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So, time to alienate myself from the Evil Dead Universe fans but I went to see Evil Dead Rise on opening night and have to say it was the most disappointing horror joint of the year, so far, falling far short of the anticipation it created with marketing.
While it has all of the tropes and camps of the ED Universe and nails the mark as a splatter fest, it completely missed the target from a possession film standpoint. Which is probably why ED fans don’t refer to it as a possession film, though the concept does.
My problems with the Deadites in the ED Universe is they don’t follow the rules of demonic possession. It’s actually more of a zombie type of movie and the monster thing at the end, of it wasn’t a tribute to Rob Bottin’s Norris Spider from The Thing, then o don’t know what the hell it was.
The story was in a high rise apartment home and limited to that floor. That was good. It created the feeling of isolation and being trapped. And Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie, the mom, was an incredible performance and the bright spot of the movie for me.
I get it, ED Universe has their own thing going on with these things they are referring to as demons. But unless you’re a fan of ED movies, this thing way short of finishing the race.
Sorry Evil Dead fans, but the movie just was not good.
James Baxter 