Evil Dead Rise Revisited
The dead have checked into the high-rise, and they are not checking out.
Five years on from its cinema release, Evil Dead Rise still feels like a seismic shift for the long-running franchise. Lee Cronin’s 2023 entry traded the remote woodland cabin for a decaying Los Angeles apartment tower, yet it preserved the series’ core promise of unrelenting, inventive carnage. What emerges is a film that respects Sam Raimi’s grotesque legacy while carving out its own brutal identity in a concrete setting few horror films have dared to claim.
From Woods to Concrete: A New Battleground
The decision to relocate the action to a single, vertically stacked building was more than a simple change of scenery. It allowed Cronin to explore isolation within a crowded city, where neighbours are inches away yet powerless to help. The film opens with a brief lakeside prologue that nods to the original trilogy before plunging viewers into the lives of Ellie, a tattoo artist raising three children alone, and her estranged sister Beth. When an earthquake cracks open the building’s basement storage, a cursed grimoire and a collection of old vinyl records unleash forces that turn familial bonds into weapons.
Sound Design That Crawls Under the Skin
One of the film’s most unsettling achievements lies in its audio landscape. The groaning of the ageing tower, the distorted voices bleeding through thin walls, and the wet, organic noises of possession create an atmosphere thick with dread. Practical effects remain front and centre: tendons stretch, eyes cloud, and bodies contort in ways that feel viscerally real rather than digitally polished. The result is a horror experience that rewards viewers on a decent sound system or in a cinema re-release.
Director in the Spotlight
Lee Cronin was born in 1979 in Limerick, Ireland. After working in various production roles, he made his feature debut with the atmospheric folk-horror The Hole in the Ground (2019), which premiered at Sundance and earned praise for its slow-burn tension and striking Irish locations. That success brought him to the attention of New Line Cinema and producer Rob Tapert, who were seeking a fresh voice to revitalise the Evil Dead series.
Cronin’s influences range from the lurid practical effects of 1980s horror to the architectural dread found in films such as The Shining and Repulsion. He has cited the confined-space intensity of Die Hard as an unlikely but useful reference for staging action within the high-rise. His filmography to date remains compact yet distinctive:
- The Hole in the Ground (2019)
- Evil Dead Rise (2023)
- Multiple episodes of the upcoming Evil Dead television series (in development)
With only two features released, Cronin has already demonstrated a rare ability to balance franchise expectations with personal vision, ensuring each project feels rooted in place and character.
Actor in the Spotlight
Alyssa Sutherland brings quiet steel to the role of Ellie. Born in 1982 in Brisbane, Australia, Sutherland began as a model before transitioning to acting with roles in The Devil’s Double (2011) and the television series Vikings, where she portrayed Queen Aslaug across five seasons. Her performance in Evil Dead Rise showcases a grounded maternal ferocity that shifts seamlessly into grotesque physicality once possession takes hold.
Sutherland’s filmography highlights her range across genres:
- The Devil’s Double (2011)
- Vikings (2013–2017, television)
- Evil Dead Rise (2023)
- American Primeval (2025, upcoming)
Her willingness to endure hours in the make-up chair for the film’s later sequences paid dividends, delivering one of the most memorable physical transformations in recent horror cinema.
Themes of Family, Inheritance and Vertical Dread
Beneath the splatter, Evil Dead Rise interrogates what we inherit from those closest to us. The ancient text that drives the plot is discovered alongside personal artefacts belonging to previous tenants, suggesting cycles of violence that repeat across generations. Ellie’s children become both victims and vessels, forcing Beth to confront whether blood ties can ever be severed cleanly.
The apartment building itself functions as a character. Narrow corridors, flickering fluorescent lights and the ever-present hum of the lift shaft create a sense of vertical claustrophobia rarely achieved outside of Japanese horror. Cronin’s camera often lingers on the building’s brutalist architecture, reminding viewers that safety is an illusion when the walls themselves can be breached.
Legacy and Influence
Since release, the film has sparked renewed interest in urban-set possession stories. Its commercial success ensured further expansion of the Evil Dead universe, including an announced television series. More importantly, it proved that the franchise could evolve without losing its signature blend of gallows humour and graphic invention.
Conclusion
Evil Dead Rise stands as both a respectful continuation and a bold reinvention. By trapping its characters inside a crumbling tower rather than a remote cabin, Lee Cronin crafted a film that feels simultaneously familiar and startlingly fresh. Five years later, its practical carnage and architectural unease continue to resonate, cementing its place as a modern highlight of the series.
Bibliography
- Brooks, X. (2023) ‘Evil Dead Rise review – a brutal, blood-soaked high-rise horror’, The Guardian, 20 April.
- Cronin, L. (2023) ‘Interview: Lee Cronin on bringing Evil Dead to the city’, Fangoria, 18 April.
- Tapert, R. (2023) ‘Producing the next chapter of Evil Dead’, Variety, 12 April.
- Newman, K. (2023) ‘Evil Dead Rise’, Sight & Sound, June issue.
- Jones, A. (2024) Modern Horror: Confined Spaces and Urban Dread. London: Bloomsbury.
- Sutherland, A. (2023) ‘Becoming a Deadite: behind the make-up of Evil Dead Rise’, Entertainment Weekly, 25 April.
- Shudder (2023) ‘The making of Evil Dead Rise’ [Documentary]. Available at: https://www.shudder.com (Accessed: 12 January 2025).
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