Evil Dead Risebrought theEvil Deadfranchise back to life, and though it’s a standalone sequel, it has some clever references to characters from Sam Raimi and Fede Alvarez’s movies. In a time when the horror genre is packed with reboots and legacy sequels,Evil Dead Risestood out thanks to its new approach to a very well-known franchise. Written and directed by Lee Ronin,Evil Dead Riseis the fifth installment intheEvil Deadmovie seriesbut a standalone entry, meaning it doesn’t follow the continuity of the previous movies.
Evil Dead Risefollows Beth (Lily Sullivan), who goes to her estranged sister, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), for help. Before she can tell her what’s going on, an earthquake hits the city, uncovering a secret chamber underneath the building’s parking lot. Ellie’s son, Danny, retrieves phonograph records and a mysterious book, through which he unknowingly unleashes an evil force that first possesses his mom. Ellie turns into a Deadite, and that’s the beginning of a night of pure horror for Beth and Ellie’s kids. Despite not being connected to the previous movies,Evil Dead Risehas some cool but subtle references to them.
Each Of The Main Deadites Have A Reference To Past Movies
When the evil force in the world ofEvil Deadtakes over a target, it possesses their mind and body, killing them and using them as a host. Once this force possesses a human body, it goes through physical changes, with their skin color turning either grey, white, green, or yellow, and their eyes changing to unnatural colors. In some cases, a black liquid comes out of their mouths and their fingernails become sharp.When Ellie is possessed, her eyes turn white with hints of red, a new Deadite eye color in the franchise.
Bridget and Danny’s eyes take different colors that represent past eras in theEvil Deadfranchise.
However, when Ellie passes the spirit onto her teenage children, Bridget and Danny, their eyes take different colors that represent past eras in theEvil Deadfranchise.Bridget’s eyes turn gold and brown, like the eyes of the Deadites in Fede Alvarez’s 2013Evil Dead. Bridget passes it on to Danny, andwhen he transforms into a Deadite, his eyes turn completely white. The Deadites in Sam Raimi’sEvil Deadtrilogy had white eyes, which made them a lot more unsettling.
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The trigger of the chaos in every version ofEvil Deadis the Necronomicon. This is an ancient tome of prophecies, funerary incantations, and demon resurrection passages compiled by beings known as The Dark Ones. Reciting any passage from this cursed book unleashes the evil force, butevery version of theEvil Deadhas had its own Necronomicon. Alvarez’sEvil Deadhad the Naturom Demonto, bound in human flesh and stitched together from different pieces of skin.
Despite being different books, the Deadites in each version ofEvil Deadshare some basic physical similarities.
The book inEvil Dead Riseshares the name of Naturom Demonto, but it’s different as it has veins rather than stitches, teeth clamping it shut, and was inked in human blood. Despite being different books, the Deadites in each version ofEvil Deadshare some basic physical similarities, such as the different skin color and change of eye color, but the different eye colors inEvil Dead Riseshow thatthe physical appearance of Deadites isn’t dependent on the book that unleashes the evil force.
Lee Cronin confirmed thatEvil Dead Rise’s Naturom Demonto is one of the three copies of the Necronomicon found by Ash Williams inArmy of Darkness, but a more explicit connection to that movie couldn’t be made.
The success ofEvil Dead Risehas made way for a new movie in the franchise, though not a sequel to Cronin’s movie, instead being described as a new spinoff. It’s to be seen if the nextEvil Deadmovie will change the Deadite’s eye color again or bring them all together likeEvil Dead Risedid, further proving that there is a connection between the different books.
Evil Dead Rise
The Evil Dead franchise continues with Evil Dead Rise, a dark fantasy/horror film written and directed by Lee Cronin. This fifth entry in the Evil Dead named series follows two sisters, played by Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan, as they attempt to survive a demonic assault from a Deadite. Beth (Sullivan) heads on a road trip to visit her sister Ellie (Sutherland) and her children. However, when the Necronomicon is discovered in Ellie’s L.A. apartment building, the Deadites rise back from their demonic realm and begin to bring hell back to earth once again. Evil Dead Rise, initially an HBO Max streaming exclusive, instead arrived in theaters on August 09, 2025.
