Beth (Lily Sullivan) goes to visit her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and children in Los Angeles. Shortly after Beth arrives an earthquake rocks the building and opens an entrance to a disused bank vault in the basement holding the mysterious Necronomicon and its evil is once again unleashed on some unsuspecting innocents. 

The Evil Dead franchise is a much loved horror series that has always managed to balance humour with outlandish gore. Evil Dead Rise is an absolute corker of a horror movie that fits right into the high bar set by the other films. 

It opens with a fantastic scene set in a cabin in the woods that allows the film makers to pay homage to what has gone before and deliver a stunning title card that delivers the films moniker with some gusto. We then jump to one day earlier in the city (the first Evil Dead film not to be set in that cabin in the woods) and are introduced to our protagonists. 

Ellie is mum to three children. Eldest Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), middle child Danny (Morgan Davies) and youngest Kassie (Nell Fisher). We learn that the children’s father has left recently and that their apartment block has been condemned and that all the residents have been given notice to leave. Aunt Beth has been a little wrapped up in her own life to hear about these things via the phone and is surprised to hear of them and eager to reconnect whilst wanting to share her own life news. 

The film does a great job of letting us get to know the characters following a bombastic opening that gives us a taste of the horror to come. We become attached to the characters and are given a reasonably plausible reason for the discovery of the evil book and the characters becoming trapped in the building. What follows is a barnstorming array of nightmarish gore, scares and comedy with the occasional breather before it ratchets everything up again. 

Whilst the ending delivers even more fan favourite call backs in an absolutely bonkers finale worthy of the franchise. 

Both female leads are fantastic and writer/director Lee Cronin does a brilliant job of both the horror and the comedy. 

Honestly this is everything you could want from the franchise and a great horror film.