an energetic but not very subtle remake

THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – WE CAN SEE

Evil Dead Rise is the second part of a series of horrific productions inspired by a film directed by the very young Sam Raimi in 1983 – which was followed, in its time, by a remake and then by a sequel. The director had unleashed the enthusiasm of amateurs with a work that was both ultra-cash and particularly inventive. A mixture of graphic horror and macabre humour, the original films had not really invented a new mythology but plastic motifs and various fetishes that were to make it unique forever, such as this long tracking shot at ground level, identifying the spectator to an invisible creature, swift and crawling, or this uninhibited use of a chainsaw to cut the flesh of a protean monster.

Lee Cronin’s film, obviously endowed with more resources than the original work, uses these figures (to which he adds others, such as this furtive tribute to Shining, by Kubrick) which occur at the heart of an intrigue, ultimately quite banal, of diabolical possession: a woman, mother of three children including two teenagers, receives a visit from her sister who is visibly adrift. The kids discover in the basement of the building where the family lives a mysterious book which will let out a diabolical entity. This will gradually contaminate the protagonists by transforming them into criminal specters until two survivors manage to overcome it.

The principle of a unity of place (the decor is reduced to the apartment and the corridor of the building) is respected. By under-illuminating his decor, Lee Cronin manages, at first, to arouse diffuse anxiety and discomfort that are quite well seen. The bloody adventures and cruel details, such as this ingestion of pieces of glass, follow one another without various family neuroses, quickly skimmed over, really being able to be considered as having a causal link with the bloody overflows which follow one another in a euphoria a little mechanical. What the film gains in sheer energy comes at the expense of any subtlety. Evil Dead Rise thus suffers from a lack of real stakes and sacrifices all introspection for the benefit of the dumping of hectoliters of hemoglobin.