Nick Botic

As a lifelong fan of the original trilogy, the 2013 reboot, and Ash vs. the Evil Dead, I was excited for this new entry in my favorite franchise, but kept my expectations at a realistic level, as I know nothing can capture the essence of the original film(s). Evil Dead Rise, however, came much closer to it than I expected it to. It was adequately brutal, contained expertly-placed callbacks to the original duology, and a solid story that was refreshingly plausible within this Evil Dead world of implausibility. The way the story unfolds, and the way they unfurl similarities to the earlier films and reveal parallels to some familiar characters, is all incredibly well done. All in all, this was an absolutely worthy continuation of the iconic franchise, and I’ve never been more excited to see what the future holds for the Evil Dead. Groovy.