a splatter film. Most of the scares are obvious. But, it’s the thematic element of being dropped into this hellscape that is supposed to be the experience, and the description tries to find every drop of blood for you.

i grade films not against films that aren’t like them, but as individual items within likeminded films. That being said, I think horror films will love this to some extent, because it has all the trappings of an Evil Dead film, blending horror and comedy, and it is very very gory. There’s this thing they do with the merging of bodies that sounds disgusting. But it’s supposed to. It’s a horror film.

Despite one of the worst scripts of the year, somehow this pulled out to be a pretty fun time. The cast is committed. The direction from Lee Cronin is exceptional. The child actors are solid discoveries. So it balances itself out. But, it is not for the squeamish. This is not a film where people just get stabbed and the killer runs away. And while more than half or the featured roles are teens and children, this film cares not the age of it’s potential victims.

Final Grade: B