Photo via Evil Dead Rise - Instagram
Alyssa Sutherland in 'Evil Dead Rise'
Alyssa Sutherland in 'Evil Dead Rise'
Although barely known beyond a tight circle of fans during his lifetime, H.P. Lovecraft continues to exert enormous influence on the horror genre 85 years after his death. One of his concepts concerned dreaded books whose very bindings reeked of menace, whose ancient texts, when deciphered and read aloud, opened unwanted doors to terrible dimensions.
Lovecraft is in the DNA of Evil Dead Rise, the newest installment of a franchise that refuses, like several of that author’s characters, to die. This time the main action shifts to an old apartment building in Los Angeles where a 5.5 earthquake rattles the crockery and cracks open a dark hole in the parking garage. Teenage Danny (Morgan Davies) descends into the pit and discovers a buried chamber more accursed than any pharaoh’s tomb. Catching his eye is a silvery screen of crosses and saints’ medals encircling a curiously bound book. Danny snags the book and (he’s a wannabe DJ with turntables in his room upstairs) grabs three dusty 78 RPM discs, dated 1923. It won’t be an enjoyable read and the sounds from those records will rock the house in the worst way. (Note: Lovecraft included audio recordings in one of his tales.)
Horror plotline summation: The recordings document a presentation by a trio of Roman Catholic priests announcing, to their colleagues, the discovery of a legendary shunned book and their intention to translate the rust-colored parchment. “Destroy it!” shouts a voice from the audience (voiced by Bruce Campbell, Ash Williams in previous Evil Dead movies). Alas, the errant priests continue their work, and on the third 78 RPM disc, they recite an incantation that opens one of those unwanted doors.
The unhealthy consequences of curiosity, the quest for knowledge at all costs, is the moral hiding in the stories of Lovecraft, his Wisconsin follower August Derleth and their successors. In the aftermath of Lovecraft’s death, his fans saw atomic energy as the evil genie released by researchers. Nowadays … A.I.?
Aside from Lovecraft’s influence, Evil Dead Rise includes another DNA strand, traceable in its body-twisting, milky spew demonic possession scenes to John Frankenheimer’s The Exorcist. The special effects overseen by the film’s Irish director, Lee Cronin, are almost refreshingly old school with little if any CGI, gallons of fake blood and many rubber body parts.
Like many genre flicks, Evil Dead Rise is interesting for its sideways glance at contemporary society, its seismic register of social anxiety. Mom (Alyssa Sutherland) is a tattoo artist, abandoned without warning by her husband. She’s raising teenage Danny and Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) along with toddler Kassie (Nell Fisher) in a building about to be torn down by urban developers. Where they’ll go, no one knows. Mom’s visiting sister Beth (Lilly Sullivan) is a guitar tech for touring bands, a fine accomplishment in a male-dominated field but a footloose life separating her from family and meaningful connections. And then, in another indicator of life’s uncertainties, the earth moves under their feet and from the broken ground comes the temptation to pry into things no human mind should know …
Evil Dead Rise is screening at Marcus Southgate Cinema, AMC Mayfair, Marcus BistroPlex Southridge, Marcus South Shore Cinema, Marcus Ridge Cinema, Marcus Showtime Cinema, Silverspot Cinema Corners of Brookfield, Marcus North Shore Cinema, Marcus Majestic Cinema, Marcus Menomonee Falls Cinema, Marcus Renaissance Cinema, Marcus Hilldide Cinema and West Bend Cinema.
