Evil Dead Rise Parent Guide

Earthquakes are not a new phenomenon in Los Angeles, but this one has some unusual effects. Danny (Morgan Davies) and his sisters, Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and Kassie (Nell Fisher) are in the underground parking lot for their apartment building when the quake hits, opening up a fissure in the floor. Underneath are the remains of an old bank vault, from an older building on the site, and which contains a mysterious old book and some unlabeled vinyl records. Danny brings them back up to the apartment, hoping to get some value out of them to help their cash-strapped mother, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), but what comes out of the book isn’t what he hoped…

Soon, bizarre and unpleasant things begin happening around the building – screams, power outages, elevator malfunctions: Ill portents of worse things to come. Beth (Lily Sullivan), Ellie’s sister and the children’s aunt, has come to catch up with her family after a busy work trip out of town. This isn’t going to be a charming little family reunion, though, and when Ellie is seemingly killed in an accident, Beth finds herself looking after three extremely traumatized children. The trauma is only beginning, as Ellie pops back to life with a spring in her step, a hellish light in her eyes, and a predilection for murder…

Although this slick modern film lacks the grainy, shaky, low-budget charm of the original film, it still feels related. It knows the beats and themes of the original and carries on with the franchise’s usual macabre determination. I think franchise fans and horror fans are likely to have a good time with the blood-soaked horrors which continue to gush forth from this dimly-lit Los Angeles apartment - not that this is going to be a real crowd pleaser for everyone.

I know this may come as a surprise, but this movie isn’t about to provide an age-appropriate moral lesson to younger viewers – unless “Don’t read anything aloud from a book bound in human skin and inked in blood” counts as an age-appropriate moral lesson. And honestly, that goes without saying for anyone with any sense. But then, this is only a family film in the sense that an entire family are brutalized for the whole runtime, so you can’t really expect the story to end with a cute little picnic or something.

Evil Dead Rise is so creatively gory that I’m pretty sure I heard someone behind me in the theater dry-heaving, and I think that’s a pretty good indicator for what you can expect. Thankfully, the film took a look at the fake blood budget and decided that was enough content for one film, thank you, and the profanity, sexual content, and substance use are all quite mild – at least in comparison to the violence. Just make sure you’ve got a steady stomach before you buy your ticket. I think theater staff have enough to deal with without trying to vacuum up your recently recycled popcorn.