Written and directed by Lee Cronin, Evil Dead Rise is the 5th installment in the Evil Dead film series. And it delivers. There’s a particular kind of grime that Evil Dead Rise revels in—the kind that sticks under your fingernails and refuses to wash out. It drags the horror into a cramped, decaying apartment complex and things escalate quickly. The result is gore, claustrophobic atmosphere, and often excessive in ways that feel both reverent and unhinged.
From the start, the film trades isolation for liminal space. Dark hallways, glitchy elevators, and every neighbor feels just close enough to hear you scream—but not close enough to help, or maybe they don't care. The setting does a lot of heavy lifting in Evil Dead Rise, sidestepping what could’ve been a nostalgia plug, but it's honestly something nastier. There’s no escape to the woods here. You’re trapped in an apartment, and you invited it in. The Deadites themselves are as vicious as ever, but there’s a sharper cruelty to them this time around. The atmosphere is thick the entire film.
The film leans hard into body horror and psychological themes, making every possession feel personal. This isn't unusual, as the evil has always played on the emotions of previous victims. It’s not just about dismemberment (though there’s plenty of that). It's close. It is your neighbor. And yes, the movie absolutely revels in its fair share of gore. Performance-wise, the cast commits in a beautiful way that sells the chaos. Evil Dead Rise feels more personal than the others, as there are children involved in this film who live with their mother in the apartment being terrorized. They serve as somewhat of an emotional anchor, even if the script doesn’t always dig as deep as it could. The cast did a fantastic job in bringing the terror to life in these characters.
Some might say that Evil Dead Rise occasionally feels like it’s checking boxes—iconic imagery, callbacks, the escalation of each situation getting worse and worse as the film goes on, but that is what Evil Dead should be. It has always been that way, and the franchise has so many solid entries because of that formula. So make no mistake: this is a vicious, crowd-pleasing entry that understands what makes Evil Dead tick. It’s loud, it’s bloody, and it has a sadistic sense of humor that never quite lets you get comfortable. By the time the credits roll, you’ll definitely feel like you survived something. And honestly, that’s kind of the point.
Overall, we would 1000% recommend this film to all horror fans who aren't afraid of a lot of blood, and a rollercoaster of insanity.
