Review of Evil Dead Rise (2023) by Windolicker — 29 Apr 2023

The mother, the sister, and the three daughters.....yes, I said three daughters, all were completely wooden. Why should I care about what happens to these people? The three daughters don't have any real emotions about what is happening; which is to say the acting is just awful. I know teenagers aren't known to be great actors but come on.

There's no character building at all, the first daughter is a DJ, the second is a political activist who wants to "Eat the Rich" (maybe she can eat the rich virtue signaling Hollywood elites who made this movie), and the adorable youngest daughter who just exists. The ultimate protagonist, the Aunt, is just a blank slate and also generally is a bad actress. What else is there to say? Nothing seemed exciting. Some X factor I can't put my finger on was missing. I keep circling back to the bad acting and lack of characterization. The creators also seemed to be scared to actually show true brutality. When the mother gets tied up in the elevator, I was expecting her to be violated by elevator cables (similar to the other films) but they couldn't go that far I guess, the tattoo machine got pulled away at the last second, the cheese grater just caused a scrape on a leg, the peep hole hallway scene is largely off camera, etc. Sure, they throw in tons of blood and gore but the dark humor of creative ways to kill someone wasn't in this film.

I will say something positive about it and that is the cinematography. Wow. There were certain parts of the film where I was struck by the visual art that I was witnessing. Other than that, I got an occasional chuckle from the dark humor and the sheer evil of the mother (she was a highlight). But man oh man, the supporting actors were just terrible. Can you imagine the horror of being a child or a teenager and witnessing your own mother die, come back to life, and then become a demon? The snot, tears, and shock washing over me in that moment would be indescribable.....and yet these three daughters take it all in stride. It just doesn't work. The blonde DJ girl is just an awful actress, holy cow....and I am not going to pretend for a single second that she was hired for anything other than certain political reasons.

PS: I can't help but wonder if the creators of the film are making some kind of subtle commentary by killing off this woke little family. Are they punishing the family for being leftists, is that the joke? Or are they supposed to be likeable and are we supposed to care about them because they are leftists? I doubt the creators thought that deeply about it. But it was a thought that crossed my mind.