‘Evil Dead Rise’: The Mommening is Fun and Well-Intentioned

A sequel\reboot\something…it’s canon, whatever it is, in the Evil Dead universe–it’s produced by Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who has a voice cameo as well. In this chapter of the saga of the demon-y deadites we have a bickering but sweet family trapped in their apartment building with the possessed matriarch, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland). It’s up to Ellie’s kids Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), Danny (Morgan Davies), and Kassie (Nell Fisher), and her sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) to fend her off.

I can’t decide if the movie is feminist or deeply insulting. Or both? The filmmakers meant well, I think. The narrative is woven around strong, smart female characters counterpointed by sometimes gallant but mostly idiotic males. Caleb (Richard Crouchley) from the opening is described by Wuthering Heights-reading Teresa (Mirabai Pease) as a “brainless meat puppet”; he delights at the thought of his drone being able to “scramble your face up real good.” There’s the kids’ absent father, who apparently would enjoy a coffee cup styled like a urinal, as evidenced by the gift Beth brings him. Danny, despite Bridget’s command to bring them back and wise words that “Weird shit like this gets locked away for a reason”, opens the book and plays the records and starts the whole thing. Not to mention a handful of doomed ancillary characters who barely have time to have names.

Motherhood is presented as a condition that turns women into fierce, selfless protectors. Beth is a driftless guitar technician “groupie” as she keeps getting called, who accidentally gets pregnant. She goes to visit Ellie motivated by getting advice on what to do next, and she’s thrust into the role of kickass guardian of the kids when Ellie gets possessed. However, the film also cleaves to traditional depictions of mothers. Ellie is attacked by the demon while fixing to do some laundry. Once possessed, I shit you not, the first thing she does is go to the stove and cook some eggs, babbling about how she wants to climb inside the kids so they can always be a happy family. Her last un-deadite words are “Don’t let it take my babies.” Imagine a male character saying that. Much of the psychological horror of the film comes from the corruption of innocence, and the notion of a mother attacking not just children, but her own children. Stabbing your daughter in the face with a tattoo gun is a huge mommy no-no, that’s day one stuff. It’s almost as despicable as having a life outside of the kids.

Motherhood is also (briefly) presented as a burden, as possessed Ellie sneers at her family, “I’m free now. Free from all you titty-sucking parasites.” It’s implied that Ellie raised Beth because of their troubled relationship with their mother. Having a shitty role model plus the reduction of her freedom contributes to Beth’s ambivalence about having a baby. But over time, she comes to accept her pregnant status. The camera lingers on Beth’s expression (see below) while Ellie hugs her kids when they come home safe after a massive earthquake. Silly Ellie, that’s what happens when you send the kids out of the house to buy fast food instead of cooking a nutritious meal for them–a natural disaster! Ultimately, motherhood is shown to be difficult but worth the pain. When Kassie asks Beth if she’s going to be a mom, Beth pauses, then says firmly, “Yes.”

Moving along, there were some less-than-admirable moments, at least on a personal level. I get really tired of recreations of the scene in The Shining when Jack is locked in the pantry and there’s a low-angle shot of his face.

This one does that, and in a bid to out-gore all the other sequels and reboots fills an elevator full of blood, which predictably comes gushing out in a tidal wave. (The homages to The Shining are likely meant to invoke similar themes, that of a beloved family member losing their mind, but they’re wholly inappropriate, since Jack attacking his family is hardly shocking; he comes across as abusive well before the haunting starts, and Wendy and Danny are terrified of him even before he becomes completely unhinged.) The filmmakers rely more on creepiness than jump scares, but there’s the occasional one, and I actually laughed out loud when Ellie comes out of nowhere hollering “Bethie-boo!” and gliding like a character in a Spike Lee movie.

Otherwise, my biggest gripe is that the state of becoming possessed is either fast or slow, depending on how it serves the plot. The character from the opening is hit by the demon but still manages to pick up her cousin and drive out to the lake from the city, but other characters, like Ellie, change almost instantly. It’s also rather convenient that the records are found by the one teenager in the tri-state area who knows how to work a turntable.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I’d had a long, trying day and it was loverly to come home, have a cocktail, and watch an entertaining movie with likable characters and a mostly coherent plot. Give it a look if you’re in the mood for something gory and thought-provoking.